Learn Piano with Nicole
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For more than 20 years, I've had the privilege of shaping students from age 6 to 60 into confident keyboardists. As a collaborative pianist and ensemble coach, I bring a wealth of adaptable performance experience to each lesson, fostering a fun yet focused learning environment where students can truly thrive. I believe that music is accessible to every learner and that different approaches to learning reflect the uniqueness of every performer. Let's unlock your musical potential together!
Levels taught: Beginners, Intermediates
Teaches: Kids, Teenagers, Adults, Seniors
🏅Professional Pianist
🎓42 years playing
🔥1 Lessons
⭐️Suzuki certified teacher (6/2025)
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Reviews
Total reviews1
Average rating
5.0
Christine Brittle
Level: Beginner•Lessons taken: 60
I have been taking piano lessons from Nicole for 13 months now. She is an excellent teacher. As an adult learner, I was starting at the very beginning, and I am so pleased with the progress I've made in a little over a year. Nicole is an encouraging teacher, who gently offers suggestions for how to improve, while also supporting her students and helping them to see their progress. She works hard to tailor her lesson plans to the student's needs, and is great about giving me a mix of things to work on each week to continue to progress. I highly recommend her!
Locations
These are the locations I've set as being able to provide lessons:1 location available
Private Studio - Piano Beyond Measure
Fairlington Community Center, South Stafford Street, Arlington, VA 22206, USA
325.4 miles awayIndoors
Availability
These are the times I've set as being available for lessons.sundays
8 AM - 8 PM
mondays
8 AM - 8 PM
tuesdays
8 AM - 8 PM
wednesdays
8 AM - 8 PM
thursdays
8 AM - 8:30 PM
fridays
8 AM - 8 PM
saturdays
8 AM - 8 PM
Beginner training plan
Your first lessonFirst lessons always start with time getting to know each other. I want to learn your goals, learning style, and musical listening interests. We will cover at least 3 starter topics: 1) Body mechanics - posture and positioning to play well without pain. 2) Keyboard geography - how to move around the piano layout, learn key patterns, and practice the musical alphabet. 3) Finger strength - building a good hand and finger position for a good tone, moving fingers independently, and playing 1-2 folk tunes by ear.
Lesson 11+By this stage, teaching will be specific to each student, melding a traditional approach of warmup, finger exercise, and repertoire with extra and personalized time on the student's needs and requests.
Lesson 4-10At this point, lessons will introduce a method book to guide learning. I select one option from the variety that I teach from to ensure the approach matches the student's learning personality and goals. Some method examples are Alfred Adult All in One or Young Pianist series, Little Fry and Bastien youth primers, and select Faber and Wunderkeys books. All students receive supplemental repertoire and exercises, whether interests are classical, pop, R&B, or elsewhere. These lessons continue focused work on note recognition, staff reading, and finger technique.
Lesson 2-3After the initial lesson, the next lesson or two remains "off book" as we focus on building comfort at the keyboard. We will use games and exercises to develop finger strength, build knowledge of steps and skips, practice note recognition, and imitate rhythms. At these lessons, students will learn new rote (by ear) tunes and start developing a home practice plan for warming up, learning music topics and terms, and playing assigned pieces.
Advanced training plan
Your first lessonLessons with students who are already highly skilled at the keyboard have a different approach. I am here to coach such musicians through individualized challenges - and the first meeting will revolve around identifying those needs and planning solutions.
Lesson 11+Long term, experienced students can expect my help setting bigger goals, exploring new genres, and finding performance opportunities.
Lesson 4-10For continued work in advancing students, repertoire selection and performance program development will be the focus along with maintaining skills through daily scales, chord progressions, and etude study.
Lesson 2-3Specialized coaching or lessons for advanced keyboardists rely heavily on technique work, score study, passage repetition and assessment, and theory analysis. All these tools aim to improve ease of playing the hardest sections of a piece.
Youth players
Working with kidsLessons for children ages 5 to 8 have the same larger goal as lessons for any age - to make music at the piano! But lessons at this age range may involve more "off-bench" activities like coloring, singing, and playing games to build knowledge that will make playing the piano itself easier, sooner. Small hands and personalities ranging from shy to wiggly require a creative mix of topics for every lesson. For kids through age 9, sticker charts, game rewards, and extra homework reinforcement with videos and Q&A time are essential parts of my teaching as well.
Working with teenagersTeens, and tweens, often approach piano lessons with a specific interest in mind and are equally highly motivated and busier than ever in other parts of their lives. Depending on the teen, I will teach "up" with adult methods but supplement with repertoire requested by the student that reinforces the method lessons, and with theory/scale intensives to help these students learn as much as possible about reading music and studying scores in a shorter time frame - enabling teens to carry their piano knowledge into adulthood in whatever form piano takes for them at that stage of life.
What you need to bringAlways bring an assignment book (unless we use Google Docs), a binder or folder for work or music sheets, and your music books! For online lessons, be sure to have a laptop with a camera and audio built in as well as a good WiFi connection.
What I can bringMy in-person lessons provide numerous finger exercises & studio-licensed books, games for teaching keyboard geography and reading to students of all ages, a metronome and other rhythm tools, and a university-level studio upright. For online lessons, in addition to the above, I provide a free interface with a dual-camera view and whiteboard.
Frequently asked questions
Cancellation Policy
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If you need to cancel your lesson, no worries! You can get a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of making your booking. We want to make the process as hassle-free as possible for you.
And if you simply want to reschedule your lesson, change the date and time, or adjust the number of students joining, we've got you covered there too. You can easily make these changes within 24 hours of booking, and up to 72 hours before your lesson starts.
Our goal is to make your experience smooth, enjoyable, and worry-free. So go ahead and book with confidence, knowing that we're here to accommodate your needs every step of the way!
If you need to cancel your lesson, no worries! You can get a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of making your booking. We want to make the process as hassle-free as possible for you.
And if you simply want to reschedule your lesson, change the date and time, or adjust the number of students joining, we've got you covered there too. You can easily make these changes within 24 hours of booking, and up to 72 hours before your lesson starts.
Our goal is to make your experience smooth, enjoyable, and worry-free. So go ahead and book with confidence, knowing that we're here to accommodate your needs every step of the way!
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