Welcome to the Doris Merritt Piano Studio

Doris Merritt is a professional musician, dedicated piano instructor and celebrated author.  Doris has been teaching piano for over 40 years. In that time, she has developed a new way of teaching her students to read music, play and understand chords and chord progressions, jazz, play from fake sheets, improvise, compose and play by ear. Her goal has always been to teach them how to have fun playing the piano. 

Often when a student comes to the studio for their first lesson, they'll hesitantly ask if they're “too old to learn” (with ages ranging from their 20s to their 80s). Doris' motto has always been, “You can’t do it any younger, so do it now!“ She has students with ages ranging from the late teens to their eighties.

When Doris first began to teach, most of the available instructional books for piano were geared to the mental level of children, and were unsatisfactory for adults. To fill the gap, Doris constantly wrote new material for her studio lessons and as students progressed that new material eventually became her own series of books called “The Merritt Method". These books have previously only been available for her students.  But so many people were interested in learning her method that she wrote the book, Play it by Ear, and published it so that it would be available for sale to the general public.

As a professional musician, Doris is also available for lectures and musical performances to various groups. In her lectures, she illustrates, using members of the audience, how to learn, to play by ear, to improvise on the piano using fake sheets or just about any musical subject the group may desire. Each lecture/performance can be tailored to fit any length of time your group prefers. For large groups, she can play accompanied by a bassist. These performances are well received by music teacher associations or just for sheer entertainment value. 

Call Doris to speak with her about booking an engagement at 303-761-6242.