From now on it is possible for advanced students to take lessons on the Yamaha Avantgrand N1X hybrid grand piano. The N1X has an acoustic grand piano action and the best digital piano technique and samples of the Yamaha CFX and the Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand pianos. The N1X is the instrument that most closely approximates the playing experience of a real grand piano and is therefore extremely suitable for the demanding pianist. The advanced students can make music with this instrument without compromise.
Piano Lessons and Covid-19
During the Covid-19 pandemic I will continue to give piano lessons. As long as the the government allows it, it is at my place. I have a very well-ventilated music studio. The students disinfect their hands and I disinfect the piano keys of the lesson piano after each student. I keep my distance and use a play-along piano so that the student can sit behind the lesson piano and use a pointing stick to keep my distance when pointing in the score.
Only 1 student may be inside during the lesson. A parent is welcome and sits on one of the guest seats by the door. A student may only enter when the previous student (with parent) has gone out.
Online Piano Lessons
If piano lessons at home are not possible, for example due to a cold or corona infection of the student or myself, it is possible to take online lessons. You can find more information about this via the link below:
25 Years of Piano Lessons
In October 1994 I started as an independent piano teacher. Guus Arons, the father of Jeroen Arons (Arons Music -> Keymusic Heerlen) helped me to realize my dream. I initially started teaching in his business at the Roland Education Center. Later I moved my teaching practice to my home.
We are now 25 years later, where I have gained a lot of experience teaching more than a thousand students in the region. The biggest change I have experienced myself is that I no longer focus on music, but on the needs of the student. This is done without loss of quality in education. The students feel heard and enjoy the lesson more. It has such a motivating effect that many students have been coming to lessons with enthusiasm every week for more than 10 years.
In addition, my teaching practice has acquired an International Character. In the late 1990s, an American officer who worked for NATO asked me to teach his daughters. This was my first experience teaching English. The network of this family resulted in more American students being taught. Over the years, students from all over the world joined. Besides America, they came from Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, the Czech Republic, Japan, China, South Korea, Poland, Hawaii, Canada, Spain, England, Belgium, Turkey.
Student Concerts at my home have become a regular part of my agenda. The pupils are allowed to choose for themselves what they tell others and who they invite to come and listen. They are received in a homely atmosphere where I manage to dampen the performance pressure and fear of failure. After all, we make music to enjoy it ourselves and to share it with others. Competition is out of place in this sphere. In my opinion, the piano competitions were created for this.
Local Piano Exams that I organized together with my colleagues gave way to the National Piano Exams of the EPTA 10 years ago. This ensures that the quality of my piano education is monitored by a national organization.
My experience with working with people and my psychology studies have made it logical that, in addition to giving piano lessons, I have been coaching people for more than 5 years with solving problems and questions they encounter in their lives.
My experience as a piano teacher and psychologist has helped me successfully guide students with autism, AHDH, gifted, partially sighted and even a student with one hand.