I am an enthusiastic, committed and qualified music teacher. I have around twenty years of teaching experience. I teach all ages and abilities from beginners young and old to advanced and diploma level. As well as holding a Diploma in Music and Teaching I am a member of the ISM as a specialist piano teacher which means you can be confident that I am appropriately qualified and experienced to teach the levels which I offer. I am happy to teach small children from age four, though with young children I like to have a trial lesson to ensure the child is ready to begin formal lessons. The main body of my teaching comprises of 7-19 year olds following a structured programme though I am quite happy to teach without the structure of the exam system. I also very much enjoy teaching adults, at present about one third of my students are adult beginners and returners. Adults are capable of doing very well … don’t let age put you off staring to learn to play! I am primarily a classical piano teacher and place great emphasis on giving students a thorough grounding in piano technique, music reading skills, and aural (listening) skills, with which I believe students can then go on to develop and their own interests and through which they can go on to play in a number of genres. I teach using as wide a variety of musical genres as possible including teaching classical music, pop and jazz. For students who wish to take exams I enter students through a number of boards including ABRSM, LCM, and Rockschool. This enables them to follow the structure of learning and style which is most suited and of interest to them. As well as following an exam syllabus I also encourage students who are interested to participate in music festivals and competitions. I am able to support students through GCSE and A level music and have taught pre-school music and adult education music appreciation classes. I teach Theory alongside practical piano and also teach theory to students of other instruments as a standalone subject. I can also teach aural and exam preparation to students of other instruments. As a teacher I am very proud of my students achievements, My students have an excellent exam pass rate with a very high number achieving Merit and Distinction. I am also very proud that several of my students have been awarded the Dorothy Atkinson Memorial Prize by the ABRSM for achieving the highest score in their piano exams. I have also been able to help and support students in achieving music scholarships to schools including Howells School Llandaf and Cheatham’s Music School. One of my main aims as a teacher is to help students to become musically independent so that they can at some point enjoy playing the piano without needing a teacher. If can encourage some of the enthusiasm and love of music that I am lucky enough to enjoy I also consider that to be a major achievement.
