Piano Lessons in Merchantville, PA

Instruments: Piano Violin Cello Viola Double Bass

I have a "less talk, more play" approach to music. People learn instruments because they want to play music, and that is always the focus in my lessons. While some instructors incessantly talk about theory, history, and other music concepts, I prefer to keep the talking to a minimum and have my students play their instrument as much as possible. I also tend to move at a quick pace, but I always adapt my pacing to meet the needs of the student. Read More

Instruments: Piano Music

Over the past 13 years, I have taught piano, music theory, and music composition to a diverse group of learners, including school-age children, college students, and adults of distinct backgrounds. From 2014-2018 I received the Graduate Teaching Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, where I led piano courses for non-Music majors, and held weekly recitations and office hours for required courses for Music majors. This encompassed instruction in counterpoint, musical form, harmonic analysis, training students on dictation and sight-singing, as well as providing help with digital audio software. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

For young beginners, I like to use the Faber and Faber series. They do a wonderful job incorporating reading, listening, and writing into the curriculum. I also think creativity is a huge part of music. I love asking students to write their own songs. When I play their compositions on the piano, their reactions are priceless! For older beginners, advanced students, and voice students I use a similar approach but with supplemental materials. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Bass Guitar Ukulele Mandolin Conga Keyboard Electric Guitar Djembe Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My teaching lessons started back in high school, playing with the schools jam band. I'd give lessons for 20-30 minutes on scales, chords, circle of 5th and so on. After graduating high school, I moved to Los Angeles to continue musicianship. Giving private lessons in Hollywood I began to see the power of passing music along. I will never forget when I had one of my first few students bring a new song to me and played it all on his own. Read More

Instruments: Piano

The two methods I typically use for young beginners are "The Music Tree" by Franicis Clark, and "Piano Adventures" by Faber and Faber. As the child progresses, I add supplemental materials and more advanced performance pieces that may be used for recitals. For adults, there are a variety of good methods that I draw from, taking their genre and style preferences in mind. Read More

Instruments: Piano

While in my formative years, I enjoyed weekly piano lessons with a woman that I've come to appreciate as my second mother. She has always encouraged my talent and made sure I was using proper form as often as possible, even when I adopted the hobby of transcribing popular music to the piano and playing from rote. She has truly helped me appreciate the nuance and freedom of piano, and I joined Musika to pass that along to even more students. Read More

Instruments: Piano Clarinet

For beginning students, I typically use a combination of methods. For clarinet teaching, I like to use the Breeze-Easy method and also some materials from the Rubank method books. For intermediate or school-aged students, I like to supplement the material they are learning in school. I like to continue to use Rubank, Klose, and Rose books to continue to develop technique and musicality. For more advanced students or adult learners, I try to cater to the specific interests of the student while continuing to work on improving fundamental skills on the instrument. Read More