Michael D  
Instruments: Piano
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Country, Bossa Nova

My teaching experience began roughly four years ago during one of my college summer breaks when I taught weekly private piano lessons to two children who were advanced-beginner students. In our lessons, the students learned various ways to develop their technique and prepared repertoire that they later performed at the end of the summer. After the summer ended and they finished giving their recitals, I took a break from teaching to finish getting my degree. After I graduated in August of 2018, I took an offer to teach middle school chorus and orchestra as a long-term substitute teacher. As a long-term sub, I conducted the rehearsals for both groups in preparation for their winter concert, which consisted of conducting their repertoire, leading warm-ups, and teaching music theory.

For those students who are children and are just starting out, I'll have them work through a lesson book that I find fit for them so they can grasp the fundamentals. Once they establish the fundamentals, I'll assign them solo repertoire so they can begin learning their own pieces. For older students, I'll find out what they are interested in learning and go from there. Some examples of a main focus for piano lessons may be to learn a specific genre of music, learn how to compose original music, or improve their technique in an existing realm of music.