studio V
private musical studio instruction
What Style Will I Learn Prospective Students often ask, ''I don't necessarily want to play classical music. Actually, I'd like to play pop, or jazz.'' I wouldn't really agree that the teaching of piano is style dependent. These barriers are ultimately an unhealthy relic of a bygone age where musical styles lived in disparate towers, separated by oceans of animosity and ego. The study of piano necessitates a certain classical education, as more often than not, this is the bread and butter of music. Whether popular music, or jazz, or high Baroque Counterpoint, the fundamentals remain the same. My part in the education process remains largely outside of these questions. The goal of a musical educator should not be to make these artistic decisions for the student; rather, the goal should be to meet the student where they are coming from and push them forward from this starting place. Whether my students desire to study popular music, or classical, or jazz, or blues, it doesn't really matter to me. My goal as an educator is to enable their study, to provide them with the education, the background, and the ability to play whatever they please without fear of inability, intellectual roadblocks, or ignorance. The physicality of playing the piano must remain primary, to prevent injury and physical damage. The intellectual development of the student to truly understand and interact with music in an enlightened way, however, is also primary, and remains vital regardless of the style or tradition of music the student chooses to primarily seek out. Education cannot be about limits; it must continue to push students towards possibilities that still lay at the horizon of their understandings. Whether to pursue that tangent remains to the student. The educator's conscience only requires that the student have the freedom to pursue any road without fear. |
