Piano Lessons by Sophi

Our Philosophy and Our Mission

Sophi's goal is to guide students in becoming musically literate by learning to play piano musically and expressively.

Our mission is for students to develop a lifelong passion for playing and creating music at the piano.

We teach students to understand that progress in playing piano musically with an artistry, good technique and expression take time and commitment. It is a process that takes a lifetime to achieve because there is so much to learn besides playing correct notes and rhythm; phrasing, tone color, interpreting the composer’s original ideas and exploring composer’s character, developing a proper technique to produce a beautiful sound and the list goes on and on.

It is important to understand that music is an Art. Sophi teaches children and students to think of playing piano as painting a picture with music using a variety of tone colors. We encourage students to always practice with a musical expression, not just working on pure technical practicing. 
 

Here is a summary of Sophi's Teaching Philosophy and Foundation:

Sophi will teach students to follow and comprehend thoroughly all the markings in music, such as fingering, dynamics changes, voicing, pedaling, balancing the sound correctly, producing a beautiful sound and etc. 

Aural skills are reinforced by teaching students to sing the music before playing or singing music in one’s mind. This is a very important skill to learn that teaches students to imagine the sound before it arrives. It is called “Inner Hearing”. This is one of the reasons why learning notation by Solfege notes, such as Do, RE, Mi, Fa is so important. 

Careful instruction is placed on solid technical training in order to produce a singing tone by teaching students to play correctly with relaxed shoulders, arms, and learning to transfer weight from the upper part of the body to the fingertips. 

Ms. Sophi hopes students will develop confidence in themselves and in their musical abilities, including a life-long appreciation and love of music. 

As Adele Marcus (1906-95) pianist and the outstanding piano teacher said: “I want to create musicians, not mere mimics, each with their own unique heart, soul, mind and musical gifts. With each student, I endeavor to instill a love for the piano and for all music.”

“Teaching is a hard work, but in my teaching the end result has to be good.”