Fort Greene Music Scene, a music studio for children and adults, offers piano tuning services, private music lessons in piano, guitar, bass, and voice, as well as giving young performers the opportunity to rehearse, record and perform live! Located in the historic Fort Greene/Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, NY since 1996.

Fort Greene Music Scene provides a friendly setting and a creative learning environment where children can develop their musical talent and natural abilities. Under the direction of an experienced teacher, students are encouraged through music, to discover their full potential. Some of them even write their own songs! They display their hard work annually at the Spring Recital, a very entertaining event!

Fort Greene Music Scene is proud to announce our Tenth Anniversary!

About the Instructor

Jivana P. Condak, Founder and Director of Fort Greene Music Scene in Brooklyn, NY, teaches Piano, Guitar, Bass and Voice. She began her classical studies in piano at the age of six, taking weekly private lessons for 10 years, as well as studying guitar in the rock/folk/pop genres from the age of 12. She also sang lead soprano in her Elementary, Junior High and High School Choirs, played guitar in the School Ensemble and was tutored in piano in the pop/rock/folk styles by the School’s Musical Director.

After school hours, she attended classes for keyboard and guitar in the pop/rock/blues/folk styles at the Guitar Study Center in NYC, run by Paul Simon’s brother. At the age of seventeen, she began writing songs and teaching music lessons to her friends. In her senior year of high school, she interned at major recording studio and was the assistant to the engineer.

In 1981, Jivana entered Berklee College of Music, in Boston, Mass. where she majored in Performance for Piano and Voice. While at Berklee she studied Arranging, Harmony, Sight Reading, Ear Training, Listening Analysis, Improvisation, Ensemble, etc. and formed a rock band with fellow students as well as reggae band with local Boston musicians. This lead her to start promoting and producing concerts in the New England area. She also studied West African Dance and enjoyed performing.

In 1984, she relocated to Miami, where she joined a reggae band and a dance troupe, then on to Los Angeles for more of the same. She was active in promoting and producing concerts in the LA area for the next four years as well as writing and recording her own material and studying voice and dance. Jivana moved to Jamaica, West Indies to perform with major reggae artists and pursue writing, recording and producing in various studios. By 1991, she had established a music publishing company: Maandiko Music with BMI. For years, she taught music classes in the public schools as well private keyboard lessons, encouraging her students to perform at local stage shows around Jamaica.

Upon returning to New York in 1993, she furthered her studies and attended classes at The New School in NYC, courses included: Advanced Song Writing, The Business of Song Writing, The Pop Music Business, Recording and Production, Management, A&R, Promotion, Publicity, Publishing & Copyright. Jivana also took private voice lessons and studied drums for four years. She then opened up a private music studio: Fort Greene Music Scene, started a children’s performance group: the Koolkidz, and launched an independent label for children’s music: Musicskool Records. Jivana also studied at the Museum of the American Piano in NYC to become a successful piano tuner and repair technician.

As a musician, she has more than 35 years of playing experience, 25 years of professional performing experience, 15 years of professional teaching experience, and 5 years of professional piano tuning and repair experience. 2006 marks the 10th Anniversary of Fort Greene Music Scene’s Spring Recitals. To date, Jivana has written over one hundred songs, taught over one hundred children in Brooklyn alone and has serviced the same amount of pianos. She feels blessed to have had music in her life since she was a child and feels even more blessed that she gets to pass it on.