Information About Athanasia - Manchester teacher

Personal Description:

Hello everyone,

I am Athanasia, a 25-year-old composer and pianist based in Manchester. I am originally from Greece and moved here three years ago to study composition at the Royal Northern College of Music.

I started playing the piano when I was 8. In 2017, I obtained a Diploma in Piano Performance from the Dimitris Demopoulos Music School, a private music school in Kozani, Greece. While studying the piano, I participated in many Master classes and piano summer schools, including the Chetham’s piano summer school in 2015. I have given mostly solo recitals, but I often accompanied singers and violinists. I was also the accompanist of an amateur choir for four years.

Since I started studying at the RNCM, I have been mainly focusing on my writing, but I have never stopped performing on the piano, as it is something I love. Recently, I have been mainly performing contemporary works by composer friends of mine, while trying to keep up my practice on the classical repertoire.

As for composition, I started having lessons at the age of 19. Three years later, I was accepted at the graduate school of composition of the RNCM with an entrance scholarship. I completed my Master's degree in July 2019, and last year I took the Postgraduate Diploma course, onto which I was accepted with a scholarship and which I completed with a 90% Distinction.

Tutoring Experience:

I have 5 years of experience in teaching the piano. I have taught a wide range of students, from 6-year-olds who had just started their musical education, to teenager musicians that wanted to play the piano as their second instrument, to adults that took piano up as a hobby.

I have also taught Advanced Theory and History of Music for a couple of years.

Tutoring Approach:

I believe in teaching in a way that encourages and emphasises every student's musical strong suits; everyone has their own musical personality and my role as a teacher is to bring that out and allow the student to have their own personal growth.

My priority, especially for beginner students, is to make sure they are on firm grounds with technique and score-reading skills. However, I am always careful not to inhibit the student’s natural musicality with an overload of technical information; balance between musicality and technique is key. I am also in favour of introducing sight-reading quite early on, as I think that the earlier a student takes it up, the easier and less daunting it will be for them in the long run. I am enthusiastic about introducing my piano students to improvisation. I find that is a good activity especially for younger students, as it helps establish a more intuitive, natural relationship with the instrument. Not to mention it is very fun!

As for music theory lessons, I keep a steady pace when it comes to moving through the syllabus, to ensure that the student has fully absorbed and understood the ideas that have been taught so far. I also like keeping my students interested by showing them how they can implement the theoretical knowledge they have acquired on the practical world of music (i.e. understanding the classical music repertoire, or their instrument playing).

I believe that music students should be self-motivated when it comes to practice, but I also strongly encourage them to do systematic, every-day practice, and I try to show them that this is the best way to develop as a musician!