Contemporary piano and theory (jazz, blues and pop)

Learn contemporary piano through the same musical skills modern musicians use every day. Whether you'd like to play in a band, accompany singers, understand how songs work, improvise with confidence or simply become a more capable piano player, lessons are practical, engaging and tailored to your goals.

Contemporary piano includes styles such as jazz, blues and pop, but it's really about something bigger than style alone. It's about developing musicianship through the piano.

Alongside learning songs and building piano skills, you'll explore harmony, chords, groove, rhythm, improvisation, listening skills and musical creativity. You'll learn not just what to play, but how music works beneath the surface and how musicians think about music in real-world situations.

The aim isn't simply to make progress during the lesson itself. It's to help you develop the understanding, habits and musical foundations that allow learning to continue throughout the rest of the week. Over time, students become increasingly confident learning songs, solving musical problems, exploring new ideas and growing as independent musicians.

Where appropriate, lessons may also incorporate resources such as backing tracks, listening exercises, apps and carefully selected online material. These tools don't replace learning. They support it. The goal is to help you continue developing between lessons and become increasingly self-sufficient at the piano.

Reading music remains an important skill, but it's only one part of becoming a well-rounded musician. Contemporary musicians also learn to understand harmony, recognise patterns, listen closely, play by ear, accompany others and make musical decisions for themselves. Together, these skills create greater confidence, flexibility and freedom at the piano.

Dave specialises in teaching:

• Classically trained pianists wanting to move into jazz, blues or pop
• Motivated teenagers and adults wanting to develop a contemporary sound
• Intermediate and advanced players building improvisation and musicianship skills
• Musicians wanting to deepen their understanding of harmony, groove and accompaniment
• Church musicians exploring contemporary worship and band-based playing

Lessons are relaxed, practical and grounded in more than 30 years of professional performing, recording and bandleading experience, combined with a structured approach to helping people learn complex skills.

The goal isn't simply to learn songs or concepts. It's to develop the understanding, confidence, creativity and musicianship that allow you to continue learning, creating and growing long after the lesson ends.