Adrienne Shipley

Adrienne Shipley has been teaching for the CCSA since the fall of 2005.

Adrienne has taught traditional piano since 1996 and has been teaching Suzuki piano and Music and Movement classes since completing her Suzuki training at the 2002 Suzuki Institute in Steven’s Point Wisconsin.

In addition to teaching music, Adrienne is also the organist and choir director at Saints Peter and Paul Lutheran Church in Hancock. Prior to this position, she served as the Music Director at Trinity Epsicopal Church in Houghton from 2002 to 2006.

Adrienne began playing Suzuki violin at age 3. From age 8 to 18 she studied both piano and the violin at Westminster Conservatory in Princeton, New Jersey. Adrienne continued her study of music at Indiana University’s School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, from which she received a Bachelor of Music in Harpsichord Performance with an Honors Notation and a Music Honors Notation in 2001. During the course of her studies at Indiana University, Adrienne also studied abroad in Paris, France (in 1999) and participated in the Vancouver Early Music Festival (in 1997 and 1999).

Teaching Philosophy

Adrienne has high standards for the students she accepts into her studio. Students are expected to attend all lessons and recitals. Students are also expected to practice each day for the same amount of time as their lesson length, and to practice all of the material that was assigned each day. Parents are expected to attend lessons with their child, and to learn along with the child, so as to have a better comprehension of the material that they are expected to help their child practice each week.

Students will be taught Suzuki pieces in accordance with the teaching method outlined by Dr. Suzuki. On the piano, this means that students will learn Book One entirely by ear. The student and parent are expected to listen to the CD daily, in order to internalize the pieces that will be taught. The student and parent will learn the beginning material together, by ear. As the student progresses, the parent will play less of a participatory role in the lessons, and more of the role of the observer. Book One is taught in stages and typically takes approximately two years to complete. First, the student learns the melody lines for each piece in the book. Then, the student is taught the accompaniment parts to each of these pieces. Finally, the student learns to play both the melody and accompaniment together. While the student is learning Suzuki Book One by ear, they will simultaneously be learning to read music from a separate method book. Once the student progresses to Suzuki Book Two, they will begin to learn the Suzuki pieces through a combination of reading and being taught by ear.

A strong emphasis is placed on reviewing pieces already learned, so as to maintain the techniques learned in those pieces and also so that the student develops a repertoire of songs that they know by ear. Students are expected to actively review all of the songs that they have learned, in addition to learning new pieces.

Individual Lessons

Piano students receive one individual lesson per week. At each lesson, the instructor observes and listens to the student playing pieces and scales. This usually includes material the student has previously learned, as well as the piece the student is currently working on. The instructor will also introduce new material.

The parent attends each lesson and helps the student work on the material throughout the week of practice at home. The length of the lesson depends on the student's age, attention span, and level of advancement. Generally, beginners start with 20-minute lessons. As the student advances, the length of the lessons may increase. Students are eventually introduced to reading music.

Adrienne Shipley
CCSA Piano Instructor
Phone: 906-296-9338
Email: adrienne_shipley@yahoo.com

Content last updated: 3/9/2010