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Piano Instructor

• 30 years of piano and organ performance and instruction.
• Master of Music: Sacred Music and Organ, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.
• Graduate Piano Studies, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
• Bachelor of Music: Piano Performance, St. Vincent College, Latrobe, PA.
• Service Playing Certificate: American Guild of Organists.
• Member MTNA: Music Teachers National Association.
• Member Atlanta Music Teachers Association.

Teaching Philosophy

As a pianist and always learning new music, I, too, must practice efficiently to produce music. I practice somewhat the same way I teach, using the three "R's": reading, writing, and arithmetic.

The structure of a piece of music is first based on rhythm (the arithmetic of music). How many beats in a measure and are they subdivided, tied, or dotted. How do the notes add-up, and is there a pattern with this rhythm.

We then must read notes. The distance between two notes is called an "interval." In the beginning I teach a student a line to a space is a step, or an interval to a 2nd; a line to a line, a space to a space is a skip, or an intervals to a 3rd. As we practice we learn the intervals quickly and how they form chords.

The third part is understanding how a composer used notes and intervals to write subjects and answers, motifs and themes (musical sentences). Bach used different rules in theory than Beethoven, and Lenny Bernstein used even different rules in rhythm and theory.

How you study determines how you play. One's practice must be solid and secure, using your mind, not just the muscle memory of your fingers.

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