Piano lessons are available for students of all ages and ability levels.

60- 45- or 30-minute lessons take place once a week. In addition to offering private instruction, I also teach at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA through their Community Music Program. Lessons are open to students of all ages and levels of ability and experience (https://www.pugetsound.edu/about/offices-services/community-music/).

My pedagogical experience includes fifteen years of private teaching at all levels as well as teaching at the college level (individual lessons and class piano for both music and non-music majors). I am a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music by the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)..

Performance opportunities available. If interested, please use the "contact" link on the menu on the left to inquire about rates and hours.

My approach varies according to each individual student but I strive to create a supporting environment and to make music an important part of my students' personal development. Below you will find some of my thoughts about teaching serious students. 

Teaching Philosophy

I firmly believe teaching is one of the most rewarding and gratifying of all human activities. However, with teaching, and particularly with music instruction, comes great responsibility. Because of its one-on-one nature, teaching individual lessons offers a great opportunity to develop a closer and special relationship with students. When taking charge of a person’s piano studies, the concern should not only be for his or her pianistic achievements, but also for his/her musical and, to a certain extent, personal well-being. I see our role as one of helping the student develop his/her aptitudes—no matter how notorious or modest—so that s/he will eventually grow into the best musician s/he can become. Understanding this is a slow, long-term process is essential. Patience, perseverance and an optimistic attitude are key elements in this regard. Some students might be more gifted than others, but all deserve the same level of attention and thoroughness.

My teaching philosophy stems out of the principle that the ultimate goal is to teach the student to become self-sufficient. On the one hand I think the teacher should work with the student in the choice of appropriate repertoire and show an interest in all of the student’s musical activities. On the other hand, I strongly believe that our objective is to teach the student to eventually become independent and find his/her own musical voice while developing the necessary problem-solving strategies suited to his/her particular style, in other words, to be able to teach him/herself.

In my view, this idea should be achieved by regularly setting the student up for success during the course of our work together. What I mean by this concept is preparing the student to succeed on different levels: in specific tasks during the lesson and over a longer period of time in the application of familiar concepts to different works. Helping him/her understand the work s/he is playing, and providing him/her with useful, efficient practicing strategies are the first steps to achieve this goal. Recognizing different learning styles and tailoring one’s methods to each individual student is of paramount importance in this respect.

To work with a student over a long period of time, shaping his/her musical thinking, and taste as well as his/her physical relationship to the instrument is a process that necessitates a great amount of care and planning. After an initial assessment of the student's strengths and weaknesses, repertoire choices should be addressed and carefully selected with long-term goals in mind. Working closely with the student at this stage is important; the works must appeal to him/her, but at the same time help him/her both refine his/her strong areas and, more importantly, develop the things that do not come very naturally to him/her. I believe in a varied and balanced repertoire combined with technical work in the form of scales, arpeggios, exercises and etudes. However, I understand every student is different and needs a different approach to develop his/her talents in the best possible way.