Meet Brenda Earle Stokes

Brenda Earle Stokes owner and creator of the Versatile Musician

Creative and practical training for the 21st Century

You are a singer, pianist, or music educator who is looking for creative and practical resources to support what you do.

You need someone with the right tools, organization, and experience who can show you the way with joy and humor.

You are in the right place.

I’m Brenda Earle Stokes - a professional pianist and vocalist who has spent a large part of my life performing music all over the world.

My passion is teaching. I love sharing my experience and my unique teaching methods with people at different ages and stages, to help them to become the musician they want to be.

A performing career in all hemispheres

My performance career has taken me across the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, playing at venues like the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Toronto Jazz Festival, performing as a bandleader, and side musician with artists such as Wycliffe Gordon, Maurice Hines, and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra.

I have released 6 critically-acclaimed albums and have played every imaginable type of gig, from musty basement performance spaces to the most elegant venues in New York City.

An approach rooted in eclectic expertise

Even though I’m classically trained and both of my college degrees are in jazz, you will find my musical interest (and expertise) is very eclectic. I have taught literally all ages, birth to age 100, and have shared my musical knowledge with everyone from beginners to world-class professionals and everyone in between.

These days, I focus the bulk of my teaching on high school and college students, avocational adults, and professionals. I draw from my wide background of experience in education and performance in classical, jazz, music theater, pop, and rock to provide informed guidance and resources no matter what my students might need.