John is a fantastic instructor. He has a love for educating others on musical expression and he is a wellspring of musical knowledge. He provides a depth to the piano that I wouldn't have noticed if I taught myself how to play.

John emphasized how to shape musical phrases to make music as opposed to a collection of notes. He had a good ear for honing in on my weaknesses such as how some notes that I played stuck out or the movement of my arms. Most importantly, he taught me how to approach practicing the piano in an effective way. I learned how to listen to myself and how give each note, phrase, and piece the attention and musicality it needed to sound beautifully.

For an adult learner as myself, he was accommodating with how busy I was. He adjusted to my needs and work schedule and taught at a reasonable pace. However, he also never veered from his expectations and praised what I was doing right and provided methods to fix what I was doing wrong.

Although there were times when John expressed his passion for music by delving into tangents on the broader historical significance of pieces, his mini-lectures were never irrelevant nor inappropriate. For example, he commented on how in waltzes, the rhythm on the left hand would need to emulate how a Romantic era string section would play it. For anyone who is serious about how or why pieces of music are meant to be played in a certain way, John is great about contextualizing pieces to make them sound great.

Most importantly, he made practicing piano something that was both enjoyable and challenging, which is difficult to find in a teacher. I owe a great deal of my musicianship to John and he met my expectations of learning the piano. Thank you!