Linda Pritchett

ABOUT

I provide piano lessons in my home studio in Hurst, Texas, Monday through Thursday each week. My "after school" teaching hours are from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. I accept students from the age of 7. Decades of experience have shown that children younger than 7 usually are not ready for piano instruction.

I provide traditional piano instruction (technique, music theory, note reading, etc.) with emphasis on musicality. Morning or mid-day lesson times are easily arranged for adults or home-schooled students.

With my wide range of experience with students of all ages and at all stages, I welcome new students from beginner to advanced! Monthly tuition is determined by the number of lessons scheduled for the student each month.

I have found it beneficial to personally meet all prospective students, and, in the case of young students, to meet with the prospective student's parents. This allows a thorough review of my policies, and it provides an opportunity for me to meet the student and to understand the student's expectations and goals. To schedule an appointment at which we can discuss piano instruction for you or your young student, please call me at your convenience.

I applaud your interest in piano instruction! Music instruction, and especially piano instruction, is a valuable investment in lifelong enjoyment. Fortunate indeed is the person who, through competent instruction and personal discipline, is able to reach his or her musical potential. Whether that musical potential is playing simple melodies for personal enjoyment or performing professionally, the rewards are great.

Piano is my "life's work." As a piano teacher for well over forty years, I have had the opportunity to work with students of every age and at every stage of development, some of whom have become church pianists; others have become piano teachers themselves, ever-broadening the art and craft. Countless others have developed piano skills that enable them to play for their own enjoyment. All of them have advanced their understanding of, and appreciation for, the beautiful and universal language that is music.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss piano instruction for you or your young student.

Teaching piano is my work. One could say it is my "life’s work." It is not my hobby; it is not a sideline; it is, rather, a profession that I find fulfilling and enjoyable as it allows me to share the world of music with students of all ages and with students at all levels of accomplishment. Whether your needs as a student are in fundamentals or in being truly challenged to bring your skills to the highest level, I believe that my background has given me the tools to benefit you.

My parents began my preparation for my "life’s work" when at the age of five, they overheard me actually playing childhood tunes on a toy harmonica. They thought that surely, if I could manage to play songs like "Oh, Susannah" and "My Darling, Clementine" on a toy, then I must have at least some musical ability! Piano lessons, they decided, would be just the thing for me, and soon they located a teacher near our home. This person was primarily an art teacher who also called herself a piano teacher. She insisted that I take both piano and art lessons, but my parents said, "no, just piano." A friend of my mother had a rickety old upright piano with a little round piano stool. This old piano was soon in our home and my lessons began. For the next two years, I made weekly trips to my teacher’s home where I alternately sculpted something from clay, made finger-paintings, and played the piano some. My progress, so my parents thought, was good, as I soon could play the very songs that I was hearing my teacher play for me at my lessons. Usually, the "piano part" of my weekly lesson was my teacher saying, "I have a new piece for you, Linda… It goes like this." I would listen closely and watch her hands. Then I was able easily to play the new piece just as she had done. Immediately my mother bought a church hymnal for me so that I could begin to play some of her favorites. But this was not to be; despite the fact that I could play the pieces that my teacher played for me, I simply could not play the hymns from the hymn book. My cover was blown! Soon, another friend of my mother discovered that I could not read the music at all; I had been copying my teacher... "playing by ear!" As my mother did not read music, and indeed had no idea of what was involved, she had been completely unaware of my lack of instruction in this area.

So, after two years, when I was seven, my mother found a competent, kind (yet strict!), and patient teacher who set out to teach me note reading and theory, and I was given no choice in the matter. This teacher insisted that I learn to read notes. She taught me music theory, and she taught me piano technique. This was a completely different approach to piano lessons for me. It was more difficult, as it required some actual work on my part. It often was not fun for me, and I’m pretty sure it was no picnic for my dedicated teacher, as well. She has always been a role model for me as a teacher.

This dear lady continued to be my teacher through my second year of high school; it was then that she realized that she had taken me as far as she could. At that time, I began to study under noted composer/arranger George Anson at Texas Wesleyan University. Predictably, Wesleyan was my choice for college, where I continued my study under Mr. Anson. While a student there, I was the rehearsal accompanist for Wesleyan Singers, numerous TWU musical productions, and countless other university musical activities. For several years, I was the accompanist for the All-City Choral Clinics under the direction of Dr. David Foltz of the University of Kansas.

Even as education and experience honed my musicality and technical skills with classical material, I was developing my improvisational proficiencies in dance bands and other private performance venues. Fortunately, my early experience with ear training has served me well, as I continue to improvise and to play by ear when appropriate. I encourage my students to develop such skills, but I also give note reading a high priority.

Over the years, I have continued my activity in academic music, by providing piano accompaniment for the music departments in several area Independent School Districts including Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Southlake, Arlington, Irving, Keller, Burleson, and Azle. I am a frequent accompanist for Solo and Ensemble and UIL competitions. I recently performed before the conventions of The American Choral Directors’ Association and the Texas Music Educators’ Association. I enjoy musical diversity, and equally enjoy performing Bach and Beethoven as well as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.

As a performer, perhaps the greatest compliment that I have received is that my greatest strength is my "musicality." Indeed, this is very thing for which I have worked my entire life: that my music should be much more than just notes and rhythm; my music should convey an artistic style and vitality.

Thus was the preparation for my "life's work." And in my work as a piano teacher - now for well over four decades - I try hard to instill in my students the same disciplines and competencies that have served me so well. I sometimes tell students that my goal is to get them to the place where they do not need me – where they have developed the necessary skills to "figure out" music correctly for themselves. When they have reached this point, there are two things which I would like for them to remember about me. First, that I tried my best to teach them to play piano well, and second, that I was always kind in so doing.