Paul Jessen

Music is one activity that combines all our modalities of learning: sight, hearing, touch, and thinking. It increases a student's self-discipline while increasing the brain's complexity and hence ability to learn other skills such as mathematics and language. It is now known that learning music at an early age even reduces the likelihood of Alzheimers in later years. My own years of study of piano, viola, and organ from twenty different teachers have shown me what works and what does not work! I can even trace my teacher - student lineage back to Johann Sebastian Bach, Anton Rubinstein, and Ludwig van Beethoven. These many years of study and multiplicity of teachers have encompassed both modern and historic performance techniques. Add to that my extensive experience as a recitalist on organ and piano and thirty years of teaching amateur choirs and you have a well-versed empathetic teacher with exceptional communication skills. In my curriculum I aim for a well-rounded education including an understanding of each style of music and period, technique, reading skills, harmony and chord formation, playing from a lead-line, accompaniment patterns, improvisation, and aural skills. By a special method of finger yoga I strengthen the fingers and make them more supple. I choose pieces and books that strengthen my teaching methods and keep the student's interest alive.