If you are looking for a kind, encouraging, dynamic, and COMPETENT teacher, look no further than hiring Thomas Effinger as your piano (or cello) instructor. I am uniquely positioned to review him from two points of view: as an adult student trying to resuscitate my long-dormant high school piano skills, and as the parent of an eight-year-old student approaching piano for the first time. I enrolled back in March and once I realized what a great teacher Thomas was, I signed up my son in May.

I stressed “competent” in the first paragraph because Thomas has a Master’s degree in music and has shown to have a deep understanding of music theory and technique that my previous teachers lacked. My teacher when I was a kid was the piano accompanist at a local Lutheran church who was a lovely person, but let me get away with sunken wrists and stiff fingers, and imitating recordings of pieces instead of paying attention to time signatures and note values. Thomas and I are working on overwriting these bad habits and laying a foundation in music theory that I’ve lacked until now. I think there are a lot of teachers out there that not only lack Thomas’s qualifications, but also don’t have his high teaching standards. He KNOWS HIS STUFF! From history, genres, composers and the many pianists who have brought those composers’ music to life, who to look up on YouTube if you want inspiration or to see different interpretations of a piece you’re working on—he is a geek in the best ways possible.

So, Thomas is cerebral, yet passionate about music, slightly manic, eternally optimistic and encouraging about my sporadic progress. But how is he with kids? My son ADORES him. One way I know this is that he comes out of his lessons with more energy than he came in with. We leave Effinger Music Studio feeling joyful about the process of learning music. Over the summer it has been hard to maintain a consistent practice schedule, but I look forward to the progress this fall and beyond will bring.

Do not hesitate to schedule a consultation with the young maestro. A delightful and kind person, patient, professional—a real gem!