Rob

I'm a friendly, enthusiastic, young-ish professional musician, comfortable teaching piano to all ages and abilities. I also offer music theory, music reading, composition/songwriting, and improvisation.

I can work in a range of styles – jazz, classical, pop, folk, blues, gospel.

Tutoring Experience

As a musician, I now feel like I've been around the block a few times! I graduated from the Guildhall in 2012 having broken my department's final recital record, and I've spent the time since playing a mixture of artistic and commercial gigs; highlights have been a broadcast of my own music on BBC Radio 3, and an opening set for David Sanborn at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club.

As a teacher, I've trained with the National Youth Jazz Collective and worked with the UK's top young jazz musicians on their summer school, led group workshops in improvisation, and taught private piano students for ten years. These days I give piano lessons – remotely, right now! – to school kids, for Merton Music Foundation.

Tutoring Approach

Every student has different fascinations, and it's my job to listen for them and help you break them open. I try not to spoon-feed, but ask a lot of questions and let you search for the answers, so that hopefully we'll feel less like master and pupil and more like collaborators. Being trusted with this responsibility is so, so important, especially for young students who are building their confidence.

Sometimes it's helpful to work from a book, sometimes not. I'm used to much of the common piano literature (Piano Adventures, Piano Time, ABRSM and Trinity exam books), though I hope we can branch out too, and work from other sources or by ear.

Above all else, I'd like you to have fun. Why else play music? Lessons should always be taught in that spirit – the more laughs we can have, the more worthwhile an experience it will be.