Lorraine Liyanage describes how she came to be teaching piano in East Dulwich - and offers August discounts on lessons to Dulwich OnView readers.
Leave a comment to take part in a prize draw for free lessons, see below.
Since moving to East Dulwich just over a year ago, I have started to build up a thriving and diverse practice of piano pupils, with an age range of 5 to 75.
I have been teaching for the past 14 years now at various private piano schools throughout London, mostly in Ealing, my hometown, and Islington, where I lived for 7 years prior to moving to East Dulwich.
I studied with Denise Patton, a professor at the Royal College of Music, and she employed me from the age of 16 to teach her youngest pupils. This was invaluable experience whilst studying my A Level music and towards my piano performance diploma. I worked for many years for Denise, before and after qualifying as a piano teacher. Having such an esteemed mentor and employer has provided me with a fantastic resource to draw upon during my teaching career. Of course, teaching is a never-ending process of continual learning and each new pupil brings new challenges to me as a teacher.
After many years of teaching classical music, I ventured into studying jazz piano and improvisation at the London Centre for Contemporary Music in Southwark as I was constantly encountering musicians and singers who were inviting me to jam sessions. I have performed live at several venues such as Turnmills in Clerkenwell, Barden’s Boudoir and The Colony Rooms in Soho. I also ran a successful cabaret club at Turnmills for 3 years.
Many of my pupils wish to follow the graded system which is a good way of measuring your progress. I teach all levels, from grades 1 – 8 and also prepare students for their post-grade 8 piano diplomas. However, the graded system doesn’t suit all pupils, particularly adults, and I adopt an approach of getting to know the pupil and their musical styles and preferences in order to keep them stimulated and eager to practice.
How much practice is enough?
I encourage pupils to try and play daily as this is the best way to ensure the fastest progress. For younger pupils, 10 minutes a day practice would be ideal; for older pupils, perhaps 20-30 minutes. I encourage pupils to not only learn their scales and pieces but to listen to various styles of music too.
Quite often, my adult pupils find that juggling the commitments of parenthood or busy jobs means that they don’t always have time to practice during the week. So I suggest that they come for a lesson every fortnight instead of every week. Maybe then they will practise enough to make it worthwhile coming for lessons!
Special offer for new pupils via Dulwich OnView
I am offering lessons at a discounted rate of £25 for an hour, and £15 for half an hour during August. Please email me on lorraine.liyanage@mac.com or call 0208 299 6037and mention Dulwich OnView in the email subject heading.
Usual rates are £35 an hour, and £20 for half an hour. For pupils who pay in advance, discounts are available on pre-paid lessons.
And 2 free lessons for winners of the prize draw
Lorraine has kindly offered 2 lucky Dulwich OnView readers a half hour piano lesson free, worth £20 each.
All you have to do to stand a chance of winning the lessons is to add a relevant comment to any article on Dulwich OnView between now and the end of August. We will pick the name of two commenters at random on 31st August 2008 and notify the winners by email. Please see our prize draw rules for more information.
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