Lucas K  
Instruments: Piano, Keyboard
Styles: Classical, Pop, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, Electronic, New Age, Soul

Throughout the past 10 years, I have taught neighborhood kids and friends how to play the piano both beginning and intermediately. I like to encourage everybody that consistency is the key to learning (for beginners). Not necessarily practicing for long periods of time, but frequently. Better to practice for 10-15 minutes three to five times per day than for an hour or two all at once. I've found that the best foundation comes from scales. Even though scales are not necessarily fun, they help construct many pieces to come.

For beginners, I like to start with getting to know the keys and their patterns. There are 7 different white keys and 5 different black keys and once you figure out the pattern, it becomes easy to identify the keys on the piano. After that, I like to touch over basic music theory i.e. identifying sharps and flats, intervals, structures of scales, etc. I also like to teach my students how to read sheet music and flashcards (which I have) have helped a numerous amount of times with that. Starting with a couple of easy scales will teach the student how to position their hands properly and there they will learn how to cross their fingers as well. Even though a lot of this may not be "fun", it is the fundamentals of becoming a good piano player and will help tremendously in future lessons as well. After touching over all of that or even in the midst of it, I like to try to find a few beginning songs that will keep the student engaged and eager to learn more.

For intermediate players, I try to figure out what their strong style(s) of playing is and the style of music they like to play and find pieces that match their likings and further progress their learning in ways of sight reading, keys they aren't "fluent" in, and new styles of playing.