Piano with Dustin W.

Hear me play! soundcloud.com/dbward/rachmaninoff Dustin W. became interested in piano while growing up in a musical home. His eldest brother was an accomplished pianist from an early age so it was an easy choice for Dustin to also study music at age 8. Piano is something Dustin has always enjoyed. While in high school, Dustin not only played for the school choir but also played in the jazz band as well as sang bass in his school's Chamber ensemble. Dustin started playing piano in 1995. While attending Pepperdine University in 2005 on full merit/music scholarship, Dustin began to give piano lessons to young students in the area as well as his fellow classmates who needed help on improving their performance. This allowed Dustin to hone his skills in teaching both beginner and advanced level students. Dustin has received several awards for his piano performance ability, most namely his graduation from the California Certificate of Merit at age 18 as well as several other competitive awards in the concerto, Bach, and Sonata competitions. Currently, Dustin continues to practice 2-3 hours a day of piano to reinforce the skills learned through his piano career, as well as test out his new teaching ideas and musical interpretations. He mostly plays for his students as well as his young son Landon so his kids can grow up in a musical environment. The highlight of his music career is being able to take what was taught to him by his favorite and very accomplished teacher, Mr. Krystrof Brzuza, and apply that to his own students. This helped him be a teacher to many wonderful students he picked up over the years. Dustin has also taught piano in Shanghai where he built up a full studio in 5 years. The saddest part for Dustin when leaving Shanghai was leaving his piano studio. Some of Dustin's students have gone on to study various majors with musical minors due to Dustin bringing out their love of music. Other students were much younger and would be left with another bright teacher in Shanghai. Having wonderful students is why he began teaching, having them grow to love music and continue music throughout their life is why he continues to teach. As long as he can help his students learn to not only enjoy music but to keep it with them their entire lives, then he know that he has been successful with that student whether they are 6 years old or 56 years old. *** Lesson Details *** For beginners to Intermediate I use the Bastien piano books which I have found have the best balance for teaching both technical ability as well as love of music and song. For advanced students I focus on tailor-making the repertoire to fit what kind of music my student enjoys as well as will improve them in technical/musical areas that are lacking. Generally I follow the one from each of the major periods plan for older students, e.g. 1 Baroque, 1 Classical, 1 Romantic, 1 Contemporary. This gives each student a good exposure to different types of compositions as well as experience in playing varied types of music. *** Specialties *** While experienced in teaching young students to love music, Dustin specializes in taking intermediate students who are skilled and turning them into advanced Pianists who will both excel at piano performance as well as learn to love piano for the rest of their lives.