Our Vision of the Studio

Throughout years of work in music, Ms. Abigail has realized that she has passion for teaching proper piano technique.  She believes in hard work and wants to encourage students to share that sentiment.  Ms. Abigail has worked in academies and has found that academies, in general, can sometimes be too relaxed about teaching strategies and not invested in the instructors that are hired.  That is why she are passionate about forming her private piano studio, so that she can provide her customers with a service that truly values piano education.  

She strives to create an atmosphere where musical growth is expected and is not just a thirty-minute-per-week commitment that students can brush off.  Sports electives require 5+ hours per week.  While she doesn't expect beginners to practice over 5 hrs a week, she expects a commitment to practicing outside of class time.     

She care about the progress of her students and wants to equip them to be able to read and understand the rhythm and structure of any piece of music that is placed in front of them. 

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Her Lesson Strategies

 She does not play the homework assignments for the students until they have spent more than three weeks on their assignments. She does not play their pieces initially because she believes that students need to learn how to read the music on their own without relying on their ears and audiation skills.  Listening to the piece that they are trying to learn in the early stages of learning how to read music is equivalent to “cheating” on their homework because they trust their ear for a vague idea of the music, rather than interpreting the real information of the written score.  Later, once students can read, she begins to encourage students to listen to their more difficult pieces for interpretive reasons.

 She utilizes a combination of different piano curriculums and prescribes students their homework based on their strengths and weaknesses.  She is not bound to one teaching method since every individual student has different ways of learning and each piano curriculum has a different approach.  She uses Faber, Thompson, Alfred, and anything else that she sees that would benefit the student.  Also, she introduces students to scales from the beginning of their studies since she strongly believe that scales are the foundation for all techniques in piano and for the understanding of music theory.

 She definitely expects discipline from her students and has a weekly evaluation sticker system in place for holding younger students accountable for their assignments.  This provides an honest and practical feedback system for young student to know how well they did in class, and also lets parents know how the students are stewarding their practice time.