One of Nicole’s great passions is teaching the piano. Nicole provides one-to-one piano lessons with each session designed around the individual. So whether the student’s passion is for Bach or for Beyonce, Nicole tailors the lessons to suit their needs but also encourages each student to develop their musical horizons by introducing them to new work or new ideas. Because of Nicole’s natural musical ear she is also skilled in being able to create a piano arrangement of a student’s favourite song pitched at exactly their pianistic level to help keep their lessons fun, relevant and engaging.
Nicole also believes passionately in providing her students with a strong musical foundation to give them skills to help them discover music for themselves at home or in the wider world. Each student is taught to read music in a simple, practical way – the students learn music theory but it is always music theory in practice so it is easier to understand and not just a dry, theoretical study. Nicole teaches that at the heart of all learning is an ability to fully understand the musical and to have a strong rhythm and pulse to everything they play. Beyond that students are taught to play expressively and with feeling and are encouraged to listen to a wide variety of music to help further develop these ideas. Because of Nicole’s songwriting and vocal expertise, she is also able to combine these ideas into a students’ piano lesson if this is of interest to them. Nicole has developed an excellent method of training students for piano exams and has a 100% success rate in all areas with many of her students achieving distinctions in their exams.
Nicole is also delighted to help anyone who has always wanted to learn the piano but who might feel they’ve left it too late. Her oldest beginner student so far was 70 and did remarkably well.
The ideal age to start piano lessons is around 7 years old but Nicole accepts students at any age above 7 - especially adults - and will happily teach a one- off assessment lesson to anyone younger than 7 to check whether they’re at a suitable age to start. This is principally to assess a child’s fine motor skills and the control they have in their fingers. Every child is different and Nicole is very happy to discuss and meet each individual.
It is sometimes thought that a beginner can teach themselves or be taught by a friend or parent. In fact learning the foundation of piano skills and setting in place good piano habits right for the start is crucial to each students’ success at the piano. This can only be done by a fully qualified, experienced teacher like Nicole.
To discuss your individually needs or to book a lesson or purchase a gift voucher for a course of lessons, please get in touch with Nicole Dawson.