It’s hard for me to believe that I have been on this piano-teaching journey for over 20 years! And, what a journey it has been!

When I first started teaching, my lessons were pretty similar to the way I had been taught. We played technique (lots of scales and Hanon exercises), learned how to read music, and studied classical repertoire. Activities consisted of flashcards and theory workbooks and there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that went into learning pieces.

After a few years of teaching like that, I knew there had to be a better way! I wanted students to learn how to read music without the monumental struggle and I wanted theory to be fun – not just filling in a theory workbook.

So, after a lot of research and trial and error, I found some great resources to help students learn in a more natural and engaging way. At my lessons, we learn note-reading one interval at a time (thank you Piano Safari) and we play games and do activities to learn and reinforce theory concepts – oh, and we improvise! We love to improvise!

I’ve also learned that my students’ interests must be a driving force in their piano progress. What they enjoy learning, they learn well! So, I make it a point to let students choose much of the repertoire they want to learn – from classical to jazz, pop, and contemporary.