I had not played my piano for almost 20 years when I started having lessons with Maria. She very quickly realised what I needed and looked to fill the gaps of my education. She brought creativity to my piano lessons and I now find myself regularly improvising, something I never did before meeting Maria. Maria is a very patient and caring teacher, but she isn't a walk-over - she will push you outside of your comfort zone and this challenge will build your confidence and improve your performance. I wish I lived in Portugal as I really miss our lessons.
About
Maria’s passion for music, piano and teaching started at a very young age, when he emigrated to the UK at the age of seven. In Leeds, Maria João Lopes began her piano studies, which transported her, throughout her career, between countries. After almost a decade of piano teaching, Maria João Lopes published the book Piano for Pequerruchos for young beginning pianists.
Maria João Lopes started her piano studies in 2004 in Leeds, UK. His musical education continued when she joined the Castelo Branco Regional Conservatory in 2007, where she stayed until finishing the 8º Grade in Piano with distinction in 2013.
In the same year, she was accepted and awarded a scholarship to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, UK.
AAfter completing his degree in Piano in 2018, she was accepted at the University of Évora, where she later completed her Masters in Music Teaching. The theme of her thesis was “Motivation and Attitudes in Piano Learning” and was evaluated with a score of 20 values (maximum).
In 2022, she was accepted for a PhD in Art Education at the University of Lisbon.
Degrees
-
Actualmente
Doutoramento em Educação Artística
Universidade de Lisboa -
2021
Mestrado em Ensino de Música
Universidade de Évora -
2018
DipABRSM
Diploma em Ensino pelo Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music -
2018
BMUS HONS
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama -
2013
Oitavo Grau
Conservatório Regional de Castelo Branco
Testimonies
Arraste para ver todos os testemunhos
Kathryn
Maria was instrumental in my quick progression learning classical piano. She gave me the confidence to try out new things each week without being afraid to fail and used my enthusiasm to challenge me each week to learn complex concepts in my earlier development.
Dale
Maria is a superb teacher who can easily adapt to the pupil's needs and ability level, regardless of their age. She is patient, open and extremely friendly. I learned a lot in a few weeks with her and she managed to undo some of the bad habits I had acquired over the years. I cannot recommend her highly enough.
Ian
Maria taught my daughter piano lessons for almost a year. In that time, my daughter went from not being able to play and read music, to playing tunes with both hands. Maria was very patient with my daughter and was able to make lessons interesting to keep the often fleeing attention of my seven-year-old. Maria quickly spotted that my daughter is very creative and she encouraged her to improvise from the first few lessons, now my daughter is more comfortable improvising than I am! My daughter says she misses Maria as she was her favourite teacher.