FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
I book students by the semester. Students can sign up for a trial package of three lessons at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters, with the fee for three lessons due at the first lesson. After the trial, if the family decides to keep going with lessons, they will pay for the remainder of the lessons as a one-time payment or spread out over the remainder of the semester in two parts. The fall 2017 semester will begin on Sept 19. 30-minute lessons: $30, 45minute lessons: $42, 1 hour lessons: $55.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
In our first lesson, I will ask both the student and parent(s) questions about their musical background, desires/interests and goals/dreams so that I can get a sense of how to best tailor that student's lesson experience. We will do some simple activities (depending on the student's level) at the piano so that the student and parents can get a sense of my teaching style, and we will make a plan for what we want to accomplish together.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I am a lifelong performing musician and music teacher, with two college degrees in piano (B.M. and M.M., Mannes College, the New School for Music). Additionally, I attended the Special Music School in Voronezh, Russia from age 11 to 18, where I specialized in piano playing and teaching. I am a registered Suzuki Piano teacher, and have committed to extensive independent study in the field of piano pedagogy in order to remain knowledgeable on current and best practices in the field, and so that I may best serve my students. Lastly, I learned a great deal about teaching the piano from my mother, who taught in our home in Russia full-time for most of my childhood. My mother saw potential in every child she encountered, and made a name for herself in our city as a talented and devoted educator. When she was teaching, entry standards to music studies in the school were strictly regulated, and only those children deemed "talented" were allowed to take lessons. My mother rebelled against this policy, and took a special group of kids into her studio who had not "made the cut". One year later, these kids were in many cases outperforming the children who had been labeled as superior from the superficial entrance exam. I, too, believe that every child has a unique potential, and I believe that it is my job as their teacher to find a way to work with them to bring out that potential. This process gives me great joy, and I am also grateful to be following in my mother's footsteps.