Listen to all of Mark's music on Spotify FREE←


Lessons



Mark Christopher Brandt



Pianist composer improvisor EDUCATOR. Author



The Finest Piano and Music Instruction on the East Coast Since 1991



All Ages. All Styles. Affordable Rates. All my clients and students have come to me through
WORD OF MOUTH REFERRALS ONLY! I have never advertised my business!



Come and see what music lessons are like in my studio. The focus is on your gifts and not my expertise.
Let me know how I can help you realize your dreams and accomplish your goals.





Affordable



From the day I opened Lionheart Music East studio to this very moment my rates have remained the same. Teaching is one part of my income and a large part of my artistry. I am still the most affordable and the most reasonably priced music teacher in the Northern Virginia area despite my reputation and the amount of successful students I have turned out.


My rates remain the same because I do not see the difference in those who are serious artists and those who simply want to play for enjoyment. Joy for the amateur comes from practice and artists should never lose the joy that first enticed them into their artistic life. That joy is a gift from God and it is one in the same in all students of music.



Reliable



Lionheart Music East has been home base for my private instruction music studio since I began my teaching career in 1991. Located in Manassas Virginia, my passion for sharing the art form of music with everyone and anyone interested has kept me busy teaching full time since I opened my door to that first student.


All of my students have come to me exclusively through word-of-mouth referrals, unless of course, like you, they have discovered my simple little LME website



Trustworthy



I believe that those who can do should teach for it is in teaching that the artist is able to convey in words what he is so desperately trying to say without words in his music. It is in the exchange between teacher and student, that the art form of music is transferred to future generations.


This simpatico relationship provides, at least in the small pockets of the country where true artists dwell, the hope of fostering higher art which comes not from computers or sequencing software but from the gifts of soul found in every artist as placed there by God.



Offering Truth, Goodness and Beauty



Some people play the piano. Some people play music and they use a piano to do so.


You can learn many exciting and wonderful things from a qualified teacher, but you can only learn the art form of music from a musician. Over the years I have learned to be all things to all people while still retaining my own artistic identity.


I am certain that I can help you find the joy of music and your own unique way of getting to it. I have done this successfully with hundreds of students since 1991.



I offer all of these options based on the individual desires and needs of each student



Lessons are Monday through Thursday 3:30pm to 9:00pm



Contact me ABOUT RATES, TIMES AND LESSON LENGTHS





Classical Piano



All Periods Baroque to Contemporary Scarlatti, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff.


Maintaining and Maintenance of Repertoire

Developing a Personalized Practice Routine

Sight Singing and Ear Training. ​



Jazz Piano



Ragtime, Swing and Standards Be Bop, Post Bop, Modal and all Modern Styles.


Maintaining and Maintenance of Repertoire

Developing a Personalized Practice Routine

Sight Singing and Ear Training.



Piano For All



Church Music and/or Praise and Worship

Improvisation in all Styles:

Country and Pop Music

Basic Piano Repertoire

Sight Reading



Composition



Advanced Piano Students Only

Compose and Arrange in the Style of Your Choice

Solo, Small Ensemble, Vocal, Large Ensembles Classical, Jazz and Everything in Between



Music Theory



Theory is the Most Exciting Aspect of Music

I Offer Beginner to Advanced Levels

College Theory up into the Hidden Mysteries of Music Theory is Fun!!!



Music is Whole Brain



Improve and Develop Brain Function

Improve and Develop Time Management Skills

Improve and Develop Eye-Hand Coordination

Develop Ambidextrous Capabilities

Increase Concentration Skills



In Studio Lesson Policy





Tuition/Payment



A personal check or a cash payment will be accepted. There are no credits and no refunds. Make your check payable to: Mark Brandt or Lionheart Music East.


Payment for regularly scheduled students will be expected on the last lesson of each month to reserve your time slot forward. If this is not possible then it must be paid no later than the first lesson of the new month.


Failure to comply with this portion of the policy could result in your time slot being forfeited.


When the weather is dangerous and the roads are bad I cancel. If I cancel I offer makeups. There is no activity so important or fun that risking one’s personal safety or that of your children is necessary.


There are no lessons on Memorial Day, Labor Day or the Fourth of July. There will be no charge for these holidays when they occur on your lesson day.


LESSON RATES


Hour Lessons: Contact me.

Half Hour Lessons: Contact me.


One lesson per week.

No Charge for the extra lesson in a 5 week month. See Holidays.


Lesson rates for high school scholarship students, advanced college students, and professional artists vary in both cost and frequency. Contact me for rates.



Holidays



Four times during the year there will be months on the calendar which possess a fifth week. There will never be a charge for that fifth lesson.


I forfeit this income all year long so that the four holiday weeks (see below) may be observed by my family without cost to my students. Tuition will remain the same during the months in which these holidays occur. Unless otherwise announced, If you are going away for an extended period of time you must pay to reserve your spot.


Below are the agreed upon breaks during the teaching year.


THANKSGIVING WEEK:

No lessons


CHRISTMAS/NEW YEARS BREAK:

No lessons the week of Christmas or the week of New Years


SPRING BREAK:

No lessons from Thursday of Holy Week through Easter Wednesday. All lessons resume on the Thursday after Easter Sunday.



Practice and Attendance



I teach music lessons in my home studio (Monday through Thursday) all year long. This is not a hobby for me. Music is not a source of “extra” income for me. Music is my life and my full time occupation.


Please try to remember that all of my available lesson spots are consistently filled with paying, and attending students. Students are of course, expected to attend all lessons, on time, with the necessary materials.


During the school year it is not possible for me to offer make up lessons or credits for any cancellations on the part of the student. Time slot juggling (in most cases) will not be an option either.


If a student is practicing properly between lessons, and is consistent in attendance, the occasional absence will not hurt the student either musically or financially.


All missed lessons on my part will be made up at the earliest possible convenience for both student and teacher.


There will always be greater flexibility during the summer months. This flexibility will be respectful of both the student and the teacher.


It is of course, assumed that all students will have a "reliable" instrument to practice on.



Pay-As-you-Go Students



Adult students and professional artists only.


One hour lesson is $50.00.

Scheduling for pay-as-you-go students is based on the goals of the student and teacher availability.


Lessons are Monday thru Thursday. Fridays and Saturdays are available for these students upon request but subject to teacher availability.


Payment will occur at the beginning of the scheduled lesson. Cash or check will be accepted.


Please make your check payable to Mark Brandt. Pay-as-you-go students are not charged for last minute cancellations.



About





Mark Christopher Brandt has operated a successful private instruction studio, built solely on word-of-mouth advertising, since 1991.

In 2011, Mark received the Virginia Governor's School Award for exemplary service and dedication to education. Many of Mark's students have achieved high honors and scholarships at both the high school and the collegiate level. Many have successful careers in the music industry as performers, educators, producers, and engineers.

After his 1999/2000 New Year’s performance at the Cosmos Club in Washington D.C., Mark decided to step away from performing so that he could be close to his wife and to his children during their young years. During this break, he built one of the most reputable teaching studios on the East Coast, regularly placing students with scholarships into the top music colleges and universities in America.

Mark's students have entered and excelled in such schools as the Juilliard School, Berklee College of Music, North Texas, Shenandoah Music Conservatory, Christopher Newport, James Madison, UVA, and for many years Mark was contacted regularly by these institutions asking him if he could send his graduating students their way.

From 2008 until 2014, Mark was a sponsor for the annual Chantilly High School Invitational Jazz Festival. The festival, which for over 35 years took place at Chantilly High School in Virginia, was, at the time of Mark’s arrival and his departure as sponsor, the largest of its kind on the East Coast. Mark remains at the top of the list as the “go to” instructor for piano, composition and improvisation lessons for all instruments. His students include many of the Washington, D.C. area's professional musicians, seeking him out for polish and refinement of their improvisational skills.

To this day Mark teaches students from all over the country via zoom, FaceTime and even email. His private instruction studio has remained active and busy since he first opened his doors. Often passed over at first glance when people are searching the internet for qualified music teachers, Mark boasts an annual contingent of families who come to him from all over Manassas and Northern Virginia after the high cost of cookie cutter/meat-market lessons offered by most music studios prove to leave both children and adults empty of long lasting musical skills.

Mark has not raised his lesson tuition rate in 36 years of operation and many of his very first students have remained in contact with him over the years. Some of them began with him as children and they now have children of their own.


Former students local to Virginia and Washington D.C. include:

Pianist Jessica Cernoch Owner Jessica's Music Studio Manassas, VA

Studied Jazz Piano and music theory with Mark.


Saxophonist Jacob McCray Former Member United States Air Force Band

Studied composition, theory and improvisation with Mark.


Bassist Shaun Jurek Owner Shaun's String Studio, LLC, Vienna, Virginia

Studied composition, theory and improvisation with Mark.


Guitarist Dan Leonard Guitarist with Deanna Bogart, No Explanations, leader of multiple successful jazz and rock groups

Studied composition, theory and improvisation with Mark


Irish Dancer Allanah Boyle Sweeney Owner Boyle School of Irish Dance

Studied Irish rhythms and Irish music terminology with Mark


Irish Dancer Ellen Boyle Gibbons Owner Boyle School of Irish Dance

Studied Irish rhythms and Irish music terminology with Mark


Harpist, Pianist and composer Emily Mason Former Director of Music at Saint Veronica's Catholic Church Winner of several composition awards working full time as a composer.

Studied composition and theory with Mark


Organist and Pianist R. Carter Stevens: Former Director of Music & Organist at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church - Now private instructor and performer

Studied composition, theory and improvisation with Mark


Flutist Yana Nikol Founder of Project LOCREA

Studied composition, theory and improvisation with Mark


Guitarist Cristian Perez Founder of Project LOCREA Studied composition, theory and improvisation with Mark



Pray as though everything depended on God
!Work as though everything depended on you



Mark Christopher Brandt has developed and nurtured a musical career built on his own unique compositions and improvisations with performances in multiple venues, in a variety of musical groups, up and down the east coast.

He has produced a large discography of recorded works featuring high energy first and second takes of his music which have reached multiple continents across the globe.

Mark's commitment to excellence in art and his unwavering integrity has kept him working, producing and passing on his love of music as a clinician and educator to countless musicians now performing, recording
and teaching in their own rite.



Performing and Recording



From 1977 until 2000 Mark was playing somewhere every weekend of the year and sometimes every night of the week. After a brief hiatus he returned to performing full time and did so from 2008 until 2021.


As of 2024 Mark’s presence online is minimal by his

own choice. In recent years he removed all of his social media accounts so that he could step back and forge a new approach to his artistic career.



Downloading


You can download Mark's entire discography at Amazon.

Mark's music has been selling worldwide in both CD and Downloading format since 1995.


You can listen to all of Mark's music for free on Spotify

and other channels where streaming is offered.



Hard Copies



There are multiple links at this website where you

can shop for Mark's DVD's and his CD's.


You might also be interested in the actual written

scores and parts for all of his albums and for newer

works not yet recorded.


SHOP FOR MUSIC • DVDS • SCORES!