Piano Teacher Offers Lessons in Enjoying Music

Steinway & Sons adds Miriam Morales to Music Teacher Hall of Fame

Performing for people like President Barack Obama might prove daunting for many pianists, but Miriam Morales has all the experience needed. 

The piano teacher, a recent Steinway & Sons Music Teacher Hall of Fame inductee, has been playing since she was 6.

Morales gives much credit to her first teacher, a woman who played piano at her church.

“She was the sweetest teacher that helped me progress not only in reading music notation but also contemporary chord charts and jazz,” Morales said. “I still have a friendship with her, almost 30 years later.” 

Morales began her lessons on a small keyboard and earned her first piano while attending Booker T. Washington High School. 

“One reason I’m so passionate about students beginning on the best possible piano is because I didn’t get that opportunity, and it makes a difference,” she said. 

Morales’s passion for piano prompted her to teach music lessons – something she’s done for nearly 15 years with many Park Cities and Preston Hollow students.

“I love it when the student (most often adults) tells me, ‘This is hard,’ as though they are letting me in on a secret,” she said. “I smile and say, ‘Great, now the real work can begin!’”

“Once a student understands the amount of coordination, reading, and listening it takes, they really can start to practice effectively. Whether they realize it or not, that is their breakthrough moment, and so exciting for me to see this epiphany,” Morales said. 

For almost 10 years, Morales’s New Song Music Academy has been an educational partner with Steinway Hall-Dallas, which has hosted recitals and provided pianos for performances in other venues.

The Dallas store just outside Highland Park at 5301 N. Central Expressway nominated Morales for the brand’s Hall of Fame honors.

“I truly feel honored and so appreciated, which is perhaps the most desirable thing when you’re a music teacher,” she said. “It’s not a profession that is done for money or notoriety but to share something of greater worth with another person, and when you are appreciated in that process, it just means the world.” 

Morales views everyone as made to sing and create melodies, however uniquely, and sees playing the piano as a great way for creative expression and escaping daily tasks. 

Playing piano is an immersive experience with no room for distraction, uncommon in our modern age. The focus required allows for true mental rest, she said. 

Morales describes her teaching style as playful yet firm and personalized for each student’s needs and genre preferences.

“You have the most fun playing music you enjoy, and it causes you to grow at a faster rate,” she said. 

She has two hopes for her students, including that they gain the confidence to play for the rest of their lives. “The second is that through musical mentorship and encouragement, they are able to excel in other areas of life and share those events with me.”