Delaware Piano lessons ~ Ben Perry
My wife and I teach beginning, intermediate, and advanced private piano lessons from our home in Newark, Delaware, which is just north of Bear and east of Elkton, Maryland. Our studio is comprised of a baby grand piano and a digital keyboard. I have written music software that interacts with the digital keyboard so that students can receive instant feedback and learn at an accelerated pace. Games such as "Falling Notes" and "Note Sharks" will speed up note recognition and association of note to keyboard. I have also written ear-training software that will help students learn note intervals.
or call me at (302) 368-5373 to set up an appointment. I have been a piano teacher for a few years now and I have a bachelor's degree in Music (Piano Performance) from Manhattan Christian College. Visit my CD page for a sample of my music.
Rates: 30 minutes: $25 | 60 minutes: $35
Multiple students from the same family will receive a 25% discount on all students. If you refer me to another student and that student chooses me as a teacher, you will get a free lesson!Beginners
I have a slightly different approach for teaching piano to beginners. I believe that beginners are often overwhelmed with the amount of information presented to them when they first try to learn piano. I place a heavy emphasis on first learning how a piano sounds and not so much on learning that the middle note is a "C". I was inspired by how well blind and severely handicapped people were able to successfully play the piano faster and better than non-handicapped students without ever having to learn a single sheet of music. The piano offers instant feedback, and that feedback is the key to learning. Once the student is familiar with the sounds and intervals, then the focus is shifted towards learning notes and such.
Intermediates
Scales and theory are the most important to me for intermediate students. I make sure that students are very familiar with the building blocks of scales. It is more important to me that intermediate students are able to "build" a scale rather than have the scale memorized. Naturally, the more the students play a scale, the more memorized it becomes. But rote memorization is not the key to learning.. our memories play tricks on us and we'll forget over time. There are over 36 basic scales that intermediate students should be able to play, and trying to memorize 36 different scales can be an arduous task. However, my style of teaching is to require that students memorize only three basic scale equations (Major: wwhwwwh, Minor: whwwhww, Harmonic Minor: whwwhWh). Then the student can apply an equation to any of the 12 notes and instantly "know" the scale rather than having to memorize it note for note. My goal for intermediate students is to be capable of memorizing longer songs and have a solid theory base. I will teach a very good style of memorization and practice.
Advanced
Advanced students already have an arsenal of scales, can memorize complex songs, and have played every style from Bach to Rock. I focus on even more theory, abstract styles, and whatever the student wants to pursue. My goal is to provide the advanced student with enough theory that they can pass a college freshman or sophomore level theory course without even breaking a sweat.