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About me

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I teach at my home studio only a few blocks from the ocean in the city of San Francisco. My students range in age from 5 to 85 years old and I love teaching them all.

 

Though some of my young students go on to attend conservatories like the Juilliard School, my real love is teaching quirky, bright kids who probably won't make their livings as musicians. My hope for all my students is that music will be a healthy, wonderful way to express themselves for the rest of their lives.

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I also enjoy teaching adults. My adult students are avocational pianists who play mostly at an advanced level, and piano teachers who want to improve their own playing. Most have advanced degrees in other fields: Medicine, Chemical Engineering and Education, for example. The adults have opportunities to perform each other about four times a year in a low-key, friendly atmosphere.

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I made my Carnegie Hall debut in 1991. I was the first woman to become a Fellow of the American Pianist Association and in 1982 I won the Music Teachers National Association College Artist Competition.

 

I attended the Juilliard School and earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California where I studied with John Perry. I also received a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Peabody Conservatory where I was a student of Leon Fleisher.

I have 50 recordings of standard piano teaching repertoire. With the brilliant editor Keith Snell, I co-wrote the series, Piano Town, a 20-volume series for beginning piano students ages 7 - 10.

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If you're looking for teaching inspiration, visit teachwithdiane.com!

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© 2019 by Diane Hidy

You'll wonder how you ever taught without this 32-page book. I made these cards for my students to give them plenty of opportunities to practice all the different skills they were acquiring. This series starts with the simplest possible rhythmic patterns on the Landmark notes Middle C, Bass F and Treble G. Each set becomes incrementally more difficult.

Here are a few of the many different ways to use these cards:

  • Encourage students to write in their own fingering. This paves the way for making true fingering choices later on

  • Circle the thirds before starting to read the flashcards. This helps the student focus on the difference between steps and skips.

  • Help your student write in their own staccatos and slurs. Try them out. Talk to them about why they do or don't like them. 

  • Help the student add dynamics and phrase marks.

  • Print these in their entirety and use them as a book.

  • Print them on heavy paper or card stock and cut them into separate cards. Trying sending home a set with a student and ask them to become proficient with each one. At the next lesson, mix them up and play them in random order. It’s a nice combination of preparation and reading.

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