Play the piano with BOTH hands in ONE HOUR! Forget about learning via the Noah's Ark method of years gone by. You snooze, you lose.

Find out more about Dianne

• When did you first develop a passion for music and your favourite instrument?

  I was 3 years old when my mother realised that I was gifted musically. She bought a little tape recorder and played tapes next to the piano while I sat and worked out the correct notes. My first piece was "Little Red Donkey" and I worked it out perfectly she later told me. So piano was then and still is to this day my favourite instrument.

• Is there a particular type of music or an artist that you could happily listen to on a loop?

  I have a love for artists who write music that is theoretically correct and not artists who are here today and gone tomorrow. So, having said that, I would have to say, Elton John, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Abba, Carpenters, Frank Sinatra etc. Musicians who have stood the test of time and whose music one can always be related to and referred back to.

• What do you think is the most complicated instrument to master and why?

  I think the piano probably would be the most complicated - if you want to play all the genres available on it - and also if you really want to master classical music and become a concert pianist.

• What are your keys to success (aside from do re mi fa sol ...)?

  I have devised my own method of teaching, bearing in mind that I started playing by ear at the age of 3, then took classics at school, obtained my teaching licentiate whilst still at school, then after that my B.Mus at Unisa. Nobody wants to go the long route that I had to go in order to get where I am today. I have taken all those years of experience and put it in a nice little sushi roll - gift wrapped. My method ensures that anybody who has never played before and has no musical experience whatsoever, leaves my studio playing a piece of their choice, with both hands together, and without needing to waste time with scales and unnecessary theory from the start.

• Name three musicians you dream of meeting on a night out, and explain why.

  Patrizio Buanne, I think he has an amazing voice and his pieces are absolutely beautiful. Peter Bence, is probably the best pianist in the world and doesn't just use his piano in the way it was built. He adds acoustics to it and even uses its strings in order to add more to his pieces. It is hard to explain how he plays so I suggest one googles him in order to see this guy play. I also love Liberace, he was probably the best in his day even with those short little fingers. I love Joshua Burniece, another well-known pianist who is so humble and can play Michael Jackson songs on the piano amazingly well.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to music or your days at music school.

  I was entered into a piano competition which was solely for students who were able to read music, as I couldn't read, my mother decided to teach me to play the requisite piece by ear. I learnt it by ear, even learnt when to turn the page. When I had to perform on stage at the competition, I was only 6 years old and appeared before a very well-known musician and teacher of an academy here in Cape Town called "Charles Segal". He said he was giving me the floating trophy for my performance that evening but wanted to ask me about something he'd found very strange. He said that he noticed when I played my piece, I turned the page at the precise moment it needed to be turned, BUT, that the book was upside down. Hehehehehehhehee. My first time on stage and probably the MOST embarrassing.

• What are the little touches that make you a Superprof in music?

  I am very generous when it comes to preparing all my students' lessons. I give them exactly what they want and in a manner, I know will be easy for them to understand and tackle, no matter their age or level. Preparing for these lessons are done in my own personal time and I don't cut corners. If I need 3 hours to prepare a specific piece for a student, then 3 hours is what I will set aside for such a purpose. Students are always telling me that they are amazed at how much passion, patience and generosity they are given by me, each time they attend their lessons.