Piano Lessons in Denton

Greetings! I am Matt and look forward to helping you along with your piano journey. I have been a pianist all my life and I was passionate about sharing the beauty that I felt from the classics at a young age. I began self-teaching at age 11 and by age 13 I was giving concert lectures to the schools, retirement homes, hospitals, etc. in my local area. At 14 I began studying with former Drake University chair George Katz. When I was 16, I won an international concerto competition and had my debut with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. I have had the pleasure of studying with some great artists over the years, most notably 1985 Cliburn Gold Medalist José Feghali. For several years I was both his student and assistant. We did some very exciting work.

These days, I am a student of Chopin and his novel, ergonomic piano method which was almost lost to history. My main focus will be that you have an ease and comfort of playing, and that you will always discover new paths to freedom with the instrument. My hope is that I can enable you to explore the great piano literature in a pain-free, fun way. In many ways, it is an holistic approach. I employ supplemental lessons from Bartok and Bach, and usually ask that you split your time between these things and what you are most excited to learn yourself.

Throughout my life I have studied technique. I came to a point where I was learning the four Ballades of Chopin and ran into the problem that all printed editions of his works contained contradictory indications. Trying to get to the bottom of 'what was real' I turned to his original manuscripts. What I discovered was very interesting: Chopin had a way of both teaching and playing piano that differed from all of his contemporaries. This was not apparent from any printed edition. Reviewing his original material, made accessible through The Chopin Museum in Warsaw and the Biblioteque in Paris, I saw that his original instructions were never followed by engravers; the only exception being the first French Edition. After more than a decade of research and study, I have reconstructed this method and can demonstrate and teach it. Learning his approach required years of unlearning my traditional piano technique, but now I have the benefit of truly knowing the difference it makes. I have unlocked a piano technique that allows a freedom at the keyboard that I had not found in the modern era, despite having some of the best teachers. That is how I became a 'Chopinologist' and how I learned which 'rules' should be broken.

It is this unique approach to the piano that I offer. It provides a profound freedom of expression through a few simple methods, such as a unique turning of the hand during play, that I have validated with modern kinesthetic and physiological research (and some trigonometry).

I look forward to hearing from you.