Piano Lessons

I have been playing the piano for around 20 years. What started as an elementrary school hobby has stuck with me throughout my entire adult life. While majoring in Physics at Gettysburg College, I continued to practice piano and study piano performance. I have performed at church services, school and work events, charity concerts, and weddings. My instructional goal is for you to learn to play the piano, read sheet music, understand the basics of music theory, and ultimately to build a repertoire to perform for friends and family.

I am available to teach in-home private piano lessons to adults and students of all skill levels, grades 3 and above. My area of availability is within 20-30 minutes of Princeton, New Jersey. My rate is $40 for a half hour session, and $55 for a 45 minute session. 1 hour sessions are available for advanced students that need additional instruction time. While my focus is on classical music and music theory, I'm also available to instruct in jazz and pop music. If you are interested, please reach out to me so we can schedule a free introductory session.

Book Recommendations

These are some books that I've learned from and used in the past. These are by no means are the be all end all, and in the case of adult beginners, probably not the books you want to use. I only feel comfortable recommending books that I have learned from, so feel free to use your own.

Beginner

John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Just Imagine!. Mier.

Intermediate

25 Progressive Pieces, Op. 100. Burgmüller.
Inventions and Sinfonia. J.S. Bach. Urtext Edition - G. Henle Verlag.

Advanced

The Well-Tempered Clavier J.S. Bach. Urtext Edition - G. Henle Verlag. Part 1. Part 2
Klaviersonaten. Beethoven. Urtext Edition - G. Henle Verlag. Volume 1. Volume 2

Scales and Practicum

The Complete Book of Scales, Chords, Arpeggios & Cadences. Palmer.
Schirmer Pocket Manual of Musical Terms, Fifth Edition. Baker.
For both of these any scale workbook and musical term book (dictionary) will be good. These are just two that I've used in the past.

Materials

In addition to their sheet music, students should keep a practice journal and bring it with them to every lesson. A metronome is also an extremely useful tool for practicing rhythm. While the old-style mechanical metronomes are cool, it's better to practice with an electronic metronome as they do not progressively lose time and can handle subdivisions. Many free metronome apps are available on Android and iOS.