If you would like to learn to play the piano, or if you want to give your child the gift of music, contact Effinger Music Studio today. We help students in Camas, Washougal, and the surrounding areas learn piano, music theory and music composition every day, and we would love to hear from you. For lesson availability or information about our teaching philosophy, please get in touch.
Both Thomas and Kassidy Effinger earned Masters Degrees in Piano Performance from Texas A&M University - Commerce and Bachelors Degrees in Piano Performance from Central Washington University. They are professional educators, pianists, and cellists.
From performance readiness to healthy technique, and music composition, they enjoy sharing their experience with students of all ages and skill levels. Thomas and Kassidy have also taught countless piano lessons, and whether you have a child who is brand new to the piano, or a teenager who is preparing conservatory audition tapes, they want to work with you.
Students at Effinger Music Studio enjoy playing on professional grand pianos, including two beautiful 9' Bösendorfer Concert Grands, one of which is the rare Bösendorfer Imperial 290. Our second studio has two 6' Grand Pianos, one of which is specially regulated to have a touch which is accessible to young pianists with small hands. Pianos of this quality are not too much for beginning pianists. In fact, it's quite the opposite – the timbre and touch of a professional grand piano has inspired many pianists to practice more effectively so they can take full advantage of the piano's capabilities, and they help you develop a sensitivity to sound and color that can not be learned on an electric keyboard, no matter how high quality the keyboard may be.
We value the development of a healthy technique, the ability to read music fluently, ear training, music theory, the ability to be expressive in performance by interpreting musical scores, and other areas of musicianship equally. We are committed to helping our students become well-rounded independent musicians, and we have taken many pianists from beginner level to advanced with this approach. We will help you select pieces, and learn a variety of practice strategies to solve the many technical and musical problems on the piano, how to memorize music for performances, and how to practice efficiently on your own.
As their ability at the piano increases, we will facilitate opportunities for our piano students to collaborate with singers and instrumentalists. We help our students learn to read music fluently, making it possible for pianists to rehearse in a collaborative piano setting where they support other musicians. We also have an extensive lending library of music for our students to explore, including collaborative piano music.
Our location at 706 NE 134th St. in Vancouver is about 20 minutes away for a number of our students from Camas, and families often find the short commute worth it because of the quality of the instruction and instruments. Generally, our students take Highway 14 to I-205 North. Our studio is less than five minutes from Exit 36 off I-205 onto 134th Street.
For the finest piano lessons in Camas and the Vancouver, WA area, please don't hesitate to get in touch. We help adults and pre-college students alike, and we enjoy seeing our students turn into advanced, confident pianists.