Dear visitor,
I would like to wish you a warm welcome to Chichester & Arun School of Piano. If you are here looking for a piano teacher, then I am absolutely thrilled for you, as to me, learning a new instrument is one of the most exciting things a person can undertake.
I remember the eager anticipation before my own first lesson, when I was 10 years old and had desperately wanted to learn the piano for some time. Ever since that lesson I have played the piano almost every day, all the way through school, university and my working life.
My love of music was sustained by both a succession of highly skilled teachers, who still pop on on my shoulder when I practise; and by my parents, who benevolently paid for all of my piano lessons from start to finish. Their unwavering support of my piano studies is a gift that they have given me which I will have for the rest of my life. It is a gift that I am forever grateful for, as it has never failed to amplify the highs of life, nor to lift me from the lows.
In an age where our lives are at the same time more dominated by and increasingly reliant on technology, I think it is more important than ever to practise skills that are uniquely human. The ability to play the piano is not something that will ever be made obsolete by a machine, and it is more meaningful a pursuit than many of the distractions offered by modern life.
As a teacher, it is my job to ignite a flame of passion for music in my students. There are, of course, a great deal of things that must be taught in piano lessons; how to read music, how to navigate the keyboard, how to play with a comfortable posture and how to practise effectively to name but a few. These must be tackled by every piano student in order to build a solid foundation for good musicianship.
However, without that flame of passion, all of the above will amount to very little, no matter the individual talent of the student, no matter the amount of practise, no matter the hours of lessons. So when a student comes to me for their first lesson, my most important job is to send that student away with the same feeling of excitement and possibility that I had when I was 10 years old.
Christopher Johnston, Piano Teacher, Chichester & Arun School of Piano
Christopher Johnston is an award-winning pianist, arranger and educator. He holds an MA in Music Performance from the University of Chichester, which he obtained in 2015. Since completing his degree, Christopher has performed across the country as a soloist, as well as working with other musicians as an accompanist and session musician.
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