About The Studio

Play!

I believe that in order for a person to be successful at most any activity, s/he needs to feel good and enjoy him/herself the majority of the time that s/he is doing the activity. ‘Play!’ Piano Studio was intentionally named because of its double meaning: to “play” (have fun) while you’re putting in the effort to learn and to “play” the piano. My goal is to not only teach you how to play the piano and read music, but also to help you ENJOY THE PROCESS of learning to play the piano and foster your LOVE of music.

We’ll work out of a lesson book each week for you to learn the musical concepts, but in addition, you’re also welcome to play any music that you’re interested in. It can be funk, blues, pop, rock, country, folk, classical, sacred, Broadway tunes, Disney tunes, movie themes, or otherwise. (My favorites are: 70s and 80s music, disco, funk, big band, and jazz, so if you love those, too, you’ve come to the right place!)

This studio teaches both classical and modern music, so most anything is welcome as long as it’s within your ability to play it! And we also LOVE to collaborate and perform with other musicians from our own studio, and from outside our studio, too (including family and friends), and we welcome singers and all kinds of different instruments! (Students are always encouraged to perform, but please know that no one is ever required to.)

Along with several well-known classical pieces, below is a list of tunes that students have performed in the Student Showcases (recitals) over the years, most of which they selected on their own!

Rock/Pop/Country/Folk Music

Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) - performed with piano, a lead singer, electric guitar, and a small chorus
Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey) - piano and voice
Starfish And Coffee (Prince) - piano and voice
I Don’t Want To Be (Gavin DeGraw) - piano and voice
When I Was Your Man (Bruno Mars) - piano and voice
The Sound Of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel)
A Thousand Years (Christina Perri)
The Book of Love (Peter Gabriel) - with piano, voice, and electric guitar
Welcome To New York (Taylor Swift)
Lost Boy (Ruth B.) - piano and voice
Hey Jude (Beatles)
Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) - piano and voice
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd) - piano and voice
At Last (Etta James)
Rainbow (Kacie Musgraves) - piano and voice
Beat It (Michael Jackson)
Georgia On My Mind, and Hit The Road, Jack (Ray Charles) - piano and voice
It’s Time, and Demons (Imagine Dragons) - piano and voice
Rockin’ Robin
This Land Is Your Land
Instrumental (Dodie)
Song For Sienna (Brian Crain)
Cupid, Send Me, A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) - piano and voice
Fireflies (Adam Young)

Music from Movies, Broadway, and Video Games

Burn (from Hamilton) - piano and voice
City Of Stars (from La La Land) - piano and voice
Married Life (from ‘Up’)
You’ve Got A Friend In Me (from Toy Story) - piano and voice
Hedwig’s Theme (from Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone)
The Sandlot - with 2 piano parts and 7 percussion parts
Angels In The Outfield
Ghostbusters II
Jaws
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
The Polar Express
Beverly (from “It”)
The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme from The Empire Strikes Back)
Star Wars – Main Theme
Colors Of The Wind (from Disney’s Pocahontas)
Pink Panther
Across The Universe
Over The Rainbow
The Legend Of Zelda
The Avengers Theme Song
The Adventure Begins (Kirby’s Return To Dreamland)
Battlefield 1943

Jazz, Disco, Funk, Blues/Ragtime

A Fifth of Beethoven (Walter Murphy)
Blue Rondo A La Turk (Dave Brubeck)
Take Five (Desmond/Dave Brubeck)
Linus and Lucy (Vince Guaraldi)
The Entertainer (Scott Joplin)