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Piano 🎹 lessons with

Teacher Derek Schmidt

Derek Schmidt, Piano teacher in San Francisco
Derek Schmidt — Piano lesson photo 2
Derek Schmidt — Piano lesson photo 3
Derek Schmidt, Piano coach in San Francisco
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Piano 🎹 lessons with

Teacher Derek Schmidt

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per lesson
✨

Derek is getting started on TeachMe.To. We don’t yet have enough data to assign this coach a Happy Student Score, but you can read reviews left by their students.

We strictly vet every instructor so you can book with confidence. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

Coach Rating
5.0•2 reviews
✨

Derek is getting started on TeachMe.To. We don’t yet have enough data to assign this coach a Happy Student Score, but you can read reviews left by their students.

We strictly vet every instructor so you can book with confidence. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

Coach Rating
5.0•2 reviews

About your piano teacher

Hey my name's Derek Schmidt and I'm a musician, sound designer, and music educator living in SF. I have a Masters in Music Composition and decades of performing experience.I've played piano for over three decades, for performance, production, and composition. I come at piano from an composer/songwriter perspective, so I can ground the lessons in music theory to help it all make sense, no matter what instrument you decide to play. I best teach beginning and intermediate students who want to explore different musical styles.

👋
Teaches: Adults, Seniors
🌱
Levels: Beginners, Intermediates
📍
Lives in: San Francisco, California
🎓
Years Coaching: 8 years
🔥
Given: 10 lessons
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DS
Derek · usually replies in 3 min

Hey, I'm Derek. Got a question about lessons? Tap one to start.

Derek's availability

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At your location

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Travels within 5 miles

Home Studio - Derek

No location fee
2109.0 miles away

San Francisco, California

No location fee
2108.7 miles away

Availability on all locations

Near San Francisco, California

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Accomplishments

🏅Music Producer
➕Ensemble Leader

Certifications & Badges

📝Music Degree

Specializations

🎹Contemporary
🎹Electronic
🎹Classical
🎹Theory Expertise
Beginner training plan
Your first lessonI always begin a first lesson getting to know the student’s music interests and goals. I usually try to ascertain what their music theory knowledge is, if any. I like to get clear with the students goals: is it a particular song or performance, etc. I introduce the structure of warm ups and scales that we’ll begin the lesson with.
Lesson 2-3By the 2nd or 3rd lessons, we’re digging into music that I recommend or presenting arrangements of a song the student wants to learn. We continue to explore exercises and beginning scale work.
Lesson 4-10Even further, we’ll expand our music theory knowledge, get into music reading and work on our goal songs, as well as from book materials and handouts I’ll provide.
Lesson 11+By this point we have some songs we’ve been working on, expanded our exercises and scales, and will continue to deepen music theory knowledge, ear training, and song analysis.
What you need to bringDepending on the instrument, I can supply guitar, ukulele, or keyboard/piano.
What I can bringI have a piano at my home studio, as well as several keyboards for those interested in playing synth keys.

Frequently asked questions

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Closest cities

OaklandSan Francisco
  1. Piano
  3. California
  5. San Francisco
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Piano with Derek S.New to TeachMe.To

Reputation

✨

Derek is getting started on TeachMe.To. We don’t yet have enough data to assign this coach a Happy Student Score, but you can read reviews left by their students.

We strictly vet every instructor so you can book with confidence. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

Average rating
5.0
2 ratings•2 reviews
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Veronica
“Derek is an amazing instructor. He has extensive knowledge of music theory and composition, and is an incredibly talented musician. He knows how to explain things in a way that makes it easy to understand. As a beginner, he has really demystified the process of learning music and helped me progress in my ukelele playing. He is very patient and can really bring you to where you want to be musically. I highly recommend him!” – V.
Terrance
“I’ve been wanting to continue my learning of ukulele and guitar. Derek is such a knowledgeable and patient teacher. I love how he breaks down the understanding of music theory and composition. I’ve had other guitar teachers that have taught me how to copy music tabs but Derek is really great in explaining the why of music!” – T.