From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

My inspiration: Some inspirations include Thelonious Monk, Olivier Messiaen, Erykah Badu, Adrienne Lenker, Geri Allen, Nicole Mitchell, Mary Lou Williams, Kris Davis, Angelica Sanchez, Pinegrove, Raavi, Scriabin, Bach, John Coltrane. Gwendolyn Brooks, adrienne maree brown, Octavia Butler, Grace Lee Boggs have to make the list as well.

Few people know that I… was the captain of my high school basketball team!

Education: My musical education started in Philly where I attended the Creative Music Program and Settlement Music School. Time spent playing with my jazz trio as a youngster in Philly was my most formative musical education. I also graduated with a degree in Music from Princeton University in 2022.

I play and teach: Piano

My other artistic/musical endeavors: Careful In The Sun

Personal Teaching Statement: My musical practice involves stretching, deep listening at the piano, singing everything I play, delving into harmony from Bach, Scriabin and Mompou, learning songs on guitar, embodying polyrhythms, free-writing, making loops on my phone, listening to recorded music and reading scores and trying to figure out what I find beautiful or surprising, transcribing bass lines, composing short piano pieces, reading about artists I love and learning from friends.

Music education (especially white, Eurocentric music education) has been traumatic for so many folks. As a teacher I try to treat music education as a framework in which to help students clarify their own intuition, develop ways of practicing that feel joyous and fun, and deepen their connection with themselves and the world. I also learn so much from students, so if you wanna take lessons with me, just know you’re going to be shaping my intuition too!

Biography: Maya Keren (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based pianist, vocalist, composer and songwriter from Philadelphia. They are interested in the process of environing people, voices, instruments and sounds in ways that invite connection with one’s erotic instinct (to use the language of Audre Lorde), embody compassionate and queer relations with the self and the collective, and destabilize learned systems of domination. These ideas have developed non-linearly throughout space and time, through settings and initiatives like the Creative Music Program in Philly, the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, and Mutual Mentorship for Musicians.

Maya graduated from Princeton University in 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Music and a certificate in African American Studies. Currently Maya is writing songs, loops and words for their band Careful In The Sun, drawing inspiration from Gwendolyn Brooks, Clarice Lispector, Pinegrove, and the Wissahickon.