I’m definitely not teaching as I did in those early years. My skills and knowledge have grown, repertoire has stretched beyond belief, the understanding how students are wired and strategies for drawing out the music inside continues to expand and drives me to help each student reach their God-given potential in music.

After a late start, and learning formal piano at age 21, I set myself the goal of achieving the Associate in Piano Performance with Trinity College of London. With up to four hours of daily practice, 7 days a week, I reached my target in just over three years. The theory at diploma level for the qualification took me another year, but the learning has not stopped as I have explored the world of jazz, rock and pop music as well as classical piano. Creating music using the synthesizer and computer technology was an area that I spent considerable time from the late 80s and is still a strong interest.

My Piano Teacher Approach

Teaching piano is about developing a trust relationship with students that is part of a life long journey. At the end of each school year, I have at least one or two students who have been learning with me for at least 10 years that move on to Uni and the season of piano lessons comes to a close. As a piano teacher, I feel honoured to share in so many milestones in my student’s lives, starting in Year 1 or 2, preparing for exams and Eisteddfods while all the time building character qualities that they will take into adulthood.

For over 15 years now, I have been teaching high school seniors in a classroom setting and this has been another opportunity for my own growth. At the end of the 2-year course, the students graduate with a Certificate III in Music Performance and the focus of that course is strongly embedded in training students in contemporary music and preparing them for work in today’s music industry. Some of these graduates tour the world, others teach, and many are still active in their music whether that is piano, drums, bass guitar or vocals. It’s quite humbling to look back and see how many lives I’ve influenced through weekly music lessons over nearly 40 years.

Everyone has their own story and it has been a privilege to work with students and help them achieve their goals at the piano. There are students who have gone on to university and have a professional career in music as performers, teachers and even music therapists. Some have become the music director or play on a team at their local church, while for others it is just about sitting at the piano as their own personal escape. I feel more motivated than ever with my teaching and am not slowing down even slightly. There are so many new resources and fresh approaches to teaching that I want to access and help the students who come my way reach their goals at the piano.

Piano Teaching Philosophy

My aim as a teacher is to support my students to achieve their own goals in music. I try to keep lesson fees at a reasonable rate so that music lessons are an affordable option for families.

I quickly learnt in the early years of my teaching that if I was only working to replicate myself through my student we will likely hit a wall down the track. Usually sooner than later they would start to lose interest in playing as what we were learning wasn’t giving them a sense of fulfilment in learning music.

Having specific goals for learning piano and keyboard allows me as the teacher to structure into lessons the resources and develop the required skills to achieve the stated goals. A realistic timeline is also necessary to ensure that very week’s lesson is moving closer to the goal. Once a student hits the high school years they need a clear goal or their music just gets swamped with all the other interests that are out there for a teenager in the 21st century.

Some goals students have given over the years are:

• “I want to get to Grade 8 piano”

• “I just want to open up a book and play good music”

• “I want to play keyboard in the worship band at church”

• “I like to play movie and video game themes”

• “I don’t really know what I want to be able to play yet”

Certificate III in Music Performance

For over 15 years now, I have been teaching high school seniors in a classroom setting and this has been another opportunity for my own growth. At the end of the 2-year course, the students graduate with a Certificate III in Music performance and the focus of that course is strongly embedded in training students in contemporary music and preparing them for work in today’s music industry. Some of these graduates tour the world, others teach, and many are still active in their music whether that is piano, drums, bass guitar or vocals.

It’s quite humbling to look back and see how many lives I’ve influenced through weekly music lessons over nearly 40 years. Everyone has their own story and it has been a privilege to work with students and help them achieve their goals at the piano. There are students who have gone on to University and have a professional career in music as performers, teachers and even music therapists. Some have become the music director or play on a team at their local church, while for others it is just about sitting at the piano as their own personal escape. I feel more motivated than ever with my teaching and am not slowing down even slightly.

There are so many new resources and fresh approaches to teaching that I want to access and help the students who come my way to reach their goals at the piano.