Fun, Laughter And Hard Work*
As a child it seemed very unlikely that David Wallace would become a piano teacher. “I was sent to lessons when I was nine,” David explains, “and I hated it!” Having been brought up in a musical family it seemed obvious that David should learn an instrument but lessons weren’t nearly as much fun as music at home. “I thought everyone could read music,” he continues, “but now I realise that we were more musical than other families. We had a grand piano and an upright!”
After two years David gave up the piano, much to the annoyance of his father, but he didn’t give up music. Having been given a trumpet at the age of 17 he went on to become a semi-pro jazz trumpeter. “The laughs were fantastic,” David says of his days as a jazz man, “but the money was terrible!” A career in computers followed and music was put aside for a few years.
Then, some twenty five years ago, in a move that showed his piano lessons hadn’t been the waste his father feared, he used an inheritance to buy himself a very good piano indeed. “The only problem was that I’d forgotten how to play, or even how to read music,”
David explains, “so I bought a piano that could play itself with the idea that I would just copy what it did. Well that worked as well as you’d expect, that’s to say not at all!”
David therefore set about teaching himself all about music all over again. He read books on music and on learning the piano and taught himself to play. “From my own experiences I have a great deal of sympathy for what my pupils are going through. As a result I have come up with lots of different ways to explain things.”
David teaches both adults and children (he has Enhanced CRB status) and particularly enjoys seeing a child’s love of music ignited. He sees his job as clicking the ‘on’ switch that catches the child’s interest. With adults he teaches everyone from absolute beginners to those who wish to restart their piano playing.
David loves music and it is this love that he wants to share with others, which is why he teaches people without the burden of piano exams. “There is nothing more enjoyable than sitting down at a piano and playing music you love,” he says. It is this sentiment that is behind the way David approaches lessons. “I was once told,” he says, “by an Emeritus Professor of Music no less, that the secret to success is to teach people the tunes they want to play, and it works!”
If you’d like to find out more you can email David at davidwallace5@msn.com or call him on 0793 994 8482, and he will be delighted to have a chat with you about how to bring the joy of music into your life through the piano.
*David’s lessons as described by the mother of two of his younger pupils.
Some things other pupils and parents have said:-
• We all enjoy his visits and our lessons, which he insists must be fun, without any constraints of studying for exams
• David ensures lessons are well planned, instructive, and enjoyable
• From a standing start 10 months ago, he has me playing Clair de Lune... which impresses everyone!
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November 23, 2015
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