Hi, my name is Brent Donaldson and I teach piano at the Musician Academy. Music has always played a big part in my life, but the piano is primarily what made me realise my true love for it, alongside teaching students and seeing their progress.

I have achieved my grade 8 and have recently graduated from Queens University with a BA in Music and Audio Production where I specialised in piano performance; moving beyond grade 8 playing through the highest level diploma stages of classical repertoire and receiving teaching from some of the most experienced pianists who play at concert level internationally, alongside members of the Ulster orchestra. I have also spent some time playing a wide range of pop music in several bands where we played gigs all around the country and have also played alongside singers and other instrumentalists as an accompanist through multiple genres. I am also well versed in music theory and while at University I have taken multiple modules on it, alongside song writing and composing, while also writing and composing in my own time.

Having tried my hand at piano as a child and finding not much interest in it until a later age, I believe I know what works and what doesn’t. I learned that music is one of those things that has to be enjoyed in order to do well at it. I finally discovered my love for piano because I started off playing the music I wanted to. For this reason I always aim to make piano learning as fun and enjoyable as possible for my students at every level from complete beginner to the higher advanced as I realise this is the key to success. I always aim to make each lesson feel rewarding and enjoyable. I believe that everyone can become a great pianist, but the important part is that you enjoy doing it and continue to discover new things and have fun. I always enjoy helping my students and seeing them do well and go on to progress as a piano player.

My own music taste is extremely broad, there is no genre I can’t say I don’t enjoy even a little bit. For this reason, I think if I were to mention all of my inspirations in music that we’d be here all day! I have been surrounded by so many genres of music and have found things to love in each of them. To mention just a few big inspirations for me however are Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Coldplay and basically any classical or jazz composer. However I also love most rock music and popular songs of today.

When I’m not teaching, playing or making music I love to go to the gym, play video games and watch (a lot) of movies and tv shows and I also love doing some art!