Recent literature has challenged commonly held views of musical expression as a de facto measure of talent, or something that develops naturally and cannot be taught, suggesting instead that the importance of innate skill is often exaggerated and hinders a student's development. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research detailing strategies that aid in developing the expressive skills of child and adolescent musicians, particularly pianists. With the aim of revealing such strategies, I conducted case studies with six of my pre-tertiary piano students as part of a reflective practice project, recording and analyzing their weekly lessons. Findings suggest that the implementation of an expressive gestural vocabulary might foster expressive skills, leading to more confident and fulfilling music making earlier in a student's development. The data also indicate that such an approach may not be appropriate at every stage of a student's learning trajectory, requiring modification when coaching with mindset, autonomy, practice methods, goal setting, and "learning how to learn" is more pressing. The research demonstrates the need to think beyond a one-size-fits-all approach in one-to-one studio teaching, a context where pedagogical lineage is often defended, leading to inflexibility and the exclusive adoption of the teach-as-taught approach within a master-apprentice framework.