Piano Lessons in Chandler, AZ

Instruments: Piano Recorder Music

Why did you choose your primary instrument?
I grew up listening to my Uncle practicing the violin - he's a violin master now. I was going to learn violin as I admired his music very much. But, it was an hours drive to the nearest violin teacher. My Mom loved the piano and often listened to good piano music. Furthermore, we first had an organ and later a piano for her to play on. I rather liked it, so I chose to take piano lessons. In fact, she had been teaching me bits and pieces for several years when I began the lessons. All told, I was about a year into learning.

What musical accomplishments are you most proud of?
The first musical accomplishment I was very proud of, was the day I was first able to make the music SING, instead of just pushing keys. If a student keeps practicing, one day, it just happens! However, most of the ones I'm proud of involve my students. There's your everyday students who do a good basic job and steadily learn, the ones who are exceptional and push themselves and then earn scholarships, grants and entrances to great schools and difficult programs because of what they have learned to do. And, then there are the special ones with disabilities. I enjoy working with all my students. I was the only teacher in the area for many, many years that would take students with moderate to severe disabilities. My favorite 2 stories are the ones about the adult with childhood Polio and the child with Williams Syndrome. The adult with Polio after effects had no use of her left hand and very limited use of her right hand. About 3 1/2 years later I lost her as a student. She had regained full use of both hands, though left was a bit weaker, had earned a major promotion at work and no longer had the time. Though, she still plays at home a lot. She worked very hard, and really, I just provided the road map, but WOW! Williamson Syndrome is quite rare and like Down's, except the life span isn't shortened, the facial features are regular and they are gold all over: eyes, hair and skin! They do have the delayed physical coordination and mental delay as well. When my student started, she was nearly 5, but mentally she was about 2 maybe 2 1/2. She came to me from the original studies on Music & Brain Development at UC Irvine. The study was to be 6 months. She was doing so well they ended up extending her study to about 14 months as I recall. We even had her getting up early to do aerobics with Grandma before school to work on physical coordination and her sense of steady beat and tempo! She did better than any other child in the study and at he end she was 6 years old was pretty much behaving like a 6 year old and could play many simple songs. I was so proud of her. Admittedly, the family did most of the work and again, I just provided a road map, but again, WOW!

Did you have a teacher that inspired you to go into music? How did they inspire you?
I had a family that inspired me. Everyone on my Mom's side sang and played at least a little piano and if it was a little piano, it was because they specialized in another instrument. All my cousins and I were in the children's choir when we got old enough. Everyone tends to sing or hum if they are happy. My Mom regularly played good quality music with a lot of variety at home. Some of my earliest memories are being danced around in her arms to music and even when I got older we still did a lot of dancing around to music - by the way, dancing is a great way to learn to feel the beat and Feel the music through your body - it leads to a great and easy way to develop expression in your music. I rarely have to teach keeping a steady beat to those who dance. We often went to see things that had music in them. Even my Dad, who was not musical, still loved music. He would often listen to music at night after work, instead of watching TV. He alternated between conducting the music with a smile on his face and trying to name all the instruments he heard. The big difference between my parents is that my Mom was raised with music as just a part of life and my Dad wasn't. Make music a part of your and your children's lives. We are surrounded by music all the time, but ignore it. Take time to stop and listen and appreciate the Music!

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