TEACHING
UPDATE: at the moment I'm not taking on new students. This may change however. You're still welcome to contact me in case - and I can always suggest another teacher.
I've been teaching the piano (and theory and musicianship) for (gulp) over 30 years now, both to children and adults, from complete beginners to about grade 7/8.
In terms of formal qualifications I have the CT ABRSM (the Associated Board's certificate of teaching). Mostly one to one but I have taught adult classes at the City Lit (including pop piano, musicianship and songwriting).
I've put many students in for graded exams (successfully) but of course exams aren't the only reason for learning, and many people learn just for the music's own sake.
I aim to be flexible and focus on the student's own aims and wishes as far as appropriate, and to cover a variety of styles and genres.
Improvisation in teaching
I bring my interest in composition and improvisation to my teaching, and include improvisation from lesson one.
Having realised over the years that many traditionally-trained piano teachers aren't comfortable with improvisation, I wrote a little book intended to help teachers and students, which you can find here. This formed the basis of a short course I taught at the City Lit a few years ago.
Many of my compositions are suitable for students and near-beginners: have a browse here.
I have a YouTube channel concerned with teaching. On it you can find recordings of 'teacher accompaniments' to the pieces in the beginner books I usually use (Tunes for Ten Fingers and Piano Time), and the accompaniments to some of my own improvisation duets. (Click on 'Playlists' for the full collections.) You can find the channel here.
Get in touch via the contact form if you'd like to talk about lessons.