Me and Larry eating sushi

Growing up I was fortunate enough to have a variety of incredible, inspiring teachers to guide me through my adolescent years. While many of my school teachers were largely a part of this category, it was my piano teacher who quickly grew to become not only the best teacher I had ever had, but also a dear friend of mine whom I was able to fully trust and rely on as a mentor.

This man, named Larry Elliott, was a refreshing change from my previous piano teachers; my first being an old lady whose most memorable trait was the abundant stash of coloring books she kept laid out on her living room coffee table. The second was a brunette college student with strikingly small hands who told me I couldn’t learn the Moonlight Sonata (of course, me being the stubborn smartypants I was, I showed up to her house the next week with the first page done). The third wasn’t exactly a huge improvement, either; she was a stiflingly strict old woman who would slap my arm, ordering me to keep my elbows lifted out from my sides like a chicken preparing for flight. I can also remember how her house was immaculately clean and complete with a ceiling fan nonstop on full-blast.

As you can probably imagine, at this point I knew it was time for a drastic change; long overdue, in fact. I was accompanying my mom to Whole Foods when we fatefully came across Larry Elliott’s business flyer. From then on, I had the pleasure of being mentored in my musical studies by someone who knew exactly what it was to be a musician, somebody who not only taught me the joy and fulfillment that comes out of learning to play the piano, but also what it means to be a truly inspiring and caring teacher.

Becoming a teacher myself has allowed me to let these qualities shine through with the knowledge I share with my students that Larry Elliott has passed down to me. That’s why it’s so important to me that my students get the most enriched music education they could possibly get, one where they are free to express their musical identities instead of being taught to suppress them.

There are two kinds of teachers in this world; one who will tell you to never stray from the path of absolute correctness, and one who will allow you to freely roam the universe of music and decide for yourself what it means to you. I strive to be the latter.