I have been playing the piano since I was five years old. My passion for music led me to steadily progress in my studies, and I naturally chose to major in music at Ohio State. To broaden my scope, I earned my degree in Composition while taking piano lessons concurrently from Professor Emeritus George Haddad and Professor Steven Glaser. Rather than focus on one area of piano music, I augmented my repertoire through extensive study of the Baroque through Modern periods. In addition, I accompanied orchestra and band instruments, a youth choir, and even performed the first movement of Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto with my high school’s chamber orchestra.
Finding the strengths, weaknesses, and interests of my students, I guide them in the ways of making progress and having fun. Through teaching, I find that I gain a deeper appreciation of music. I take a fundamental approach, developing note-reading and incorporating scales, chord analysis, and technique to make my students more well-rounded musicians.
In order to make progress in your study of piano, know that regular practice is the most important thing. To keep track of this, I write your assignment in your notebook at each lesson. For younger students, it is crucial for parents to monitor their practice and go over their assignment with them on a weekly basis.
Part of effective practice is having access to a well-tuned and well-regulated acoustic piano. Alternatively, you may practice on a digital piano conducive to your growth as a musician, with features including weighted keys (if it has the full 88 keys, you will have the same spatial/visual sense as when you’re on my piano during lessons), keys with touch sensitivity (for dynamic contrast and expression), and pedal/pedal accessory.
Finding the strengths, weaknesses, and interests of my students, I guide them in the ways of making progress and having fun. Through teaching, I find that I gain a deeper appreciation of music. I take a fundamental approach, developing note-reading and incorporating scales, chord analysis, and technique to make my students more well-rounded musicians.
In order to make progress in your study of piano, know that regular practice is the most important thing. To keep track of this, I write your assignment in your notebook at each lesson. For younger students, it is crucial for parents to monitor their practice and go over their assignment with them on a weekly basis.
Part of effective practice is having access to a well-tuned and well-regulated acoustic piano. Alternatively, you may practice on a digital piano conducive to your growth as a musician, with features including weighted keys (if it has the full 88 keys, you will have the same spatial/visual sense as when you’re on my piano during lessons), keys with touch sensitivity (for dynamic contrast and expression), and pedal/pedal accessory.
You may try out my Yamaha digital piano to compare with yours or a model you are considering buying. Mine has the features listed above, including three pedals built in (there are other models where this pedal set can be attached as an accessory, or simply a single damper pedal) and weighted keys actually constructed with wood to better model the keys of an acoustic piano.
The following are some additional helpful and interesting features:
1) Metronome -- keeping the steady beat you have chosen, a metronome is essential to test for steadiness
2) Headphone jacks -- eliminating a disturbance to your surroundings, you can be sure to practice even more
3) Settings for other keyboard voices (e.g. harpsichord and organ) or other instruments (e.g. violin or guitar)
-- My model includes keyboard voices of Scarlatti's, Mozart's, Beethoven's, and Chopin's pianos
4) Dual and Split -- options to layer an extra voice or program the lower part of the keyboard as a separate voice (maybe even something we wouldn’t expect, such as vibraphone melody with string bass accompaniment)
5) Multi-track recording -- allows for evaluating one’s playing/assessing one’s progress (USB flash drive compatible); also helpful for composition or arrangement