Teaching Approach

I have a solid teaching experience as piano and music theory teacher, preparing students for examinations, competitions and public performances. I teach pupils of mixed ages and abilities, including advanced pupils who are willing to develop their musical skills further. Several of my pupils have won piano awards and many regularly perform in Eisteddfodau and Piano Competitions, both nationally and internationally.

One of the requirements of my approach is that parents of young children observe the lessons and take an active role during home practicing. Taking notes and recording the lessons are encouraged especially for parents who do not have a musical background. This allows the child to learn how to practise more effectively (see my research paper on parental involvement - Maria Rosaria Margiotta, Parental support in the development of young musicians: a teacher’s perspective from a small-scale study of piano students and their parents, Australian Journal of Music Education, 2011/1, p. 16-30).

Great emphasis is placed on sound production since the very early ages and students are taught how to listen to sound and appreciate its qualities.

All students are encouraged to explore 4-hand and 6-hand playing, as through ensemble playing children are able to consolidate aspects related to rhythm, tempo, dynamic variation and in particular, they learn to listen to each other, developing musical awareness in a fun way.

I am always interested in new methods to teach musicianship to very young children, including keyboard harmony. I have successfully used the Tobin Music System which is a very effective multi-sensory method that allows children to become musically literate by a very young age (for more information read my article published in the Music Teacher journal, From Playtime to Playing in Time.pdf).

I strongly encourage all students to perform publicly and for this reason most of them perform in concerts, competitions, festivals and masterclassess throughout the year.