Information About Elmo - Islington teacher

Personal Description:

I am a music graduate confident in teaching classical and jazz piano, guitar, and theory. I can give piano and music theory lessons from a beginner's to a professional standard and guitar to intermediate. Online or North/Central London.

As much as I love to play, I feel that my talents lie in theory and pedagogy more than in performance. I resent that so many competent musicians feel that music theory and the tools of improvisation are out of their reach. I resent that theory is often badly taught and I have always loved to share my understanding of this amazing world. My keen interest is in harmony, especially that of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the continuation of that harmonic tradition in jazz.

As a musician I have always been passionate about giving other people the tools to express and explore their musical personality, and I find nothing more satisfying than seeing improvement in a student.

Tutoring Experience:

I am passionate about sharing my knowledge and have been teaching students of different abilities for 7 years.

Tutoring Approach:

I always find it helpful to understand the learning style of the student, in order to quickly find their route to fluid expression.

For instrumental lessons I help the student to find a comfortable technique and balanced posture, and above all I like to introduce the technical exercises that I have developed to help me to enjoy some of the more routine aspects of practising.

I find that my students' musicality is often well in advance of their technique, and I see it as my job to give them the tools to explore this.

For students above the age of 10, I prefer to teach for at least 45 minutes, with an hour recommended for adult learners. This will give me time to go through repertoire and exercises in enough detail to see real improvement.