Phoenix Area Piano Teachers

Lauren Scoville

Lauren has been playing and performing for over 20 years.  She began studying piano and voice at the age of 9 and has loved it ever since.  While studying at Brigham Young University, Lauren toured with the prestigious International Folk Dance Ensemble as a musician with their band, Mountain Strings.  She was the pianist and backup vocalist for the band and toured with them throughout the United States.  Lauren is also an active performer in local community theaters and she is very involved with the music in her church community.  She has experience performing in many capacities in front of audiences of all sizes and demographics.

She has always had a passion for music and she loves instilling that passion in others.  She has taught piano and voice lessons on and off for the last 13 years, and it's truly a joy to see her students progress. Whether it's encouraging students to be creative and write their own songs, or weaving complicated theory into the pieces they're working on, Lauren strives to make learning music fun and enjoyable while still being productive.  Her students' learning goals are the top priority in lessons. Rather than teaching her own objectives, she makes the lessons about the students. She loves teaching students of all ages and levels and is excited to get started with you!  

Lauren Hooker

Lauren Hooker has had a diverse career in the arts, as a pianist, vocalist, songwriter, educator, an arts activist and as a storyteller with her Arts in Education Company: Musical Legends. With a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a Teacher’s Certificate in Orff Schulwerk Music Education, Lauren has vast experience teaching music in the schools (Pre-K through 5th Grade), as well as teaching piano privately to beginners through the intermediate levels from ages five through seventy five!

She strives to make every piano lesson fun, diverse and informative, turning her students onto a variety of musical styles, while encouraging them to find their own unique voice with material that they want to work on. Proper technique, note reading, rhythm, scales, exercises, how to play chords and how to analyze a piece to make memorization easy is emphasized.

Kenneth LaFave

Teacher, author, and composer Kenneth LaFave believes that each individual can serve the art of music in his or her own distinctive way. That means that among the 20-plus students who call Dr. LaFave their piano teacher you will find 6-year-olds and 70-year-olds, Beethoven fans and Adele fans, serious future musicians and people in search of a little beauty and relaxation in the middle of their stressful workweeks.

In addition to teaching piano and composition, Dr. LaFave has composed music for the symphony orchestras of Phoenix and Tucson, the Chicago String Quartet, country singer Jessi Colter, and the Kansas City Chorale, among others. He has also authored three books: Experiencing Leonard Bernstein and Experiencing Film Music (both published by Rowman & Littlefield), and The Sound of Ontology (Lexington Books), which expanded on the dissertation he wrote in completion of a PhD in Philosophy, the Arts, and Critical Thought from Switzerland's European Graduate School.

The father of two grown sons, Dr. LaFave lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his cats, Luna and Lucky.

Erik Dahlgren

Erik Dahlgren Moved to Mesa, Arizona in 1991, and has lived in Arizona most of his life. Started playing guitar by age 12, and has been playing and instructing for 14 years. Took lessons from his Father at first then took lessons at different places. Erik has also studied music at MCC doing guitar performance with Dan Davis and many others. Erik Also has taken lessons from other great instructors such as Pete Pancrazi, James Soll, and Greg Norris.

Mainly influenced by classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix experience, The doors, etc. Erik enjoys playing different styles of music from rock, classical, Jazz, and Flamenco. Erik Started his first band at the age of 16 with his brother while practicing in his Fathers garage. Erik enjoys, Traveling, Studying, and playing music.

Charity Johansen

Charity Johansen has been a part of the Phoenix Arts community for five years. She received a Masters of Music in Opera Performance from Arizona State University where she studied with Carole FitzPatrick and Dr. Stephanie Weiss.

Charity has a deep love and appreciation for vocal arts, especially in the classical and musical theater genres. She performs as frequently as she can with some of her favorite roles including Ludmilla in The Bartered Bride, 2ndLady in The Magic Flute (AriZoni Award Nomination), Maria Duchess of Dene in Me and My Girl (AriZoni Award Winner) and Gay Wellington/Duchess Olga Katarina in You Can't Take It With You. You can see Charity perform as Mrs. Pugh in the upcoming production of Annie at Hale Centre Theatre in Gilbert, AZ. 

Charity has taught private voice lessons for just over two years and enjoys seeing her students grow both personally and professionally through out the learning process.

Liz Wise

Liz Wise has her Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and is currently pursuing her Doctorate degree in Naturopathic Medicine at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Az. She has more than 10 years experience teaching piano to children ages 5-15. She is originally from Gainesville, Fl and just recently moved to the Phoenix area to pursue her medical degree. Liz is very passionate about music and started learning to play the piano at the young age of 4 years old. She was taught using the Suzuki method and utilizes that same idea to teach her students. These are: 

Early Beginning - The early years are crucial for developing mental processes and muscle coordination. Listening to music should begin at birth; Formal training may begin at age three or four, but it is never too late to begin. 

Listening - Children learn words after hearing them spoken hundreds of times by others. Listening to music every day is important, especially listening to pieces in the Suzuki repertoire so the child knows them immediately.

Repetition - Constant repetition is essential in learning to play an instrument. Children do not learn a word or piece of music and then discard it. They add it to their vocabulary or repertoire, gradually using it in new and more sophisticated ways.

Encouragement - As with language, the child's effort to learn an instrument should be met with sincere praise and encouragement. Each child learns at his/her own rate, building on small steps so that each one can be mastered. Children are also encouraged to support each other's efforts, fostering an attitude of generosity and cooperation.