About Kit Johnson, PhD.

• Outstanding teacher
• Fully certified at the bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. levels
• Continuing performer
• Decades of experience
• Empathetic and inspiring teacher.

Kit began piano study at age nine. Within two years, he was studying with Wilhelm Swartzoff, head of the piano department at Denver University. In high school, Kit studied with Madame Lenora Theodonna a concert pianist who taught at the Budapest Conservatory and coached international piano competitors. Theodonna was a direct teaching descendent of Franz Liszt. In high-school, Kit won young artist competitions and performed a concerto with a Philharmonic Orchestra near Denver Colorado. As an undergraduate at the University of Northern Colorado Kit studied with Dale Dykins a graduate of the Julliard School. Though Kit did not pursue a piano career, he remained active as a performer of jazz and classical piano. One of Kit’s masters degrees is in Piano Lab Pedagogy. Kit has taught piano for over thirty years.

• Studied jazz improvisation at the nationally recognized jazz schools of the University of Northern Colorado and the Eastman School of Music.
• Performs regularly as a jazz pianist and vocalist.
  Kit has been the featured pianist at such piano hotspots as:
  • the SeaWitch - SanFrancisco
  • the Cliff House -Tacoma/Seattle
  • the Norwich Inn & Spa
  • the Mystic Hilton Hotel
  • the Tabor Hotel - Central City (Denver)
• Taught jazz improvisation for Sheridan and Lesley colleges, the University of Wyoming, as the director of the Eastman Jazz Singers, and through his private lesson business.

• Studied music theory at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral level.
• Taught music theory at honors high-school and college levels and in private instruction.

Voice Study:
• Universities of Washington & Colorado
• Bill Keith of the Julliard School
• Passed juried exams for Master’s degree in Choral Conducting
• Directed Eastman School of Music Jazz singers

Voice Performances:
• Sang lead roles in Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man, Guys & Dolls, The Flower Drum Song, The Fantastiks, The Mikado, and other musical theater roles
• Musical Director for professional summer stock “General Sheridan’s Great Singing Stage Gang,” and the Presidio Playhouse in San Francisco.
• Soloist capacity for weddings, church services, choral works, jazz bands.

Voice Instruction (in class and private study):
• Sheridan College
• Lesley College
• Sixth Army soldiers Chorus
• Jazz improvisation classes
• Cabaret workshops