Piano Lessons in Starkville

I'm Dr. Bill Harned. I am a 4th generation native of the Starkville area. I have a doctorate in piano performance. I specialize in classical styles and can also teach how to read chord charts for popular music. I had 3 students place in a state competition in the past 2 years.

I have performed in Italy, France, Macedonia, Austria, and Canada. I received my BA in Music from Mississippi State, in addition to a BS in Computer Engineering. I received an MM from LSU and a Doctor of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado.

In 2019 he played supporting keyboard at Bigfork Summer Playhouse in Bigfork, Montana to produce 4 musical theater shows for the summer with a 5-piece band, having to switch among about 20 sounds for each show. Recently he served as a judge for the 2025 Miss Mississippi Teen pageant in Vicksburg.

For the World Piano Conference based out of Serbia, Bill presented “An Assessment of Technical Exercises for Piano Majors” in Serbia in 2017. For the 2021 World Piano Conference, Bill submitted a document about the preservation of Afro-centric cross-rhythms with Caribbean rhythmic notations from his dissertation findings. For the 2022 World Piano Conference Online Edition Bill digitally presented “Performance Practice of Misalignment in Stylized Compositions of the Haitian Méringue.” Then for the 2023 World Piano Conference he digitally presented “Tresillo-Based Rhythms in Art Music Compositions of the Caribbean and a Quantitative Categorization for Syncopated Rhythms.”

At the 2023 MTNA National Conference in Reno, Nevada he presented “Performance Practice of Innovative Caribbean Rhythmic Notations in Stylized Compositions of the Haitian Méringue.” In September 2023 he presented “Uses and Categories of Syncopated Rhythm Notation in Piano Art Music from Haiti (Méringue-Quintolet), Puerto Rico (Elastic Tresillo) and Cuba (Cinquillo)” at the symposium “Valorisation des Répertoires Musicaux Classiques Afro-Diasporiques” in Montreal where the SRDMH archive is publicizing its new digital editions of Haitian classical music. He also presented the closing performance of Julio Racine’s Vodou Jazz Flute Sonata with the SRDMH founder’s wife, Edith.