We have known Nicholas for over 30 years, so did not hesitate when choosing him to teach our 2 young daughters the piano. Nicholas is a brilliant teacher, keen to share his enthusiasm for music and piano. He makes learning fun and is careful not to push for the rigidity of exams if it doesn’t suit the child. It’s all about playing, and encouraging musical enjoyment, giving them a skill they can come back to again and again.
Susie Reid
07 August 2021
Nicholas taught piano to two of our children. With a slightly reluctant 9 year old daughter he was patient and kind; with an enthusiastic 12 year old son he was inspiring and challenging, and had a really transformative influence on his life. Nicholas teaches the piano with passion and skill, and provides all-round musical tuition along with the essential techniques. Lessons were varied and interesting, and avoided the formulaic exam preparation that so many other teachers seem to prefer. That said, he was very happy to provide piano accompaniment and advice when our children were preparing for music exams on their other instruments.
Gill Williams
26 July 2021
For the last five years, I have had the pleasure of being taught by Mr. Austin. When I first started learning with him, I had very little knowledge of music theory such as reading the bass clef. Within the first year, Mr. Austin helped me accelerate my progress and I quickly grasped new pieces. I also found that the process of preparing for a piano exam was much easier when learning with Mr. Austin. I had always struggled with sight-reading but after constant practice I found that it was much easier and was incredibly helpful in the final exam. He has a very encouraging and memorable method of teaching and every lesson is entertaining. Mr. Austin has really inspired me to love playing the piano.
Nivvy Sivakumar
24 July 2021
Nicholas taught my two daughters from when they were aged 7 and 11. His approach was to let them enjoy the music, and as a result they did really well and wanted to go to lessons. He is reliable, flexible and very patient with children. His passion for music is passed on to pupils in his lessons. I would highly recommend him as a piano teacher to your children.
Maggie Kearney
12 July 2021
Nicholas was both my children’s piano teacher for nearly 10 years. The children were 7 and 9 years old when they started playing piano and both reached high levels of proficiency over time. The real value that was brought to the teaching however was far more than piano proficiency. Nicholas was able to share a much broader and deeper knowledge of music in all its forms (classic composers, theory, technique) and share his own expertise with them.
Despite setting them sometimes challenging work, Nicholas has a great understanding of younger people and showed great empathy and patience, taking an interest in all aspects of their academic lives and recognising the different time challenges that they faced. Not that that meant they were able to get away without doing their piano practice as he had high expectations for their development and expected them to work hard towards that. Additionally Nicholas supported them in all other music endeavours often accompanying them in other music exams and providing aural and theory practice. Nicholas is far more than a piano teacher, and children could not fail to benefit from his great passion for music.
Hilary Rendell
18 July 2021
Nicholas Austin is a pianist alive to melody and texture in ways that I find rare in modern playing; in this he reminds me of past masters such as Moiseiwitsch or Godowsky. In an age fashionable for piano bashing, we desperately need pianists like Mr Austin who let the instrument sing!!
As a teacher, Nicholas Austin seeks to promote above all a love and appreciation of music; thereby students gain from music being part of their lives. This is in addition to the help he gives in providing students with a thorough grounding in technique, theory and history as it relates to the piano.
David Hackbridge Johnson, Composer
24 June 2021
Nicholas Austin taught piano to my eldest daughter from the age of 6 to 18. During that time he fostered her innate love of music to the point that practice was always a pleasure and never a chore. He achieved this by introducing pieces to be learned on a regular basis, rather than insisting that months were spent trying to perfect a single piece. My daughter, who is now 38 years old, still plays the piano regularly, both at home and as a teacher for assembly in the school where she teaches. She still delights in learning new piano pieces for her own pleasure!
Tim Penn, Pianist and Keyboard Player
01 July 2021
Nicholas Austin is a most dedicated and passionate piano teacher. He is able to draw out the best qualities from each student and nurture them.
Chisato Kusunoki, Pianist
04 July 2021
My daughter Olivia really enjoyed learning the piano with Nicholas from age 7. He made the time enjoyable with stories and was clearly passionate about playing the piano himself. He was thorough in what he taught her, but also very patient.
Being flexible to help with whatever my daughter was involved in was very helpful – from a music theory test, to a performance, to set pieces for GCSE and A level.
Reverend Hazel O’Sullivan
05 July 2021
Nicholas is a fantastic piano teacher – he is patient, encouraging, enthusiastic and unbelievably knowledgeable about ALL aspects of piano playing and music. I would wholeheartedly recommend him as a piano teacher to all ages and abilities.
Matthew Wilson, Piano Technician, Steinway and Sons
07 July 2021
I began lessons with Nicholas as a complete beginner at the age of 12. After 6 years of benefitting from his instruction, I performed the first movement of Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto with my school orchestra. His careful choice of repertoire and technical guidance led to speedy progress, which meant that I could be ambitious when choosing new pieces to learn, which in turn motivated me to practice.
Nicholas did not just teach me competence, but also comprehension. Discussions of harmony, structure, context, and history enabled a far richer understanding of music that I played and listened to, and made learning the piano a rewarding intellectual experience as well as an artistic one. The broad musical education which Nicholas gave me proved invaluable as I prepared for an organ scholarship at university and continues to be so whether I am playing, accompanying, or conducting.
Hugo Williams, Organ Scholar, Peterhouse College, Cambridge
08 July 2021