To many people in Denver, the name Dawn Ward is synonymous with piano teacher.  The president of the 325-member Denver Piano Teacher’s Association, Dawn is one of the most popular and successful people in her field.  She teaches 89 students a week, and has a waiting list that is almost 40 names long.

Dawn’s enthusiasm for the piano is obvious, whether she’s sitting down at her 6’4” Petrof grand, or guiding a young student through a demanding lesson.  In her twenty years of teaching, Dawn has inspired thousands of students to develop a lifelong passion for the piano.

Ironically, though, Dawn’s own involvement with the piano almost ended before it really got a chance to blossom.  “I started piano lessons at four, and quite frankly, I hated them,” she recalled.  “My teacher was a well-known musician, but she was also a strict disciplinarian, who believed in ‘motivating’  students with fear, rather than encouraging them with praise.”

Fortunately for Dawn (and her future students), her parents found her a new teacher, a gentle, caring and concerned woman who made learning the piano fun.  “After a few lessons with my new teacher, my outlook changed completely,” she said.  “I knew that from then on, the piano would be a part of my life.”

Later, when Dawn became a teacher, she took the same positive approach toward her own students.  “My goal is to inspire students to want to learn the piano, not to scare them into having to learn,” she said.  “I never cut students off when they’re playing a piece to correct them.  And when I do correct, I always begin by praising the student; then we talk about what needs to be improved; and then I’ll praise again.”

Although she avoids the “disciplinarian approach” to teaching, Dawn is not overly lenient.  “One of the good things that music lessons should instill in a child is a sense of discipline,” she said.  “If a student doesn’t practice one week, we’ll talk openly about it.  But anyone who fails to practice two weeks in a row is dropped from my lesson schedule.”

Dawn has had the opportunity to play “virtually every make of piano,” in the course of her career.  One of the things that impressed her about the Petrof was the richness of its sound, particularly on the lower end.

“There are some, otherwise good, pianos that just don’t hold up well on the lower end, but Petrof avoids this shortcoming very nicely-its sound remains rich throughout the scale,” she said.

Dawn believes that her students can not only learn on a Petrof, but from a Petrof as well.  “Petrof fits in with my philosophy as a teacher,” she said.  “I always emphasize to my students the importance of not taking shortcuts in learning music.  And the craftsmen at Petrof feel the same way-they obviously haven’t taken any shortcuts in building this piano.”