BMus
PhD

Subjects

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Interview

Which subject(s) do you teach?
I teach Classical, Jazz and Gospel/R&B Piano. Students requesting jazz instruction will be given additional training in improvisation, reading from chord/lead sheets and playing by ear, and will regularly receive mp3s that I've created to make practice more effective and enjoyable. Classical pupils will also receive mp3s where appropriate (e.g. for duet playing). I also teach music theory and history for grade exams and for diploma/licentiate programme notes. Finally, I teach beginner-intermediate Catalan and French.

Tell me about your qualifications.
I hold a BMus and a Doctorate in music. I also studied at the Liszt Academy, Hungary, participated with distinction in the Vienna Masterclasses, and was judged best pianist at the Jamey Aebersold Jazz School, London.

What kind of experience do you have?
I took on my first piano pupil in 1978, and during the intervening three decades I've taught piano in England, France, Ireland and Hungary, privately or in schools. My pupils have ranged from complete beginners to conservatoire standard, and from children to pensioners. I've also lectured and tutored in a very wide range of music courses at Queen's University Belfast and Cambridge University.

How much do you charge?
I charge from £30 to £40 per hour depending on travel expenses and level, with reductions possible for consecutive hours/lessons at the same address; this includes mp3 files that I create for students for practice purposes as needed, and pupils are able to consult me by phone or e-mail between lessons for further assistance.

Where do you teach?
Pupils can come to me, or alternatively I can travel to addresses in Hampstead, Belsize, Swiss Cottage, West Hampstead, South Hampstead, Highgate, and St Johns Wood and may consider other North London addresses in the vicinity of Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern, Thameslink and Silverlink stations.

When are you available?
I am available to teach from 9am to 9.30pm on weekdays throughout the year.

Which ages and levels do you teach?
While most of my pupils are adult/teenage and at intermediate-advanced levels, I teach beginners through to licentiate level, and from young children through to pensioners. I am happy to give refresher lessons to adults who last studied piano in childhood.

Do you have an up-to-date CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) disclosure certificate?
No.

Where and with whom did you train?
At the Liszt Academy (Hungarian National Conservatoire), I studied piano under György Nádor and chamber music under János Devich (then cellist with the Kodály String Quartet).

Tell me about some of your current students.
It gives me great satisfaction to have pupils who've come to London from Ireland and France in the West to Kazakhstan and China in the East. Every pupil is an individual, with tastes and interests that can't be predicted from first impressions, and engaging with their enthusiasms is a great pleasure. An Albanian pupil of mine, for example, delights in pushing at his boundaries with ever greater challenges from Chopin and Rakhmaninov, while a pupil from the Philippines is a voracious sight-reader who, in the course of just a week, played through a book of the complete Mozart sonatas I’d lent her. Enthusiasm needs to be channeled, for sure, but never stifled.

Do you have a personal message for students?
Music exists to be enjoyed. I don't expect my pupils - young or old - to trudge through pieces that hold no interest for them, so I will work together with you to find out what will give you pleasure and so motivate you to practise. That doesn't remove the need for hard work, but it means that you'll actually want to do the work.