| Piano Lessons | |
| Contact | Click here to go to Contact page. |
| Rate | Payment each month is the same flat amount, based on 46 lessons per year. Please contact for actual rate. |
| Location | Northwest Reno, very near McQueen High School. |
| Ages & Levels | Ages 6 through 155 accepted (age 5 on rare occasions). Beginning through very advanced students accepted. |
| Student Recitals | Chad puts on three recitals per year for students. There is no additional charge for these recitals. Recital performances are recorded digitally, and students get immediate feedback by listening to their own performances in the lesson following the recital. When students accumulate 50-60 minutes of recorded recital time, they get their own CD chronologically detailing their progress over the years. Chad uses his unique experience and training in audio engineering and graphic design to produce the CD professionally (including the removal of performance mistakes). Click here to see and hear these student CDs. Click here to see past programs of all of Chad's past student recitals. If you would like to attend a recital, information on the next upcoming recital will be found here. |
| Piano Classes | Held six times per year, piano classes serve as a less formal way of getting performance experience in a fun group setting of 4-8 students. |
| Special Events | Chad spends a great deal of outside lesson time enabling students to participate in events such as additional outside recitals, festivals, competitions, master classes and workshops, all of which are made possible by the Northern Nevada Music Teachers Association. More importantly, he ensures his students enter such events with a very healthy mental attitude: win or lose, high rating or low rating, these events are learning experiences and primarily for fun - there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. Some teachers completely isolate themselves and their students from any events outside of their own studio, and this is nothing short of tragic. It is no worse for a teacher to force all students down the road of becoming concert pianists than it is for a teacher to hide the world of festivals and competitions from all of their students. Every teacher has students who are eager to be judged in festivals and competitions. Some are motivated by trophies and awards, while others simply feel it pushes them to do their best. No matter what the motivation, there are many students of many teachers out there who are being denied part of the fun and challenge they seek through music. |
| Technology | Students are encouraged to spend 15 minutes per week before or after their normally-scheduled lesson using ear training and theory software on the studio computer. Chad uses ear-training software to accomodate all ages and levels of music. When students advance beyond basic theory/ear training software, they move on to collegiate-level software that would normally constitute a two-year program for college music majors. |
| Results | Many of Chad's former students have received music scholarships after graduating from high school, and numerous students of his have gone into teaching careers themselves. And because of the high standards Chad sets for his students, they always feel confident when participating in outside musical events. For example, in the Reno Youth Music Festival, the overall percentage of students in northern Nevada who achieve ratings of "Superior" or higher is usually between 50% and 75%. Within Chad's studio, 43 out of 46 participating students have received these high ratings over the course of the last eight festivals (9 out of the 43 received highly-coveted "Distinction" ratings which must be unanimous among the judges). The security of knowing one is backed by excellent teaching is invaluable when a student is in a judged performance situation. |
| History | Chad gives regular assignments to research composers. There are a total of 40 composer portraits that are framed on the studio walls (five at a time), and a new composer is introduced every month. The research assignments are very small and quick, and the focus of each assignment is for students to simply develop their own general opinions about composers and their music. |
| Adults | Chad is one of the most accomodating teachers for adult students in the area. Although he encourages all students to play in recitals, often adults do not want to play in recitals because of the excess "nerve baggage" they carry when compared to younger students. That is why adults especially enjoy the 3 adult-only recital/potlucks held each year (each time held at a different adult's house). Chad usually has between 10-15 adult students. |
| NCTM | Chad is an NCTM (Nationally Certified Teacher of Music) member of the Music Teachers National Association. He engages in further pedagogical and professional training by reading MTNA's American Music Teacher magazine cover to cover and by attending workshops and conventions. MTNA certification is the closest a teacher can come in the U.S. to having an official "license" to teach. The U.S. is one of the only countries in the world that doesn't require a license to teach music to you or your child. National certification through the MTNA is not as academically rigorous as what Chad went through to get his Masters in Piano Performance degree, but NCTM status does show one thing that academic degrees cannot show: devotion to teaching. Teachers must renew their certification every year for 10 years to become permanently certified, and this can only be done by accumulating "points" that result from the teacher and students being musically active. Chad is proud to be part of a system that not only encourages teachers to be competent and continue their training, but also reaches out to make the public more aware of how to select a good teacher. |
| Education / Honors / Experience |
Masters in Piano Performance, University of Nevada, Reno (2001) Bachelors in Piano Performance, University of Nevada, Reno (1999) Bachelors in Mathematics, University of Nevada, Reno (1999) Minor in Computer Information Systems, University of Nevada, Reno (1999) Recipient of the 2005 Nevada Arts Council Fellowship Grant in music composition, given to three artists in the state of Nevada each year Recipient of the 1999 UNR Excellence Fellowship, the most competitive fellowship given to graduate students at UNR Accompanied the University of Nevada, Reno Symphonic Chorus for two years, playing orchestral reductions to works such as the Brahms Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Mass in D minor, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, etc. Pianist at South Reno United Methodist Church since 1994, playing for two services and accompanying the choir every week in all styles of music. |
| Testimonials | "I'm really grateful that you are my piano teacher - that's probably one of the best things that's happened to me. You're a great mentor!" - Former student who is now a piano teacher herself "Thank you for showing so much effort as my teacher, especially when you are so busy preparing for your recital. By seeing the way you play, it really helps me to see the possibilities." - Inspired student "If I never thanked you for 'encouraging' me to play in a recital, I would like to now. What I thought would be one of the worst evenings of my life turned out to be one of the BEST." - Adult student "I want you to know how much I appreciate what you are doing for both of my children. Not only are you teaching them so well but you are inspiring them about classical music. In my view, that is the very best a parent can hope for, that their children find their passions and become inspired - keep up the good work." - Appreciative parent |
| Contact | Click here to go to Contact page. |