Mrs. Lourdes Garcia-Kenning

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Phone: (480) 472-1450

Biography

Lourdes Garcia-Kenning was born in Manhattan, NY into a Cuban-Mexican family.  She moved to AZ in 1977 where she continued her career and earned several degrees with honors in music and special education at ASU.

Career and Teaching:

Lourdes’ career extends from working in hospitals, institutions, private therapy sessions, private piano teaching and teaching special education in different school settings in New Jersey, New York and Arizona. 

With the guidance and support of her parents, Lourdes’ love for teaching lead her to join Lowell's wonderful faculty as a special education aide in 1994, then in 1997, as a special education teacher teaching students with Mild Mental Disabilities (MIMD) in a Bilingual Special Education Program.  Presently, Lourdes enjoys teaching self-contained MIMD primary grades, collaborating with regular education teachers, related services such as Occupational, Speech therapists and staff.  She is able to use all her degrees and incorporate them into her daily teachings with her students with special needs.  She brings into her classroom the knowledge of diverse teaching strategies, music therapy, psychology, special education strategies, and bilingual/ESL strategies.  Lourdes has endorsements in Early Childhood and English as a Second Language (ESL).   In addition, her students invite their mainstreamed peers into their classroom to teach them sign language, songs and provide opportunities to play in the bell choir.  Lourdes strives to reach each child’s fullest potential by looking at the student as a whole, using each child’s individual strengths to work on weaknesses.  She also works on a tight school-home connection with each parent to help their child have a bright and productive future.

Piano, music training and competitions:

Lourdes started playing piano at the age of 4 under the tutelage of internationally renowned concert artists and scholars such as Aurora Ragaini, Steven Degroote and Caio Pagano.  Mrs. Garcia-Kenning has earned a double bachelor’s degree from ASU in Music Therapy and Piano Performance.  She has also performed as a recital soloist, accompanist, chamber and orchestral soloist throughout the states in NJ, NY, MA, OH, MD, TX and won major competitions in the states of NY, NJ and AZ debuting with the NJ Symphony at the age of 10.  Now she is passing on her love of music and technical skills onto her talented young pianists.  

Lourdes has worked as a nationally registered, board certified music therapist working in New Jersey, New York and Arizona.

Interests and hobbies:

I enjoy learning about people and places.  I also love traveling with my equally adventurous and wonderful husband and learning about cultures as well as being immersed in different cultures and their music. 

To help “de-stress”, I am an avid hiker and swimmer and practice the piano like a "fiend".  To relax, I enjoy working with polymer clays.  To provide my own “therapy”, I love to teach,  accompany choirs and instrumentalists.