Piano Lessons in Des Plaines, IL

Instruments: Piano

I have been teaching piano lessons to beginner students to adult students in my home for six years now. Most of my students have been children ages six to thirteen; however, I have also taught adult students as well. I am also willing to travel to the student's home with in my area of Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, Palatine, Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect, Des Plaines and Elk Grove Village. Combining the songs in the lesson book with popular songs, along with scales helps the student to have more fun learning to play the piano. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Violin Cello Viola Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Clarinet Bass Guitar Synthesizer French Horn

From the very beginning of my work, I believe in positive reinforcement because I find that we all need our hopes and beliefs in our ability to accomplish something to be nurtured before we take on any challenge, objective or goal. This is very important because I also believe that presenting students with challenges and goals allows them to experience adventure, fun, and rewards- particularly in the context of music. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

My methods are based in Suzuki as I am a strong believer that students musical capabilities can be developed regardless of their musical predispositions. For beginning students that have minimal background musical knowledge, I incorporate theory and aural skill trailing into the lessons to help the students learn to read their music and apply the theoretical and technical concepts learned in each class to the repertoire studied. Both my vocal and piano lessons typically focus on technique. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Organ Synthesizer Keyboard

I build each lesson around the needs of each student and what they would like to accomplish. I help them set reasonable practice and achievement goals. If there is a style of music they would like to learn or a particular song, I try to fit it in with the lesson and use it as a teaching tool as well. Proper technique is the foundation for exceptional performance. I spend at least 5-10 minutes each lesson on technique. Read More

Instruments: Piano

Alfred Publishing piano courses (both older and newer), Faber and Faber, Bastien, Edna Mae Burnam, and the Hal Leonard course have all been among my pre-published methods that I have used over the years. I have also adopted some technic content from elsewhere. For example, the Zion Conservatory of Music, where I taught from 2004 to 2018, uses a couple of different customized scale patterns for first- and second-year students. A book I have used with intermediate students is a Conus Russian piano method edited by James and Susan McKeever, who taught the Parkside piano pedagogy courses. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Keyboard

While instructing private voice students, I teach the functional approach to singing. This mindset allows the vocalist to focus on singing freely in all genres. I believe it is important to not only teach a wide variety of repertoire, but to also inform my students on vocal health. Along with a functional approach to the voice, I promote a safe and welcoming environment to make music in. If a student does not feel comfortable in the space they are in, then they will not perform to their fullest potential and I would not have completed my job. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Flute Piccolo

I always figure out where a student is at, and prefer to grow off the student's strengths as opposed to harping on their weaknesses. I have been in lessons before where teachers couldn't get past the smallest details, and these ruined the experience for me, as well as greatly affected what I was able to accomplish in my lessons. The opposite is also true, in that I have had teachers that haven't even informed me of a weakness that I had, and I wasn't able to improve because of it. Read More