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Here are just a few of the many teachers offering Piano lessons in Philadelphia . Whether you are looking for beginner guitar lessons for your kids, or are an adult wanting to improve your skills, the instructors in our network are ready to help you now!
Instruments: Piano Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion Music Keyboard Djembe Acoustic Guitar
Learning a musical instrument is very challenging and for most of us it doesn't come naturally. It's unfortunate when students become frustrated too quickly in the process and decide to quit out of frustration. In my style of teaching, it's very important that students feel some level of success no matter where they are in their own musical journey. Often I will perform lesson materials in unison along with students to help them if they are feeling anxious or uncomfortable. Read More
Instruments: Piano Voice
In college, I taught private music theory lessons to a given curriculum. I also music directed a male-voiced a cappella group, conducted a chamber choir, and music directed and accompanied several musical theater productions. Each of these, to different degrees, requires a one-on-one approach, so no matter what the setting, I am always working personally with the student to determine what it is they want to achieve and help them to get there. Read More
Instruments: Piano
I began my music training during the age of 5 at the School for Musically Gifted Children. I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Music, summa cum laude, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and received my Master's Degree (also summa cum laude) from the Moscow Conservatory. In addition, I was very fortunate to study with renowned teachers at the Music Conservatory in St. Petersburg. In 1995, I came to the United States and am blessed to be a citizen. Read More
Instruments: Piano
For beginner students, I first start to see how they learn best if its at a slower pace or if they can absorb quickly. Once I can understand them and their learning habits, I will start by teaching the basics such as how to count, the names of the notes, etc. Understanding the basics is really important so something I will want to make sure is that they understand why the notes are split in a measure a certain way(for example). Read More
Instruments: Piano Guitar Saxophone Flute Clarinet Synthesizer Piccolo Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Oboe Bassoon English Horn Acoustic Guitar
For my beginning piano students, I emphasize the twelve major and minor scales with proper fingering, first one octave and then two octaves. These exercises strengthens fingers and create more familiarity with the keyboard. I use the book, Level 1 The Older Beginner Piano Course by James Bastien and the companion book, Musicianship for the Older Beginner. I have seen results when these books are used in tandem. The student increases in technique and start to master music theory simultaneously. Read More
Instruments: Piano Guitar Drums Bass Guitar Ukulele Music Electric Guitar Djembe Classical Guitar
I began giving private guitar instruction towards the end of my college studies, and after graduation taught group and private lessons at a music school. At that school I taught a vast range of ages, skill levels, and instruments, from 4 year old beginners, to teenage experts, to adults who needed a brush-up. I learned the wondrous potential of motivated students with supportive parents as well as the futility of forcing an instrument or a style on a student that actually wanted to explore something else. Read More
Instruments: Piano Guitar Saxophone Organ Double Bass Keyboard
I am also the creator of a unique method called "The Seven Secrets of Jazz and Soul" which emphasizes the importance of using simple/easy-to-understand language, even when teaching the most difficult of concepts. I also believe in the importance of "coaching" as opposed to lecturing and try to minimize reading, writing and one-sided lecturing during the lesson. Instead, I sit next to my students, and calmly guide them through the creative process. Read More
Instruments: Piano Organ Keyboard
Have any of your students won awards or been selected for special honors? How have they succeeded?
My students have won awards given by the New Jersey Music Teachers' Association, Arts 4 Teens, and the Haddonfield School of Performing Arts Students Competitions.
My students have received full music scholarships to Peabody Conservatory, Northwestern University, and NYU. Have been accepted to Princeton University as a music minor, and have received a grant for music study at Chicago University. Other students have been accepted as piano oerformance majors to Rowan University, Temple University, and the Berklee School of Music for jazz studies.
While not all my students entered the field of music, some have become teachers in their own right, a film score composer, and a well-known television performer as jazz pianist.
Do you use specific teaching methods or books? (Ex: Alfred, Bastion, Suzuki, Hal Leonard) Why did you choose them if you did?
John Thompson - it is comprehensive, address the basic issues of piano technique, and
helps greatly to instill a love of music in the student
Bastien - contains attractive music that students enjoy, teaches chords and theory as well
basic techniques
Hal Leonard - has a fine adult course that includes techniques, a sophisticated approach to
musicality, and progresses in simple but effective steps.
I will emphasize, however, that if a student has had some lessons and is already into a particular book, I generally encourage the student to continue in that particular method until it is finished. I then shift the student over to one of the above methods.
If you have a Music Degree, what is it in (Performance, Education, Musicology, Theory, Composition, etc) and why did you choose that degree?
My degrees, Bachelor of Music and Master of Science, are both in piano performance.
I chose the music degrees because piano performance was my strong suit. I was fascinated by the piano from an early age, and was playing piano be ear long before I took formal lessons. I also composed many small pieces for the piano before taking lessons.
My degrees included extensive study of music education practices, and a thorough groundwork in music theory.
I also have 40 credits toward a DMA in music composition from Temple University.
I also studied the organ at the Eastman School of Music and play professionally at a Roman Catholic church.
If you play more than one instrument, how did you decide to start playing the second? (Or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc)!
Even while I was still starting piano I was always fascinated by the organ. I suppose I enjoyed the variety of sounds the organ could produce. When my parents took me to visit
a friend of theirs who owned an organ I would sit down at the instrument and stay there until the visit was over! Later, in high school, I taught myself the instrument, even landing
a job at our local church. I taught myself to use the pedals and learned Bach's Toccata and
Fugue in D minor on my own. It wasn't very good but later, at Eastman, I took formal lessons and within a short time was playing all the virtuoso pieces fluently. I still play the organ at a Catholic Church and enjoy it very much as my second instrument.
When did you decide to become a professional musician? Was it a gradual decision or was there a defining moment for you?
I decided to become a professional musician when I was a sophomore in High School. This was when I discovered that playing the piano could be a form of expression. I also realized the value of being able to hear a piece of music and then, with practice, be able to render it on the piano and enjoy the music as played by myself instead of someone else. I would ask my teacher if I could play, for example, Copland's El Salon Mexico, to which he replied I was not yet ready, yet, I went ahead and learned it on my own! I always enjoyed playing music that I already knew and I always try to afford my students the opportunity to play music that is familiar to them.
25 Years
Since We Started
41,456+
Happy Customers
10,769
Cities with Students
3,123
Teachers in Network
Trusted as the industry leader, for over 21 years the teachers in our network have been providing Piano lessons in Philadelphia to students of all ages and abilities.
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