iPad Piano Teacher: David Love

There's nothing like being inspired by a fellow colleague. It seems that the somewhat isolated job of an independent piano teacher is now becoming a life filled with stimulating dialogue, exchanging of ideas  and collaboration thanks to the wonders of Facebook, Linked-In, Pinterest, blogs--in general, the Internet Highway.

The recent JoyTunes webinar (you can catch it here if you missed it) gave me a chance to connect with a young, innovative teacher named David Love. He has a thriving studio in Idaho (with his equally talented wife, Denae) thanks to their enthusiasm for teaching music at the keys. At the Love's studio they regularly integrate the use of the iPad into daily instruction which ultimately led David and I into joining forces for the JoyTunes webinar.

If you are not aware, I've written a book (The iPad Piano Studio) about integrating the iPad into piano lessons. This book includes QR codes that when scanned bring you to a partner site that includes continual blog posts and a growing video library (learn more here.)  One of the columns included in The iPad Piano Studio blog is called "The iPad Piano Teacher" where I include interviews of others to discover how they boost their teaching with the iPad. It seemed logical to include David in this column and I'm thankful for the time he took to answer my questions!

Note: make sure to like the Love Family Piano Page on Facebook. It will give you a sneak peek at all the innovative opportunities David and Denae offer their students AND it showcases some of their marvelous performances at the keys.

David's Brief Bio

David Love is the co-director a large, successful piano studio in Rexburg, Idaho. As a young, experienced teacher, he offers contemporary but a proven approach to teaching with music technology that keeps the phone ringing. In July of 2013, after three years of part-time piano teaching, both he and his wife made the decision to open the doors to full-time piano teaching. In less than one month, they doubled the studio to 65 students. Now with 71 students and a rapidly growing wait list, they've hired seriously fun teachers to grow their studio eve more. David credits much of this success to an open mind toward innovative technology and adherence to proven teaching principles. With 2014 devoted to a study in piano pedagogy and specifically the use of the iPad, he offers a new fresh approach to teaching that keeps students captivated and parents delighted.

Here are David's answers to my questions:

Thanks for the pics of your studio! Please share more details about it.

We currently teach out of our home where we’ve dedicated the front living room and front bedroom as separate studios where we can teach simultaneously. In each studio, there are stations with midi keyboards that either hook up to an iPad or MacBook Pro. Students come 15 minutes early or stay after their lesson to explore music apps that help with note identification, creativity, or music theory in general. We call this Music Tech Time (MTT).

You'll want to read the entire article to learn about David's favorite apps by clicking here.

Need your copy of The iPad Piano Studio? Order here.