Background

Amy began teaching piano and performing as a teenager in 1976 while studying piano with Harry Franklin, renowned former head of the music department at Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Franklin traced his musical genealogy to Hungarian pianist, composer and conductor Franz Liszt.

After graduating from the University of Michigan School of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1980, Amy began to integrate elements of the Taubman Technique of effortless playing into her lesson plans, while undertaking a two-year course of study with Joseph Gurt at Eastern Michigan University. Mr. Gurt, a brilliant performer, was a student of Taubman Technique founder Dorothy Taubman, and a graduate of the Julliard School of Music Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs. While in Michigan, Amy continued to explore new pathways in teaching with other influential methodologies including Suzuki, Orff-Kodaly, Dalcroze Eurythmics, and the movement-based techniques of Phyllis Weikart.

After moving to Amherst in 1984, Amy helped to start the Valley Piano Teachers Association, started Klezamir in 1986, and received her Music Ed. certification K – 9 from the University of Massachusetts in 1990. 

With this broad-based background, Amy carefully tunes her lessons in accord with each student. She offers experienced musicians expert guidance towards the next step up, provides beginners with an enjoyable, encouraging foundation in the basics, and tailors her methods to enhance each student’s natural learning style.

Amy is the founder, manager, pianist and flutist of the band Klezamir, an Amherst-based group that has delighted audiences at weddings, festivals, and other events with a mix of klezmer music along with classic rock, jazz and contemporary tunes since 1986. She is honored to work alongside the stellar musicians Jim Armenti, Brian Bender, Keith Levreault and Downtown Joe Blumenthal.

Amy has also performed with, and learned from, many other musicians and groups including classical  flute and guitar duo, a Javanese Gamelan, a country western band, a South American band, an Arabic Music Ensemble and several other klezmer bands in addition to her own. She currently plays Klezmer, Classical, Baroque and Brazilian Choro.

Amy encourages students to create a culture of self-enrichment, drawing on her experiences coming of age in a musical and creative family. Her maternal grandmother, Marie Rosenblatt, studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory of music, and she was chosen to play for the Czar and Czarina, subsequently invited to return many times before the revolution. David Finck, her paternal grandfather, was a Yiddish theater director. Amy’s artist and poet mother Paula Finck, played piano and cello at home and continues to make music part of her daily life into her 90’s. Amy’s aunt, Jacqueline Rosenblatt, also now in her 90’s, is a concert pianist who often thrilled the family with impromptu performances in her living room. Her father Henry Finck rediscovered music in retirement, picking up banjo in addition to violin and viola, and joining an intergenerational orchestra. Her siblings also found a foothold in music after taking a variety of lessons at a young age, her sister Tina Casey plays with Fogo Azul NYC, and her brother David Finck is a luthier who specializes in violins, violas and cellos. The generations continue with two nieces enjoying professional careers, Willa Finck as a violinist with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, and Ledah Finck as a violinist,  composer and founder of the Bergamot Quartet, based in New York City.

Education
Bachelor of Music, the University of Michigan, 1980 Music Ed. Certification K – 9, University of MA, 1990
Certification for Level 1, Orff-Kodaly
Certifications for Level 1 and 2, Suzuki

Work
Teaching piano and flute since 1978
Founding member of Klezamir, a klezmer band which formed in 1986
Freelance musician since 1978, mostly temple, piano accompanying and band work
5 CDs published, 4 with Klezamir, one of solo piano music