Maxwell H.

Primarily, I\'ve been taught from a classical perspective. My interests shifted to jazz when I reached young adulthood, and it is what I studied when I was working on my bachelor\'s degree. As you can imagine, anything technical that I am teaching will stem from Opera, while stylistically it will stem from Jazz. Of course, if your interests beyond technique and style extend to areas otherwise, I will do my best to implement my knowledge of those areas and any training that I have had in them. I will, to the best of my ability, incorporate my expertise to your personal interests. I will not be the teacher that makes you work on things or think of things in ways that you do not feel pertain to you, personally.

My ability and knowledge of the piano stems from theory. I didn\'t learn the piano as one would learn an instrument, but rather learned how to make musical things and ideas work theoretically and then used the piano as a conduit by which I could demonstrate them or put them to the test. When I teach the piano--be it beginner or intermediate--my focus will be teaching you how to access a musical/mathematical thinking process in the piano\'s image. For example, we wouldn\'t be working through charts until you\'re able to think about the chart as a whole, I won\'t simply be teaching you chord structures and melodic lines. Of course, just as with anything, I am open to any ideas you might have, and will listen to your concerns and preferences wholeheartedly.

In my time as a composer, I have gone through many phases and have found a comfortable process for writing in many veins. Idealistically, my songwriting lands on one group: Steely Dan. Haha, not that I\'ll only be teaching you to write in this style, but I think their attention to detail regarding all aspects of the chart concept, lyrics, arrangement, modal interchange/harmony, etc. is pinnacle. When we\'re working on a song together, I\'ll do my best to help you give equally great attention to all of these areas until the song communicates what you hope to convey as effectively as possible.