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During the month of January, 1999 I received a call from Dave Ratcliffe. He was offering to come and play for my piano students. That was the beginning of Dave’s involvement with the Shoreline piano classes. From the 1st day he arrived he was hooked into helping the many piano students who hungered to learn the piano - keyboard.
Dave assisted the kids from that day on for the next three-and-a-half years. With his flexible work schedule in the computer world, he chose to volunteer a great deal of time working with all four piano classes. Dave is very good at finding a niche for something that is needed and filling it.
At my urging Dave also started teaching many of my students privately. I noticed that the students he worked with both at school and privately made great gains in their technique and sight reading as well as their feel for rhythm and tempo.
It’s easy to see why Dave is well liked by both the students and their parents. Given his energy, infectious enthusiasm, and generous personality, I certainly recommend Dave as a teacher. Dave offers a rich and exciting learning environment that shares his love of music and the piano. Dave teaches on his Yamaha disklavier grand piano; its ability to record a student’s development, as well as a means to generate custom-made scores tailored to each person’s level, makes learning with Dave a unique experience.
At the center of all this is Dave’s teaching approach which reflects much of my own style. Dave is patient and relaxed, engaging and encouraging, and always positive and supportive with his instructional feedback. During this final school year of teaching before my retirement in June 2005, I will be recommending Dave to students and parents who come to me looking for a piano teacher.
Gary Fredrick
September 2004
Shoreline Middle School Music Director, 1997-2005