I Love teaching children and adults of any age.
Here are some of my wonderful students.
Jason White
A very dedicated student, he is passionate about playing and performing music. It is a pleasure to be part of Jason's musical journey.
Courtney Norton
Hi, my name is Amy Mennen and every Thursday night, I go to piano lessons with Melissa.
One of my favourite things in piano lessons is when I play a song and Melissa plays accompaniment.
I also enjoy getting stickers for finishing a song or doing a good job on my homework. But I don't like the way the time runs out, it just goes too quickly.
Amy Mennen
Melissa has been teaching Amy piano this year. Amy really enjoys her time at piano with Melissa. She loves learning about music and with Melissa's engaging nature has been improving every week.
Melissa encourages Amy to play the piano well, she also recognises and rewards Amy's efforts with her homework and her piano playing.
Thank you for all your efforts Melissa, they are much appreciated.
Lisa Mennen
Hi my name is Sarah, I enjoy my piano lessons with Melissa.Melissa is a good piano player and speaks kindly when teaching me.
Melissa helps me to play the piano better by explaining and showing me what to do.
Sarah Wrigley
Melissa has been teaching me piano for two years now. Melissa is a great teacher because she explains everything clearly.I have learnt heaps of new songs during the time she has been teaching me.
She is a very encouraging teacher. She points out what I have done well and shows me how I can improve.
Sienna Foote
When I was is Grade 4 I started to learn the piano. I was a bit bored at school so Mum and Dad thought it might be a challenge for me to learn something new. At the end of my first year I was able to play a few little tunes that sounded quite nice.
In my second year of piano I started to learn with Melissa, we got on well and I always felt very comfortable with Melissa as she was always positive and encouraging about my piano lessons and she never judged me even when I turned up to my piano lesson covered in dirt after playing football at school.
After a while Melissa asked me if I wanted to sit a music exam. I was a bit nervous about it but Melissa reassured me that I was up to it so we started checking out some preliminary books for tunes that I liked. I was still a bit unsure about sitting the exam so Melissa found pieces from syllabus that I was comfortable with.
We practiced a fair bit and I ended up sitting the Music Exam and passed with Honours. Melissa even rang me at home to tell me because she was very happy about it and couldn't wait for my next lesson. I felt very proud when I got the results and so did Mum and Dad.
At the start of this year Mum wanted me to try a new piano teacher that had just arrived in our small country town as it would save a lot of travelling in and out of Ballarat. I agreed to try this new piano teacher but it didn't suit me at all. After a couple of lessons I said to Mum that I didn't want to go back to that particular teacher and that I would rather give up piano than go back for another lesson. I didn't feel one bit comfortable and I simply didn't like the style of this new teacher and I kept comparing the new teacher to Melissa and I knew it just wouldn't work out. I still wanted to keep learning the piano so Mum rang Melissa and asked if I could go back to her for lessons and Melissa happily agreed. I look forward to many more lessons with Melissa.
Sam Oostendorp
