Jesse C. TakeLessons Instructor Music, Piano, Organ, Keyboards Scripture St., Denton, TX

Hi, my name is Jesse C., and I'm a professional pianist. A mother of one of my students once told me that "no childhood is complete without piano lessons", and that statement has really resonated with me. It has been proven that piano lessons help in so many other areas of a child or teenager's life (and adults too!), whether it be academically (i.e. math, languages, etc.) or intellectually.

I have taught people of all ages, from 4 until adults, and I try to tailor my teaching methods to suit the needs and the age of the student. I like to keep things fun and try to bring out the creativity that is brewing in the student, and set reasonable goals that can be attained through steady practice. I can teach students songs that they would like to learn and also teach (through ear-training) how to learn songs quickly by ear (just by hearing it on the radio or an ipod).

I started playing piano at age 10 (along with clarinet and violin), and I have a BFA from the Mannes College of Music/New School in Jazz Piano/Organ Performance. I have played and recorded all over the U.S., Europe, and Asia in many different styles of music, including Jazz, Rock, Classical and Brazilian. I also have a lot of experience playing and teaching organ and other keyboards/synths as well as piano. I have been teaching steadily for the past 7 years, and I just moved to Denton, TX from New York. My favorite band is The Beatles. 

I am a pretty laid back teacher, but I do expect and hope that the student will practice on his or her own during the week. This is really essential. I believe that practicing even 10 minutes per day 6 days a week is a lot better than practicing for one hour one day a week. This is because there are a lot of mechanical and technical things with the fingers that really need daily repetition for them to "sink in". These daily routines also help with memorization and ear-training. I like to incorporate ear-training and theory into piano lessons as well, because that is how I learned piano and it has always helped me with learning songs by ear (as I said in the Biography section). One of the great things about this ear-training is that it gives you the ability to hear a song and then play it on the piano.

I like to teach improvisation (I have been a jazz musician for many years) even with the youngest students, because it really brings out the students' creativity and musicality, and it's FUN!! I also incorporate composition and songwriting, which can be very rewarding. We also learn how to read and write music. As far as a curriculum, I use books from the Piano Adventures series, which is a great series of books that really covers every facet of piano playing. I also write my own exercises and various piano games to keep things fun. But mainly, I try to adapt my teaching program to suit the needs and learning style of the student. If he or she wants to just learn some pop or rock songs, I can do that; if the student wants to become a serious advanced classical pianist, we can work on that; if the student wants help with learning jazz standards and how to improvise over them, we can do that; I can also teach adult students that studied piano when they were younger and want to "re-learn"; and finally students young or old that have never had a piano lesson and want to start from scratch. 

jazz, classical, rock/pop/soul, Brazilian music, theory/ear-training, songwriting, composition

Mannes College of Music/New School - Jazz Performance on Piano/Organ - 1997-2001 (degree received)

Music, Piano, Organ, Keyboards