“The real source of a beautiful tone quality is the musicianship and the intelligence of the performer. This should be encouraged in piano pedagogy and not the illusion that there is a purely mechanical or technical method of making a good sound.” Charles Rosen

About Lessons in General


I believe that a teacher's main task is to awaken a pupil's interest and love for the subject being taught. When a pupil acquires the sense of excitement and embarks on a road of discovery, he or she will be driven to unearth the incredible treasures hidden in music by practising more as well as learning away from the piano by going to concerts, reading about music history, music performers, styles of performance and much more in order to gain a better understanding and therefore reach a higher level of enjoyment.

To put the inner functionings of tuition into a nutshell - discovering the world of music, learning to play the piano and acquire a degree of excellence can be an enjoyable experience and a great source of joy but requires a disciplined approach as well as a certain degree of commitment and determination from the student. If you really want to be able to do something and decide to do it then you will be able to. As Johann Sebastian Bach famously said, "What I have achieved by industry and practice, anyone else with tolerable natural gift and ability can also achieve."

With 15 years of experience I have developed my own curriculum and system of teaching which is grounded in the Russian and French school of pianism and enriched by elements of the English school as well as my experience with early keyboard instruments. While my teaching style does accommodate taking exams as well as all other necessary formalities I am mainly concerned with the development of a functional technique and skills as well as the formation of an extensive repertoire and the acquisition of the ability to read music with ease. I consider it my primary task to not only provide instructions in order to give a craft to a pupil but to turn him/her into an individual independent thinker, a musician seeking a deeper meaning in music and the connections with other arts, literature, philosophy, religion (where applicable) etc. I see my pupils as holistic human beings who can learn to develop a real interest in music and communicate as well as express themselves through music by acquiring technical proficiency with all necessary theoretical/analytical/historical background knowledge tools and applying them to a search for a deeper understanding.

Generally speaking, I advocate a serious attitude to learning and ask for pupils' cooperation. No motivational attempts will function if there is no underlying readiness to learn or even an aversion to music or more specifically to the piano. Pupils will have large quantities of homework, however, the amount will always be realistic and individually tailored. Although taking exams is under certain circumstances a positive undertaking I do not advise spending the entire practice time familiarising oneself with exam materials exclusively following the so-called three-pieces-between-the-grades system. Building up reading and technical skills without a much larger quantity of systematically compiled pieces, studies, exercises etc. would be a rather unrealistic undertaking. Learning only three pieces per year will not enable one to progress to diploma level or further.

Please go to the sections for Lessons for Beginners and Advanced Pupils, Children and Adults for more information.

Students' Successes

Pupils have earned distinctions, 1st prizes, gold medals and further top prizes in ABRSM exams, competitions and festivals such as:
Please check the News page for further information.

Schedule

Lessons can be scheduled from 9am to 10pm Sunday to Thursday and from 9am to 2pm on Friday. The exact schedule changes from term to term, please get in touch to inquire about specific availabilities and locations.

Teacher's Qualifications

  • MMus in Advanced Musical Studies / Musicology from Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, supervised by Dr. Stephen Rose
  • MMus in Piano Performance and Research (+ second study harpsichord and clavichord) from the Royal Academy of Music, London, UK, studying with Piers Lane, Kathryn Stott, Virginia Black
  • LRAM Teaching Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, UK
  • Diplom in Hauptfach Klavier / Degree in Solo Piano Performance from the Universität der Künste, Berlin, Germany, studying with Prof. Pascal Devoyon
  • Diplom in Piano from the Tchaikovsky School of Arts, St Petersburg, Russia, studying with Valentina Nikiforova



Teacher's Professional Memberships

ISM Incorporated Society of Musicians