William M  
Instruments: Piano, Trumpet, Recorder, French Horn, Oboe, Keyboard
Styles: Classical, Pop, Gospel, Musical Theater, Showtunes, Spirituals, New Age, Marching Band

I began teaching piano privately in undergraduate music school by tutoring piano to music majors that were non-piano students. It was required that all non-piano stsudents must take 2 semesters of functional piano. I continued fulfilling this role from 1981-1985. In 1997 I began teaching private piano lessons to students in my school that had an interest in learning piano after school. I continued doing this until I began teaching piano in a private music school in 2005. Most of my teaching was with classical and pop music. It is my experience that students that are classically trained have a much better understanding of modern and pop music. I emphasize doing harmony/theory throughout my lessons. Students that understand the theoretical foundations of the selection they wish to learn and can analyze the music harmonically have a higher rate of success.

For beginning students, I prefer to use the Bastien piano method. This serious comes in 4 levels and is very thorough The Bastien series offers numerous books for each level in addition to the lesson book. Each level comes with a recital book, a arepertoire book, and a theory book for students to write in. The solo repertoire book is exciting because it showcases the child's ability to interpret concepts learned in the lesson book. For adults, I prefer to use the Alfred Piano series for Adults although I am open to other adult series if the student feels it will be better for them.