Nicholas Carey

Lessons Offered

Where are Lessons Offered

About Me

I am an experienced concert pianist and conductor recently relocated to the Washington Metro Area. I have experience teaching all ages and skill levels and am currently able to provide in-home lessons within reasonable distances.

I try as far as possible to rely on my own knowledge to tailor an approach to the individual, however for young children or beginners in general there is nothing wrong with one of the graded courses such as Alfred's.  For a gifted student it is advisable I believe to move on to easier works in the classical repertoire.  An early appreciation and grasp of Bach (say, in the Inventions) is also requisite for developing independence of the fingers and of the mind in working out different voices at once. 

My musical education is firmly grounded in the classical repertoire, with an emphasis on the works of Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven in my early years of study. My first teachers were relatively strict in an approach that emphasized familiarity and stylistic understanding of these 4 major composers as key preparation for tackling romantic and modern music.  I was extremely fortunate to have been helped by Maria Curcio, who as a pupil of the great Arthur Schnabel, was renowned in her abilities as an exponent of the classical style. Her genius in setting forth a cogent, comprehensive technical approach was also one of her great strengths and I am happy to have been able to absorb her methods and thereby pass along her knowledge to a new generation of pianists. 

I have had a fairly good experience of teaching a cross-section of keyboard performers, from beginners to quite advanced.  I would like to emphasize also work I have done at schools with young people who might otherwise have not had an opportunity to have a private teacher.  In such cases I found teaching to be very rewarding in circumstances where, even if a lifelong commitment to the piano was not forthcoming, I could impart something of the meaning and spirit of great music to those for whom contact with it was at first foreign and mysterious.  Creating a spark of understanding where before there was none was extremely rewarding, and relied more on a general ability to illuminate the meaning behind the music, to demonstrate the richness of its historical heritage and continued meaning in the modern world, rather than the particulars of technique.  

My Musical Education Background

B.M. Keyboard Performance Peabody Conservatory and Arizona State University

Lesson Rates

I charge 35 dollars per 1/2 hour and 60 dollars per one hour lesson.

Ages / Skill Levels Taught

I teach students of any age and ability. I am able to teach beginners to the most advanced students.

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