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Here are just a few of the many teachers offering Piano lessons in Elk Grove . 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 Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Conga Electric Guitar Djembe Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar
No matter the skill level, I like to keep my curriculum concise, applicable, and easy for all students to understand. I begin with a crash course in music fundamentals to give students a classical understanding of their playing, reading, and writing techniques. Next, I teach them scales, chords, and playing techniques that correlate with their level of playing and music comprehension. Once they have mastered said curriculum I teach them songs that they are genuinely interested in. Read More
Instruments: Piano Flute Piccolo Music Keyboard
Teaching is very new to me. For beginning students I would start with a Hal Leonard's Essential Elements book. Then when the student progresses the fundamentals I will start to introduce solo pieces for recital performance. For adults I will ask them what would be fun for them to play and make my lesson plans off of that to keep them engaged and having fun no matter what level they are. Read More
Instruments: Piano
I began studying classical and jazz piano at the age of 5 in the Chicago area with Bob Ravenscroft(currently resides in Phoenix and very influencial in the Phoenix Jazz Scene) at Alan Swain Music Studios. I was fortunate to have played in the New Trier West Jazz ensemble in high School. Our band competed in the Montreaux Jazz Festival sweeping 9 of the 12 soloist awards. At 16 I began playing professionally in the Chicago Area in combos, trios and backing up vocalists. I was very forutnate to have studied with three amazing teachers, Herman Shapiro in Chicago(a professor at DePaul University and a student of Rudolph Ganz(The Director of the Chicago Musical College, Carl Mosbacher-a professor at New York University and the Mannes School of Music and Julian White in the Bay Area who was a student of Egon Petri. Read More
Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Conga Latin Percussion
My mother was a professional tap dancer, in which would inspire me in the arts of dance-contemporary, latin and theater. As, I grew up after high school, I became active in cultural dance music participating in Carnaval parades-S.F., Afro-Haitian dance performances and community colleges music groups of jazz, spiritual and soul. I continued further to the Education of music and dance in colleges. After, graduation I returned to Stockton, CA, and began organizing music and dance programs in the community for low income housing projects, where I began a non-profit organization: Pan Afrakan Dance Music -instructing in African -and African-Caribbean Dance and Music community centers, after-school programs and festivals. Read More
Instruments: Piano Music Keyboard
My teaching experience dates back to my college days, as I began teaching private piano lessons part time 10 years ago. Encouraging regular practice on a consistent schedule is one of the key points I like to emphasize for younger students, as it tends to help the student progress and gain a passion for the instrument. I've also found that finding the genre the student likes can go a long way in helping them enjoy the piano and motivate them to practice and continue to learn. Read More
Instruments: Piano Bass Guitar
Music theory will be taught both informally and formally. At first, though, musical concepts will be taught mainly within the context of direct experience with the piano (rather than through bookwork). At all stages, I strive to choose songs and styles of music that will be particularly interesting and motivating to individual students. Especially for younger kids, I include games and other activities to make learning as fun as possible. Read More
Instruments: Piano Voice Ukulele Keyboard
My teaching experience dates all the way back to early high school, when I taught piano lessons to kids in my local neighborhood. In college, I continued teaching as a part time job while at home during the summers, and when I returned home from touring, I taught at several studios in the Sacramento area, teaching private voice and piano, and classes I designed curriculum for, such as Musical Theatre for Beginners, "We Sing Disney", and Singing for Ages 8-12. Read More
Instruments: Piano Organ
What does a normal practice session look like for you?
My practice is different every day. The window of time available changes, sometimes during the practice session. Rather than stubbornly sticking to my original plan for that session, I have found much more peace of mind in revising the goal for the day. Example: When you have planning on practicing for two hours and then the phone rings, changing your plans, when you reassess the time available and find something that can be accomplished within that amount of time, you will have reached a goal and will feel good about it.
There is no requirement to adhere to a rigid goal and feel down on yourself for not accomplishing it. Life happens!
FYI, it took me a long time, i.e. years, to learn that!
What is your dream piece to perform and why?
I would give my right arm, as they say, to be able to perform Twenty Portraits of the Infant Jesus by Olivier Messiaen. It's too hard! Several years ago, I found four movements that seemed to be more accessible than the others. I would practiced them for two months, say, then put them aside. Six months later, I would try again. The result was always the same. My fingers remembered nothing and I had to start over.
After four rounds of this, I decided to look at Messiaen's Preludes instead. I have happily performed three of the Preludes many times.
Pierre Laurent-Aimard performs the Vingt Regards (Twenty Portraits) on tour, from memory. I have ceded ownership of the piece to this wonderful pianist.
Does music run in your family? Tell us a little about your musical family members.
Yes, music was something that was always around when I was a child. My father was a minister. He had sung in his college's male quartet. He had a lovely bass voice, and with further training might have had a professional singing career.
My mother had been a public school music supervisor before I was born, after which she taught kindergarten and supervised the elementary Sunday School department in our rather large church. She led a brief worship service for the children before smaller classes were taught, including a music component. My parents met in college choir.
In the Midwest, ministers' children at the time typically took lessons. My three older siblings all played instruments, with my sister playing both piano and organ. She played organ for our church before I did.
It must have been an unspoken part of the circumstances that the minister's children play for church. Even if that was the case, it was fabulous training. Playing congregational responses and hymns well requires good listening skills, the ability to adjust to changing acoustics depending on the size of the congregation, providing inspiration for the congregation to keep a steady tempo, and dreaming up something to bridge unexpected gaps in the service. That's quite a challenge for a 14-year-old!
Also, church services and choral rehearsals have many similarities in terms of the number of participants, size of the space, location of the piano or organ, listening and response skills needed.
When did you decide to become a professional musician? Was it a gradual decision or was there a defining moment for you?
When thinking about college choices, I began thinking about various possible majors. Since I felt very strongly that I would never be able to live without music, the decision was an easy one.
Settling on the piano took a little longer. I started out majoring in organ. However, my older sister is such a good organist, that was a big factor in my choosing something else. In addition, it turned out that I was more comfortable playing the piano, while my sister found a better fit with organ.
That said, I have had organist/choir director/choral singing jobs in different churches and denominations since age 14.
24 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 Elk Grove to students of all ages and abilities.
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