Private Piano Lessons
IN PERSON OR ONLINE
Maybe it’s like this now ….
Playing the piano feels like too much of a struggle.
No matter how much you practice, you just can’t get the results you want.
Maybe you wonder if there’s some secret to it all that certain people have.
Or if you’re even capable of feeling comfortable and confident as a pianist.
But actually ….
Practicing can be much more joyful.
You can trust your body at the piano and continually find solutions to technical problems.
You can discover beauty in music that you didn’t know was there.
You can play better than you realize.
Natural Piano Technique
Gaining real understanding about how your body works at the piano can make all the difference. You can learn to recognize and release physical tension that has been limiting your freedom at the instrument. And when you combine this knowledge with all the work on listening, rhythmic organization, mental clarity, and deep emotional connection, private lessons offer a comprehensive path to expressive power in performance.
No one should feel uncomfortable playing the piano. Experiencing physical energy moving freely through your body in relationship to the piano is joyful and life-giving. And that physical pleasure, combined with the visceral experience of taking in the sounds you love as you’re playing, brings vibrancy to the music you make.
You can learn to maximize power, fluidity, and sensitivity, by using your body according to basic principles of movement and touch.
Student-Centered Teaching
Along with having a clear understanding of piano technique and other aspects of improving your playing, I enjoy relating to each student as a unique individual, and I balance direct guidance with tuning in to how they think and feel, what they perceive in their playing, and what they already understand. So I listen as much as I speak, and each lesson is a creative collaboration. This way, students develop deep belief in themselves and in their physical, mental, and musical abilities. The guidance I provide is very much informed by the student’s own needs, desires, and intelligence throughout the lesson.
The student-centered approach to learning was developed by psychologist Carl Rogers as a way of working with a student as a whole person and encouraging creative thinking and strong motivation, and it revolutionized my teaching decades ago. It’s a completely different experience for the teacher to find out what a student already understands instead of simply giving them information and ideas. The student feels respected and empowered, and each lesson is vibrantly alive and thoroughly engaging for both of us.
“I came to Madeline to fix bad habits and improve my technique, but I almost feel like those were fixed incidentally, and that I learned much more important things along the way. She taught me how to really connect with, listen to, and trust myself — both my body and my heart. I regained the confidence I had lost and learned how to create space for myself to grow, as a pianist and person.”
–Amy Lam, California, Alum of Columbia University
“After only three lessons with Madeline, my technique feels amazingly natural and effortless. Instead of struggling for power and sounding harsh, I can now make a beautiful, big, round sound easily, just by making simple changes in how I use my body.”
–Laura Amoriello, Chair, Committee for Pianists’ Wellness, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy
–Jad Bernardo, pianist and coach
