Doris Williams teaches piano, voice, and choir in her home or the student's home, and at The Music Place in Sunnyvale, and East West Music and Dance in San Jose/Saratoga. See the following video of her teaching singing to three children age 4 and 5. For the central teaching philosophy, Doris follows the wonderful 20th century composer Zoltan Kodaly from Hungary.

Kodaly-Based classes teach music skills through a natural means of using known repertoire with simple folk melodies. Starting with so, mi, the children learn orally and by sight rhythmic patterns, in-tune singing, pitch, and music expression using solfege, Curwen hand signs, big notated music, listening, and imitating. Also included will be 5 - 10 minutes of listening to classical composers. Children come from classes enjoying music, and its cognitive, physical, and spiritual benefits.

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Here's what one parent has to say: "My son started his very first piano lesson a year ago with Ms. Doris Williams. Since then he has grown from an enthusiastic, energetic student without any training into an enthusiastic, energetic, music player. One of the best aspects of Ms. William's teaching is that she teaches the MUSIC, not just the piano. She believes it is important for students to learn music first, and good piano technique. The theory is taught as well at the level of the repertoire. When teaching piano, Ms. Williams can identify my son’s strong music abilities and learning styles, and she adjusts her teaching methods to suit his level and needs. As a typical 6-year-old boy, and a tactile learner, he gets distracted easily. Ms. Williams is always patient with him, and can always find pieces that keep him interested. I often hear my son happily humming the tunes he had learned in the class, and he is always looking forward to the new class. Ms. Williams not only preserved his love of music, but also taught him how to truly appreciate the music. I feel very lucky to have Ms. Williams as his piano teacher."

Early Voice & Music Reading Lessons:
Kodaly Choir Class Video

"MUSIC SHOULD BELONG TO EVERYONE"

"To teach a child an instrument without first giving him (or her) preparatory training and without developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build upon sand." (Zoltan Kodaly)

"If one were to attempt to express the essence of this education in one word, it could only be - singing. .... Our age of mechanization leads along a road ending with man himself as a machine; only the spirit of singing can save us from this fate. .... It is our firm conviction that mankind will live happier when it has learnt to live with music more worthily. Whoever works to promote this end, in one way or another, has not lived in vain. (1966)"(Zoltan Kodaly)

In Doris' piano lessons she emphasizes singing everything the student is learning - the words, the finger numbers, the letter names, the rhyhthms, or made up words. In her voice lessons she teaches speech-level singing developed by Seth Riggs, used by world-renowned performers in the popular and classical genrés.