I work with students of all ages and experience levels. My aim in teaching is to follow the interest of the student. My personal focus at the piano has mainly been playing classical music (my recordings of classical piano for children are available on iTunes and Amazon), but I also have played rock, blues, jazz, gospel and musicals. I've found that learning to play any style of music gives one skills that can be applied to any other style of music. Because of this, I've always encouraged my students to play music they are passionate about. I had a young student once who would only play loud techno rock. I worked for 3 or 4 years with him on this music and he learned to play it well. One day he fell in love with Bach's Toccata in D Minor, and was soon able to play it well too. He went on to learn an entire Mozart piano Sonata and now plays only classical music with the same passion he had for rock.
I have a background in music composition, and have developed an ability to arrange music for a student's playing level. I can make an arrangement that will work for a specific student from almost any piece the student wants to play. I always try to give the student a balanced diet of music theory, technique and reading, but I make sure each student is always working on one piece they love.
Sometimes students come to me with a specific goal in mind, like playing easy chord arrangements of pop tunes they can sing along with, or pursuing an interest in a specific kind of music like jazz, ragtime, or show tunes. I love those kinds of challenges, and I'm always delighted to work with students who want a traditional classical piano approach.