Dawn Johnson is an adult piano instructor who has lived in Glencoe for 22 years.
Q: How did you become an adult piano instructor?
A: My degrees are in classical piano performance. I was a pianist myself, and then I moved on to teaching.
Q: How long have you been playing piano on your own?
A: I’ve been playing since I was 6. I started playing in bands in the 11th grade and then I went on to three different universities to study classical piano music, and I also played in professional music bands.
Q: When did you start teaching and how did it involve adults???
A: Right out of college in 1979. A lot of adults, once they have more time, really want to learn how to play the piano and want to learn music that is part of a chapter of their lives – what they grew up listening to in high school. I teach adults how to play by ear and later they learn how to read music. Their goal is to play music they like, and not music someone else wants them to play.
Q: What do you enjoy about your work?
A: I’m writing a piano method series for adults and I thoroughly enjoy watching how adults learn, and watching what is exciting and interesting to them, and helping them with the gift of playing something they have always wanted to play.
Q: Are people afraid when they start with you?
A: They are terrified because they are adults and they don’t know what to expect, and often they think I am going to ask them to play something. They start on the couch and I start on the piano, and they are surprised by that.
Q: Who is favorite composer and why?
A: My favorite classical may be Johannes Brahms, because he is very romantic and is big and large with his music. I also love the Beatles, and I love pop as much as I love classical. I have no favorite genre of music.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
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