Students I teach
I am currently taking on intermediate (at least a few years’ experience and strong musical passion) and advanced students, teens to adults! I work on all of the details of advanced playing, from technique to musicality, to help students obtain the absolute most from their piano playing, so I’m only adding experienced and motivated students to my roster.
What I Teach
I teach well-rounded piano technique, fingering and proper decision making, music learning and memorizing, musical/expressive playing, theory, and occasionally ear training: essentially all that goes into virtuosic playing. Concerning genre, I specialize in classical piano, which I teach completely, however many of the technical and musical instruction I give can also be applied to other genres with immense success. Although I don’t teach contemporary or jazz piano outright, for example, I can work with you in these genres as well if you’re struggling with your technique! Piano technique and efficient movement actually transcend genre. I also teach composition, and have had students strictly in this topic (even if not for the piano).
How I Teach
I usually work weekly with students (occasionally biweekly, but this requires hour-long lessons). As of now, I travel to the student, which requires you having your own instrument to use for practicing. It is the student’s responsibility to use the week for practicing, preparing and reviewing the music ahead of time so we can review technical and musical questions in your repertoire during our meetings. We can also discuss theory with weekly assignments. I’ll help you bring your pieces up to completion.
Teaching Philosophy
I find it very important to approach all piano-related problems and challenges from the underlying technique that can solve them. Even musicality is obtained by a careful analysis of the underlying technique so that, in the end, the performer can approach the music from a creative perspective instead of constantly wrestling with the process of playing itself. This drives successful piano playing. It’s also very important for students to be taking plenty of time during the week to practice so that the specific challenges being faced can be addressed during the lesson; no sight-reading during lessons allowed!