A Musical Approach to Piano Lessons

Hello,

I am a private music tutor, who specializes in teaching music theory at the piano in a fast, intuitive, and easy-to-remember way. I am equally happy teaching classical, popular, or jazz.

I hope you enjoy browsing my site, and please check out the FAQs.

Best wishes,
Benedict

Who I teach

If you are:

• a beginner who wants to learn how to play by ear, improvise, or compose
• a piano player who had piano lessons as a child and wants to start playing again in a more musical way than before
• an instrumentalist who wants a better understanding of the music they are playing
• a composer who wants a more structured approach to composition
• a music student who wants a better grasp of the theory components of their course

then I can help you.

What I teach

1. Piano Playing

   My piano method is based on conceptualization and relaxation. If you have the patience to follow it through you cannot fail to achieve the sound you want.
   

   What is easy one learns quickly, what is difficult takes time. It’s as simple as that! – Sviatoslav Richter

2. Sight-Reading

   I have developed an anchor technique for sight-reading, which gives you a direct visual link from the page to the entire keyboard. I have known it to triple students’ sight-reading speed in their first lesson.

3. Theory

   If you want to play by ear, improvise, or compose, you’ll need to learn some theory. I’ve developed techniques to teach you the basic concepts in the shortest possible time.

4. Playing-by-Ear

   It’s my belief that anyone can learn how to play by ear – not just the very talented. If you want to learn to play by ear you can start in the very first lesson.

5. Advanced

   In addition to basic music theory, I also teach history, analysis, harmony, counterpoint, and stylistic composition up to degree level. Plus I run a transcription, arrangement, and music typesetting service.
   
   

About Me

I graduated from Cambridge with an MA in Music in 2004 and have been teaching ever since. In 2006 I composed and recorded the music for the Arcola Theatre’s production of Lorca’s When Five Years Pass (Time Out Critic’s Choice). Please see my Testimonials page for references.