Experienced concert pianist and piano teacher able to teach all music genres to all levels and ages, ABRSM, Trinity College, GCSE and A Levels Music

Find out more about Arnaldo

• 1) When did you first develop a passion for music and your favourite instrument?

  I first started playing the piano when I was 6 years old. I wanted piano lessons initially just to imitate my sister, who is 6 years older than me and at that time had been having piano lessons for a while before me. But this "imitation game" became a passion shortly after, mainly fueled by a fascination for recreating sounds and music I heard around me at the piano. This still fascinates me and makes me very happy. It is fulfilling to know that the world around me has a sound and that sound can be evoked in my instrument using my own hands.

• 2) Is there a particular type of music or artist that you listen to on a loop without it driving you crazy?

  The obvious answer is classical music. I am a classicaly trained musician, I went to conservatoire and that's the kind of music I perform and teach the most. But I'm also crazy about all different genres like Latin Music genres, jazz, folk European music, film music, and even rap! At times I can be obsessed with either of this genres, but classical music in its full extension has always been a constant in my life.

• 3) Explain to us the most difficult or riveting course you could personally give to a student of music?

  I teach students up to ARSM Performance Diploma level. When a student gets to this level, their knowledge of both pianistic repertoire and technique, and also music theory and music history has to be commendable and deep. Their interpretation of the repertoire they choose needs to be based on historical data, understanding of musical notation and style, and advanced technical proficiency, which will allow them to reach a level 4 of higher education, making them ready to get into conservatoire level. This is the highest level of musical preparation I have to offer and that I'm most happy to give.

• 4) What do you think is the most complicated instrument to master and why?

  This is a question that a lot of people have asked me over the years and I'm afraid there is no such thing as "the most complicated instrument to master".
  
  
  The piano is a complicated instrument to master for many reasons, with two-stave reading being one of the main ones. However, an instrument like the violin is extremely difficult for how delicate and fragile the sound of it is. One milimiter to the left or right: and you're out of tune! Also, to produce one single clean beautiful note in the clarinet takes years to practice, and to play high-and-quiet notes in the fluet even more. French horns are one of the hardest instruments to produce a beautiful sound too, it's a combination between a woodwind instrument and a brass instrument so that ambiguity makes it very hard. Drums and the organ are instruments that require a lot of multitasking and exploration of different sounds, making them very challenging.
  
  I coud go on about the different layers of difficulty of each instrument, but I think, ultimately, how hard or easy an instrument is depends entirely on the person and the level they play it at. Some instruments are easy to learn initially and then become so much harder (piano being probably the most iconic one for this feature).

• 5) What are your keys to success?

  The first key to success for me is to define what is your personal definition of success: what does success mean for you? Is it to become a performer? A composer? A music critique? A music amateur? If you're gonna be a performer, for example, what is the kind of music that makes you the happiest? What kind of audience do you want to take this music to that would really appreciate it and be keen to listen to it? What sort of reaction do you want to get? What impact do you want to cause in your community as an artist?
  
  
  I think these questions are the first step towards a journey to become what you think is your successful future self. It's important to make realistic goals and microgoals that will pave your way.
  
  
  And the second key to success is very simple: work hard. Really obvious, right? But from experience: way easier said than done. Consistency and quality work is the only thing that will get you anywhere. I'm not the first one to say it and I won't be the last, because it's just that simple: if you don't put your mind, soul and body onto something, and/or you don't give it the time it needs, then nothing will come out of it.

• 6) Name three musicians you dream of meeting in your favourite bar in the early hours of the morning. Explain why.

  This is a very difficult question but if I had to choose smartly I would probably choose the following:
  
  
  Sergei Rachmaninoff, John Williams and Oliver Messien
  
  
  Sergei Rachmaninoff's music embodies everything I love about romantic music: heartbreaking/heartwarming lyricism, the genius use of polyphony and virtuosism as a means of expression, the feeling of patriotism and national identity from a human being that knows where he comes from, and the philosophical search for something greater than ourselves.
  
  
  John Williams represents the soundworld of classical music materialized into a musical story that trascends the "intellectual barriers" that society puts for classical music. His music takes storytelling and film to a whole new level, which makes people love his music almost more than the film that it was composed for
  
  
  Lastly Oliver Messien was a French composer from mid-20th century whose sound world redefined the view of what music "should" or "shouldn't" sound like. He view the sound of the world around us as music and evoked that in his manuscripts, bringing to life the sound of nature (especially birdsong) exactly as it should be. He also had a deep religious connection to Christianity and philosophy, which gave his music a deep sense of seriousness and reflection.
  
  
  It would be interesting to have these characters come together and hear their different views of what music means for them.

• 7) Provide a valuable anecdote related to music or your days at music school.

  I had a concert once where I performed a solo recital of classical pieces by great composers: Beethoven, Haydn, Liszt, Schubert, etc. I practiced for months for this recital. I have been studying these composers and more for years throughout my education years and I have done my absolute best to make their music justice. And indeed I have, according to the audience that were at the concert, who left very satisfied and hopeful to come back to see me perform again in the future.
  
  
  However, I had already explored doing some composition the previous year before that concert, and for the first time I performed one of my original compositions as an encore. It was an emotional song I composed for my partner when we were separated for 5 weeks because of a trip I did during the summer. After the concert, everyone was in tears because my own composition moved them more than the beautiful pieces I performed before that.
  
  
  I learned that day that a musician is not a unilateral professional and that all the elements of music learning happen all at once. I am not just a pianist - I am a creator of sound. Everything that I've experienced musically and in life come together, and that process gives me tool to explore other hidden paths that a tunnel vision would prevent me from doing. I can't think of a better life lesson than that.

• 8) What are the little touches that make you a Superprof in music?

  I strive to be a dynamic educator: give my students new perspectives, take them out of their comfort zone, make them sing, make them dance, make them write a song, make them imagine a picture or a colour. I consider teaching the piano is not just teaching fingers and keys. I teach the foundations of playing the piano too, of course, but I go beyond that: I teach my students how to create music with their hands and how to become one with their music.