Thomas Rheingans
Playing the piano has been the life’s work of concert pianist and creator of the PianoZen method, Thomas Rheingans. He is also a recording artist, composer and educator who is equally comfortable with classical, jazz, pop, folk, and contemporary music.
With a graduate degree in piano performance from the University of Illinois, Thomas has composed music for plays, musical theater, and independent films. He has performed throughout the United States in solo and ensemble settings and has recorded ten albums that reflect this unique diversity of musical style.
Thomas has taught classical, jazz, and music theory courses at several colleges throughout the United States and has been teaching piano lessons in his private studio for more than twenty-five years.
PianoZen
20 years ago, while practicing the piano, Thomas decided to try something new. He had been thinking about bringing ideas from meditation, mindfulness, yoga and Tai Chi to his practice and was soon astonished by the results he was experiencing. It was this experience that led to the creation of the PianoZen method.
PianoZen - the novel
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Thomas’s creativity is not limited to music. His joy at discovering this new method of learning and practicing the piano inspired the PianoZen novel, the story of an eleven-year-old boy named William Longfellow Emerson who takes piano lessons with a friendly but eccentric PianoZen teacher named Rosa Carreño. Rosa lives and teaches PianoZen lessons in the Gate Lodge high up in Imperial Heights above the City of Nightingale.
William Longfellow Emerson​ - your online instructor
William Longfellow Emerson is the hero of the PianoZen novel. But his fictional story continues as an adult and virtual teacher of the online PianoZen lessons. You will see reference to him throughout the PianoZen website. We hope that you will enjoy this whimsical approach.