Piano Lessons in Melcroft, PA

Instruments: Piano Voice

For a beginner vocalist, I will always begin with standard bel canto vocalises. These promote, first and foremost, the health of the voice. They also build flexibility, agility, and suppleness within the vocal cords. As students advance, these vocalises become more and more advanced. The technique built in the vocalises eventually infiltrates a singers' repertoire, and appropriate repertoire choices are extremely important and made thoughtfully. Pianists begin with an introduction through scales and music theory. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Bass Guitar Ukulele Mandolin Conga Keyboard Electric Guitar Djembe Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My teaching lessons started back in high school, playing with the schools jam band. I'd give lessons for 20-30 minutes on scales, chords, circle of 5th and so on. After graduating high school, I moved to Los Angeles to continue musicianship. Giving private lessons in Hollywood I began to see the power of passing music along. I will never forget when I had one of my first few students bring a new song to me and played it all on his own. Read More

Instruments: Piano Music

Over the past 13 years, I have taught piano, music theory, and music composition to a diverse group of learners, including school-age children, college students, and adults of distinct backgrounds. From 2014-2018 I received the Graduate Teaching Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, where I led piano courses for non-Music majors, and held weekly recitations and office hours for required courses for Music majors. This encompassed instruction in counterpoint, musical form, harmonic analysis, training students on dictation and sight-singing, as well as providing help with digital audio software. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Drums Bass Guitar Ukulele Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For beginning students, we will go over the basics of single-note playing, as well as basic chords. We will also cover basic rhythms, so they can build up to playing their favorite songs. There are also many ways to be creative with music, and we may also play some musical games to make practicing more fun. If students are interested in composing or song-writing, I can assist with that as well. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Music Keyboard

For beginning students who are children, I typically start with either the John Schaum method book series or the James Bastien method book series. Both book series are fun, colorful, and engaging for the student. Once the student has progressed to have a better grasp of the fundamentals, I will begin to introduce solo repertoire that is appropriate. For adults, I try to find out what the student is interested in, and guide my instruction accordingly to keep the lessons engaging and fun, no matter their ability level. Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums

I have been teaching for forty years. I started when I was in high school and my first student was dad's mechanic's son. He was four years old. About two years ago he found me on facebook and it's a good feeling to know he plays professionally in a Metal Band! I've taught in every city that I have lived in and varied ages and levels from beginner to advanced students that play professionally but wanted to learn jazz for instance. Read More

Instruments: Piano

While in my formative years, I enjoyed weekly piano lessons with a woman that I've come to appreciate as my second mother. She has always encouraged my talent and made sure I was using proper form as often as possible, even when I adopted the hobby of transcribing popular music to the piano and playing from rote. She has truly helped me appreciate the nuance and freedom of piano, and I joined Musika to pass that along to even more students. Read More