My Core Teaching Values

• Foster a strong creative spirit and the technique to support it.

• Develop an intrinsic motivation to learn and to compose.

• Develop tools to play what you’re hearing, write what you’re imagining, read what’s handed to you, play and listen collaboratively.

• Explorative play and developing skills to support growth.

• Rich at-home practice and good emotional support, creating consistency and a warm relationship to learning.

• Listening to and experiencing music in context.

• Learning concepts through multiple inputs, utilizing movement, composition, improvisation, ear training, dictation, transcription, sight reading, and more.

• Following the threads of interest and developing a shared repertoire.

• Sharing with community.

Instruments & Types of Lessons

Piano

Ages 4 - 10: Beginner-Intermediate Solo Lessons

Piano, with its ease of sound production, is a playground for young people and an easy choice as a vessel for broad-natured exploratory learning.   As children grow, my goal is to set them up to be able to launch into whatever direction they choose, and to support them in that transition when the time comes.

My curriculum is centered around the Piano Safari Method. The Piano Safari website self-describes their method as “a holistic approach combining ears, eyes, and imagination that allows children to become musically literate at the piano.” It provides a great mix of learning by ear and reading, while setting students up with excellent technique in an engaging way.

Students ages 4 - 6 use materials from Piano Safari Friends.
Students ages 6-10 use materials from Piano Safari Levels 1-3.

In addition to the Piano Safari repertoire, we’ll learn music from different styles in order to broaden our musical understanding. We’ll also engage in special projects around learning music from your community, self-selected music, and music that the children compose themselves.

The curriculum for partner lessons is the same as for solo lessons.

The most successful partner lessons meet these three criteria:
1. Similar Age
2. Similar Level
3. Similar Schedule Needs

Mismatched partners can still be considered, though they may experience a slower pace of learning if age and level vary widely.

Ages 10-13: Beginner Solo Lessons

I teach students ages 10-13 using the Piano Safari Older Beginner method. This method has the same holistic principles as the methods for younger students, but moves at an accelerated pace and gets students understanding more advanced music theory concepts right away.

In addition to the Piano Safari repertoire, we’ll learn music from different styles in order to broaden our musical understanding. We’ll also engage in special projects around learning music from your community, self-selected music, and music that the children compose themselves.

My cello teaching is rooted in studies with Elizabeth Simkin (Ithaca College), a pupil of Janos Starker. Her lessons of rich tone through good body use were passed onto me and now form the core of my cello practice. My cello curriculum combines these studies with lessons from both studies in education at Ithaca College and my studies in other musical practices at New England Conservatory.

Younger students will follow my unit based curriculum. In addition to the core materials, we’ll learn music from different styles in order to broaden our musical understanding. We’ll also engage in special projects around learning music from your community, self-selected music, and music that the students compose themselves.

Older and more advanced students will have lessons designed to meet their specific goals.