Erica has extensive teaching experience with students of all ages. She has conducted clinics through organizations such as Jazz at Lincoln Center and the New York Pops, and has traveled to schools throughout the United States, Japan and Cuba. Working with students both privately and with groups of all sizes, Erica has inspired hundreds of talented young people to pursue their love of music.

On May 31st, 2011 Erica released her new book "A Cool Approach to Jazz Theory", a tool that teaches budding improvisers the basics of reading chord changes and understanding harmony. The accompanying website www.jazztheoryiscool.com has information on how to buy the book, as well as video lessons and other helpful information.

"With the patience of a wise, sympathetic teacher, von Kleist leads her readers step-by-step on an odyssey through the maze of major and minor scales, the terror of augmented chords and the much-dreaded circle of fourths and fifths. You emerge, 170 pages later safe, sound and much smarter, certainly a more informed listener." Owen McNally, The Hartford Courant