Piano Lessons in Middletown, NJ

Instruments: Piano

Have any of your students won awards or been selected for special honors? How have they succeeded?
For many of my younger piano students piano lessons are an introduction to the wonderful world of classical music and sonic creativity. As I focus on teaching beginners and intermediate performers I have not had a student that was able to win a national or international competition. I have had, however, many success stories, from students that went on to become professional musicians to the ones who achieved their most cherished musical goals. Among these was an adult private student who was so inspired by the musics he played and loved that he went on to compose his own music within the same styles. Eventually he produced a CD of his own music, which he composed, performed and produced. Several of my former college students who were music majors went on to become accomplished professionals and are now professional musicians and music teachers.

What do you think is the hardest thing to master on your instrument?
I believe the hardest lesson for most is the discovery of their abilities and limitations. Learning discipline to focus and the ability to persevere is also a tough task. But once students learn these significant skills they can apply them not only to their musical goals but also to their non-musical world. On a more practical note, the hardest things are the areas in which the particular student is in greater need of attention. For some this has to do with time. That is, to keep a crisp and dynamic rhythmic and metric patterns. For others this may be related to the issue of finger dexterity. Finally, those who have trouble reading notation may find it tough to decipher complex pieces and to bring out the melodic line in the middle of a jumble of notes.

Do you use specific teaching methods or books? (Ex: Alfred, Bastion, Suzuki, Hal Leonard) Why did you choose them if you did?
I teach classical piano and am a conservatory trained pianist and teacher with strong academic background. As a result my teaching methods reflect my classical background. This means that I use the methods used in most conservatories with a leaning on the German technique, as my former teacher was a German trained pianist and composer. I emphasize a relaxed and natural hand position that uses the natural weight of the pianist’s arms and elbows and an awareness of the student’s posture. I recommend that my students spend a small amount of time working on their technique and warm up prior to practicing their main pieces. As for the musical material, I use classical piano textbooks such as Beyer’s elementary piano method, Bach's Anna Magdalena Notebook, Mozart and Beethoven’s easy pieces, Chopin’s preludes and easy waltzes and Bartok's Mikrokosmos for the beginner to early intermediate students. I have used easy arrangements of classical pieces when my students requested to play those, as I am flexible with the musical choices of my students once they have gained some of the basic musical techniques. To address my students’ goals I often ask them about their musical interests and request that they think about the pieces that they would ideally like to play. I will then and try to incorporate versions of those pieces or segments of those pieces in order to keep the student inspire and focused on their goals. Those who do not prefer to focus on an ideal piece as a goal usually follow the gradual progression of pieces from simpler compositions to the more complex with a balanced mix of compositions from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and 20th century composers.

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