LIBERTY LAKE LEARNING CENTER

Joan Peters

Owner & Teacher

Music is the Universal Language of Mankind........Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 
Private piano lessons are offered Monday through Friday after school and on Saturdays. Materials are included.

Private piano lessons can be a rewarding way to channel creativity and learning. Students will be taught proper usage of the pedal, correct posture, effective practicing techniques, patterns in melody and rhythm, sight-reading skills, physical coordination, and auditory and visual skills.

Please contact Joan Peters for times and availability.

*There will be no refunds for missed lessons. Missed lessons due to illness or emergencies  can be made up at a later time or credited.

 ABOUT ME:

I have been playing the piano since age seven. I was born with a significant vision problem (severe astigmatism, strabismus) and I also have an auditory processing problem. Music was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to strengthen  my auditory skills due to my poor visual skills as I learned to play the piano by ear. By age ten, I taught myself to read music. In addition to playing the piano, I taught myself to play the flute and the guitar. Music enabled me to develop both excellent visual and auditory memory skills.

In sixth grade, I auditioned for and played the flute in a community orchestra, Symphony By The Sea, for gifted and talented students. At age 14, I chose the piano as my main instrument. I was accepted into USC's Performing Arts Annex, which is a music program for the young and gifted. I studied at the PAA with master pianist John Weisenfluh until I went to college. During my high school years, I had my own chamber music group with a cellist and a flautist. I competed in numerous competitions and participated in Baroque Festivals in Southern California. At 16, I was accepted and attended a summer music program in Sewanee, Tennessee. While in Tennessee, I studied with concert pianist, William Ransom. At age 18, I was accepted into USC's School of Music and received a BM in Piano Performance. I had the privilege of working with master concert pianists John Perry, Daniel Pollack, Alicia de Larrocha, Eduardo Delgado, and Ilana Vered.

 The gift that music has given me is that I have developed a very structured, organized approach to teaching and learning as well as pure enjoyment. Many of the same principles overlap and can be applied to any type of learning. I have developed ways of teaching students to use their visual, auditory, physical, and cognitive skills to organize and learn new information.

Because playing an instrument uses all parts of the brain, it is an excellent choice for helping students develop parts of their brains in order to learn, think, organize, read, write, and do math. Playing an instrument, based on my own experience and my experience in teaching others, has had a tremendous effect on processing skills, especially auditory skills because music teaches one to listen carefully to themselves and to others while playing individually and in groups.