Experienced Musician Gives His Gift of Beginner Piano Lessons

A music teacher from Colorado had relocated to Laguna Beach in California to try his hand at the entertainment business, and was working in a gym to cover the bills until he could get established. When Mary Jo Winefordner looked around for a piano teacher for her children, she found him in that unlikely place acting as a personal trainer.

The temporary trainer, Graeme Winder, said “I came to Laguna Beach to be a composer and performer but did not consider teaching. But, when Mary Jo, a client at the gym, asked whether I could teach her children, I figured why not?” he said.

Since then, Winder’s natural gift for teaching won him a following among musical small fry and their parents, some of whom began taking lessons themselves. “Graeme is unique since he teaches to a student’s strengths,” said Winefordner, whose son Ian, now nine, chafed at having to learn to read sheet music though he possessed a sharp ear for sound when he began his lessons five years ago.

Winder’s approach of less emphasis on reading music and structured practice in favor of early creativity is, at least in part, endorsed by Laguna Beach High School and Thurston Middle School choral arts teacher Roxanna Ward, whose popular classes make her a powerful influence on the town’s musical culture. She believes that “ear training” makes musicians more flexible and prepares them for the spontaneous skills needed for impromptu gigs and jamming with other musicians. “I had classical piano training from age five on, but my father was an accomplished steel pedal guitar player and my mother a vocalist who did not read music,” she said.

This is a perfect example of finding a gifted teacher for easy beginner piano lessons where and when you least expect it.

As we said before, the only thing better (and cheaper) than private lessons we've found is Rocket Piano, and at only $39.95, is a downright steal. Click here for more information.