Piano Lessons

The piano is one of the most important instruments for a musician to understand. Most musicians have had piano instruction and colleges require all music majors to pass a piano proficiency exam in order to graduate. It is common for a future instrumentalist to first play the piano and gain an understanding of music and then choose an instrument to study.

I believe the piano is one of the most fun instruments to play. You need no accompanist and can express almost any musical idea or emotion expressed by another instrument or orchestra. I try to pass my enthusiasm for the piano on to my students.

I pick songs, and allow my students to choose, songs that they are motivated to practice. As well I work to teach them the skills that are so important for becoming a well rounded musician.

Practice Techniques - Piano is a great way to learn to take a seemingly impossible goal and persevere by breaking it down into small easy to accomplish goals.

Theory - Both through scales and arpeggios as well as keyboard based book work. Theory becomes more exciting when a student sees the connection between the music they play and the abstract concept.

Sight Reading - Learning to turn black dots on a staff into beautiful music at first site is one of the most rewarding skills a musician can have. I appreciate and work on this skill more and more the older I get and seek to pass that enthusiasm on to my students.

Improvisation - Often the ability to analyze harmonic structure or chord names and create your own original arrangement on the spot is neglected. This is one of the most valuable skills a musician can possess however. Most popular music is played off of lead sheets which consist of only a melody and chords. Although all four of these skills fit together I use this skill directly the most. Plus, when you make the music inside of you and don't need a piece of paper or a book, you never run out.

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