Online Piano Teacher — Master's Degree & 30 Years of Experience | Beginners to Skilled Learners

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• 1) When did you first develop a passion for music and your favorite instrument?

  I started learning piano when I was six years old. From that age, something about sitting at the keys just felt right — like it was exactly where I was supposed to be. What began as childhood lessons grew into a lifelong love — one that eventually became my calling as a teacher.

• 2) Is there a particular type of music or artist that you listen to on a loop without it driving you crazy?

  I keep coming back to the classical repertoire — Bach especially. There's a reason people have been listening to him for hundreds of years. It doesn't get old because there's always something new to notice. But honestly? I also have days where I just need Chopin playing softly in the background while I go about my morning. It's not dramatic — it just feels like home.

• 3) Explain to us the most difficult or riveting course you could personally give to a student of music.

  The most transformative — and honestly the most challenging — thing I teach is musicality. Anyone can eventually learn the notes. But getting a student to stop thinking about notes and start making music? That's the real work. I take students through what I call the "inner hearing" process — training them to hear a phrase before they play it, to feel the shape of a melody in their body, not just read it on a page. It changes everything about how a student plays. It's riveting because you can see the exact moment it happens — when the music finally breathes.

• 4) What do you think is the most complicated instrument to master and why?

  I'm obviously biased, but I believe the piano is among the most demanding instruments to truly master. It looks accessible — the notes are laid out right in front of you — but that accessibility is almost deceptive. You're coordinating two completely independent hands, managing dynamics across ten fingers, controlling tone on an instrument that doesn't let you sustain a note the way a violin or voice can. And then there's the repertoire — centuries deep, endlessly demanding. You can spend a lifetime on it and still feel like a student. I think that's also what makes it so beautiful.

• 5) What are your keys to success?

  Consistency over intensity. I always tell my students — twenty focused minutes every day will take you further than a two-hour session once a week. Beyond practice habits, I think curiosity is everything. The students who grow the fastest are the ones who stay genuinely interested — not just in playing, but in listening, in asking why a composer made a certain choice, in exploring music outside their comfort zone. And patience — the real kind that lets you sit with something difficult and trust the process.

• 6) Name three musicians you dream of meeting in your favourite bar in the early hours of the morning. Explain why.

  Johann Sebastian Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven — the three of them together in one room would be almost too much to handle. I'd want to ask Bach how he held so much structure and so much soul in the same breath. With Mozart, I'd just want to watch how he moved and talked — because someone that prolific and that brilliant at such a young age must have had an energy unlike anyone else in the room. And Beethoven — I'd want to sit with him quietly, because here was a man who kept composing even after silence became his whole world. That kind of devotion to music deserves more than words.

• 7) Provide a valuable anecdote related to music or your days at music school.

  There was a moment during my college years when my piano professor stopped me mid-phrase during a lesson. I had played the passage correctly — every note, every marking. She looked at me and said, "You are playing the music. But are you singing it?" I didn't fully understand what she meant right away. But that question followed me home and it followed me into every lesson I've taught since then. The voice is the original instrument. Everything else is an imitation of it. When I finally understood that — when I started singing every phrase internally before playing it — my whole relationship with the piano changed. I pass that question on to my students now.

• 8) What are the little touches that make you a Superprof in music?

  I think it's the fact that I treat every student as an individual, not a curriculum to get through. Some students are analytical — they want to understand the theory behind everything. Others are intuitive — they feel music before they understand it. I adjust completely depending on who's sitting across from me on that screen. I also make sure students walk away from every lesson having experienced something musical — not just corrected something technical. And because I teach online, I've become very intentional about creating that same warmth and focus you'd get in a physical studio. It's not just a video call. It's a real lesson. That intention — I think students feel it.