Learn a Piano Piece for a Role, Wedding or Gift - Las Vegas

Not “piano lessons in general.” One piece, one goal, one date. You need to play something specific by a specific day — for a film role, a wedding, an audition, a recital, or as a gift to someone you love — and you need a teacher who will get you there. I’m Dr. Maria “Masha” Pisarenko, a concert pianist and university piano professor in Las Vegas, and this is exactly the kind of work I love.

Complete beginners are welcome — you do not need to read music to start. In person at my private studio in Las Vegas, or online from anywhere — in English or Russian.

Who this is for

Actors playing a pianist

You have a role as a pianist or piano teacher and the camera will see your hands. I teach you the passages that will be on screen, the real fingering, the posture, the way a pianist sits, breathes, starts and finishes — so it looks true, not mimed.

Weddings

Your first-dance song, a walk-down-the-aisle piece, or a surprise for your partner, ready and calm on the day. More about wedding coaching →

A gift or a surprise

Play a piece at a parent’s anniversary, a birthday, a retirement, a marriage proposal or a family celebration — or give the coaching itself as a present to someone who has always wanted to play “that one piece.”

Auditions and exams

College and music-school auditions, ABRSM exams, competitions and juries. I sit on competition juries myself, so I know what the panel listens for.

Recitals and ceremonies

A school recital, a church service, a memorial, a graduation — one piece that has to be right on one particular day.

Your “one day I’ll play it” piece

Clair de Lune, Für Elise, the Moonlight Sonata, a Chopin nocturne, a film theme. Adults who simply want to finally play the piece they have loved for years.

1. Tell me the piece and the date. Send me the title (or a recording) and when you need it ready.
2. An honest plan. At the first lesson I hear where you are and tell you what is realistic for your date: the full piece, a carefully simplified arrangement, or — for camera work — the exact bars the audience will see.
3. A countdown schedule. Lessons as often as the deadline needs, including several a week before a performance or a shoot. You leave each lesson knowing exactly what to practice and for how long.
4. Rehearsal under real conditions. We play it through as if it were the day: in front of people, after nerves, from the first note. Actors rehearse to the camera angle the scene needs.

For film, TV and stage

Audiences notice fake piano playing instantly: wrong hand positions, fingers that don’t match the sound, a body that doesn’t move like a musician’s. I coach actors to look and feel like a pianist and a piano teacher — hand shape and wrist, real fingering for the notes on the soundtrack, how a teacher sits beside a student, how a performer walks to the instrument and bows. If you fly out to set, we continue online between shooting days.

Who will coach you

• Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance (UNLV); international prizewinner in Paris and Rome
• Piano faculty at the College of Southern Nevada and Southern Utah University
• Steinway & Sons Top Music Teacher, 2018
• My students earned ABRSM Distinctions and performed at the ABRSM High Scorers’ Concert in 2025 and 2026
• Invited juror at piano competitions in Nevada and abroad
• Teaching in Las Vegas since 2006

Every credential is documented — newspaper articles with live links and the original letters are on the Press & Recognition page.

Price

Coaching for a specific piece is billed at my regular lesson rates — see lesson prices. For a tight deadline we simply book more lessons per week. Want to give it as a gift? Message me and I’ll help you plan it.

Questions people ask

Can I learn a piano piece if I have never played before?

Yes. We start from zero and focus only on what your piece needs. For a short deadline I may arrange a simplified version that still sounds like the original.

How long does it take to learn one piece?

It depends on the piece, your starting point and how much you can practice. At the first lesson I will tell you honestly what is achievable by your date — and if the full piece is not realistic, what is.

Can you prepare an actor to play a pianist on camera?

Yes. We work on the exact passages the camera will see and on everything around them — posture, hands, breathing, how a pianist and a piano teacher behave at the instrument.

Can we continue online if I travel?

Yes. Lessons continue online wherever you are, so a shoot, a trip or a move does not interrupt your preparation.

Can I give these lessons as a gift?

Yes. Send me a message with who it is for and what they would love to play, and we will arrange it together.

Book your first lesson

WhatsApp (702) 809-7576

Prefer to talk first? Call or text (702) 809-7576. Lessons are by appointment.