Ernest has a long history with the Suzuki community, studying piano at the School for Strings in New York City. He received his B.A. in Music from Houghton University in 2013 where he studied piano, conducting, composition, and voice. He also took classes in linguistics in order to understand the human voice and communication across cultures. Ernest taught as a part-time band director in New Haven for two years before receiving his M.S. in Elementary Education from the University of Bridgeport in 2016. Since then, Ernest has been teaching general music in the Bridgeport Public Schools, working with pre-kindergarten through 8th grade students. With family in South America, Ernest especially enjoyed teaching bilingual classes (English/Spanish) and also classes of students with Autism and other special needs. He has taught piano in person and online since 2014 and loves to incorporate classical and contemporary elements in his music lessons. He plays the clarinet and euphonium in both university and community bands as well as sings bass-baritone in choruses around southern Connecticut.
