Norman McGraw     (310) 672-3443
Piano Instructor

How I Teach

I'm Norman McGraw. I've been a piano instructor/keyboard artist/composer for over thirty-five years. With my teaching method, you will learn that the rules to reading notes, chordal changes, and utilizing scales in playing songs are essentially SIMPLE.

Let me be clear. By no means am I saying you're going to be the next Oscar Peterson. But I can show you how the musical system works so that you can play the songs you like in a simple, yet professionally style.

I’m confident that I can help you because I've taught virtually every student I've had to play a song, at least in part in simple form, in the very first lesson.

But you may be thinking, "I'm too old to learn." Unless you're afflicted by senility, Alzheimer's, or some similar disease, your ability to learn these essential piano techniques doesn't diminish that appreciably as you get older.

Four Myths

Here are four major myths some believe about playing piano that discourages them from taking up the instrument:

(1) "I can't move and coordinate my fingers correctly." The fact is you coordinate your fingers every time you eat, drink, work, or play. Initially, directing your fingers to strike keys on the piano might seem unusual, but like learning to walk as a child, you will get use to it.

(2) "I can't recognize a musical pitch." Even those who feel they have no ear for music can improve with certain types of ear training exercises.

(3) "I can't play with any sense of rhythm." Like finger dexterity, you march to your internal rhythm without noticing it. You eat, speak, work, and play in rhythm. Like ear training, you can be taught to recognize it.

(4) "I can't read the notes and chordal systems at the same time." Regarding the notes, there is a combined total of only eighteen lines and spaces on the grand piano staff. Regarding chords, there are only five possible "building blocks", or patterns, upon which any chord is composed. I teach these "building blocks" so you can read or create any possible chord.

Final Notes

The key, (don't mind the pun), to accurately reading notes and chords is recognizing the musical patterns BEFORE you play. You don't read a book or a newspaper letter by letter, but rather, you understand words in groupings. So why not view notes and chords as patterns?

So how long will it take you to learn these techniques? Frankly, no one can predict that. That depends on you. I tailor my lessons for you to learn at your own pace.

I only ask that you follow two rules: (1) Try it my way. If it doesn't work, it must be my fault. (2) Laugh at my jokes. (The latter rule is the one most students find the more difficult.)

I teach students, one-on-one, young or old, beginning to advanced. I come to your home for lessons. I teach in the L.A., CA and surrounding areas, seven days a week.

For prices and more information,
contact me at: (310) 672-3443.