Reviews for Upper West Side piano lessons instructors
Duc n.
Nadav is awesome! He is very enthusiastic, professional, patient, and understand what his students need. His lessons are filled with both practices and theories which not only help me to play the musics but also understand and enjoy them. I’m a beginner and have been self-teaching myself how to play the piano. But with Nadav’s help, I feel like learning a lot so I would highly recommend taking Nadav’s lessons.
Nadav Nazarathy Piano
Megumi O.
It’s never easy to pick your piano teacher, especially when you’re a beginner. David demonstrated a great deal of professionalism and patience in the first (trial) lesson. Before I met David, I already tried few teachers and was very uncertain about whether I should begin my piano journey or not. Not only is David experienced in performing but he’s also dedicated in teaching, and he’s passionate about finding the right method for each student.
He’s a trustworthy teacher who’s relentless on sharing his own musical experiences and teaching his methodology in great details. How to relax your arms, how to put your weight while practicing, how to read music,(as a beginner) how to overcome obstacles physically and psychologically. Through his methods, I was able to approach music more efficiently. After very few lessons, I began to feel some improvement and stated to feel the joy in solving problems. And now I’m increasing my lessons from one-hour to two-hour per week. This is definitely the best musical decision I’ve made and I’d recommend David to anyone who’s interested in learning piano and music theory.
David Chang Music - Online and Brooklyn, NY
Ryan M.
Our 4 years old daughter started a single 30 minute pianolesson a week with David just little short of 2 months ago. After two weeks, she asked to increased to 45 minute lesson twice a week as she wanted more time with him as she found it fun and exciting. In such a short period of time from an absolute beginner, she can already play a variety of songs on her own and starting to read simple music notes. This could not have been achieved without David. David is not only friendly but extremely patient and creates such a wonderful environment that our daughter is excited to go to her next lesson with him and asks often when will she sees him next.
In addition to playing the piano, both of our daughters (the 4 year old, and our 2 year old) take 30 minute percussion lessons right after the pianolessons. David encourages our whole family to participate as he explains the concepts and methods of different instruments, followed by an improvisational drumming session. He makes both of our daughters feel very comfortable at his place, they absolutely love him!
David is extremely encouraging of learning and involvement in a very positive teaching style. Our girls are very lucky to have him!
David Chang Music - Online and Brooklyn, NY
Holly L.
I wholeheartedly recommend David Chang Music for anyone looking to learn to play the piano in the most efficient manner possible! In 6 months time, I went from being a complete pianobeginner (albeit with 6 years of flute under my belt) to performing One Summer’s Day by Joe Hisaishi in front of an audience at a NYC concert venue.
David’s strategy of working on a goal piece from the start is highly motivating, especially for someone like me who put off learning the piano for a decade because I didn’t want to spend the first couple years of pianolessons working on chords / finger techniques / basic melodies. With David, you’re able to work on your dream piano piece from Day 1.
In addition to focusing on a goal piece, David’s multi-layered strategies include methodically working through very small subsets of the piece, using logical notation on the sheet music, memorizing the piece from the start, spaced repetition, etc., all of which contributes to an accelerated pace of piano learning. I never imagined I could progress so fast in 6 months - I barely thought I would be able to play with two hands together, let alone a whole piece from memory!
Initially, I wanted to try in-person lessons, but I’m glad that I decided to take lessons as part of his online Pianist Collective. With his strategies, you truly can learn to play the piano remotely. And not only that, you’ll also have a wonderful community of like-minded, passionate piano teachers (shout out to Tristan and Isidora!) and students who will inspire you to further your piano goals. The Pianist Collective also gives you numerous opportunities to practice performing, which was a big part of how I was able to gain enough skill and confidence to perform at the in-person recital. Performing can be terrifying, but David’s methodology will help you manage performance anxiety.
Finally, besides the strategies and the community, what I’m amazing by is David himself. Not only is he a highly accomplished and talented pianist, but he’s a very effective, dedicated, understanding, and knowledgeable teacher and mentor. David has a very profound understanding of human psychology / motivation, and he has a lot of techniques on how to build the mindset and discipline that will help you realize your piano goals. Many, many of his lessons can be applied to all aspects of life, not just piano!
I’m incredibly grateful to be a part of David Chang Music’s Pianist Collective. There’s so much more I could say about David and the Collective, but I just recommend that give it a try yourself!
David Chang Music - Online and Brooklyn, NY
Colleen T.
David is a fantastic piano teacher and a pleasure to work with. I’ve been studying virtually with David in 1.5 hour weekly lessons since near the start of the pandemic (about 6 months now). Previously I studied piano for about a year in high school. Within 6 months I’ve learned much more than I could have hoped in this time (and much more than in the year of study with other teachers) - including already performing Menuet in G Major by Bach, Meryton Townhall by Henry Purcell and Georgiana by Dario Marinelli (from the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack), and currently working on my first Debussy prélude. David has enabled me to move past what I initially viewed as long term stretch goals and turn them into short to medium term goals. When I initially began my lessons, my fiancé, who had intended to teach himself with a combination of piano books, training videos and applications, quickly assessed both the quality of David’s lessons and my progression working with David and began taking lessons with David as well (we have now begun learning duets in addition to our solo pieces). David is both an excellent piano player and teacher, and has devoted much study and practice into preparing teaching methodologies that enable his students to progress rapidly and to develop good habits from the outset. To that end, David teaches you how to teach yourself to learn pieces and to practice most efficiently, recognizing that we are all short on time. In so doing, he takes into account your own personal tendencies, strengths and weaknesses and helps you to develop plans how to proceed outside of lesson time. David also provides a wealth of opportunities to perform for other students, and teaches a performance mindset so that his students are ready at any time to perform the pieces in their current repertoire. (This performance mindset is also transferable to work and other aspects of life.) I’ve performed over zoom and FaceTime for over a dozen students during my lessons, and that is not to mention the studio session that we participated in last month in which David’s students all performed (which also served to help teach listening critically to performances), and a forthcoming recital. David also teaches his students musicality in performing, and I can attest to this quality stemming from his teaching as I’ve now heard so many of his students perform. As David noted in one of my lessons, in a simple piece a beginner can sound like a professional if the player performs with musicality. David also pays great attention to detail, which shows both in our correspondence and during lessons. He was extremely prompt to respond to my initial Thumbtack inquiry and communicating with David has been extremely easy ever since.
David Chang Music - Online and Brooklyn, NY
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