Austral Piano Lessons – Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to travel anywhere for my piano classes?

At Piano Lessons In Your Home, our tutors teach you in your own home, ensuring you don’t waste time stuck in Austral traffic to get to your piano classes.

Do your piano teachers come to Austral? And on which days of the week?

Please touch base for more information as well as for information on Saturday and Sunday piano class.

Do I need to own a piano or keyboard?

We know pianos can be out of people’s budgets, that is why a budget keyboard is ok for beginners.

Introductory keyboards are an easy and affordable option for households without a piano.

When do you offer Austral piano lessons?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our Austral piano teachers are very flexible and will always try to accommodate the time that suits you best.

Weekend lessons are also readily available, please enquire for more information.

How old should my child be to begin piano lessons?

Children as young as five can begin learning the piano and basic music theory.

Our Austral piano teachers are experienced in tutoring young children who are complete beginners, and have all the patience and personality needed to encourage your child and give them best start in their musical journey.

What styles of piano music do you teach?

Our Austral piano teachers are qualified to teach all styles of music, whether you’re interested in popular, contemporary, classical, jazz, musical theatre or even Nintendocore (yes, this is an actual genre). However, we encourage our students to explore all genres to show them just how interesting the piano can be.

Why enrol my child in one-on-one lessons? Why not Austral group  piano classes?

Group piano lessons are a great way for your child to socialise, but that’s about where the perks end. Private piano lessons ensure that your child won’t get left behind, and can learn at their own pace.

In personal experience, piano students learning in 1 on 1 lessons progress a lot quicker than students learning in group tutoring.

Am I too old to start learning to play piano?

NO! There is no set age to start learning a musical instrument, and the best time to start is right this moment – ie Now!

Learn to play your favourite songs, learn how to read music, learn theory, or just about anything you’d like to know about the piano.

Playing the piano is a fun and great way to exercise your creative abilities so don’t just dream about it, start learning.

What are your Austral piano teachers qualifications?

Only the best Austral piano teachers work with our students.

Our piano teachers:

• highly experienced in teaching all ages and skill levels
• are experienced in playing the piano themselves
• have undergone a NSW Government certified “Working with children” police check
• are very friendly and patient to make students comfortable with learning at their own pace.

Usually students take piano courses once a week.

However if you just give me a minute of your time, I’ll tell you why that’s often not the best way to go.

I myself believe the best approach to answer this question is to look at the best of the best and see how often THEY took lessons.

Some of the best pianists in the past likely had lessons on a day-to-day basis. We will often find that major composers and pianists came from a musical upbringing and their earliest trainers were frequently one of their parents. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven just to name a few had parents who were musicians and likely gave them daily lessons.

Piano Practice is NOT Adequate

This is how weekly piano lessons should work. The coach listens to what the student practiced in the previous week. The trainer would then give suggestions on how to develop or explain new concepts to develop the new pianist both technically and musically. From there, they may add some practice tips and suggestions on what and how to rehearse in the following week. The student would then practice for a week according to the tutors recommendations and this would carry on from week to week.

Unfortunately this is very rarely the way classes happen. This all concludes one very important thing. That the student in fact rehearsed. Unfortunately more often than not the trainer will appear to a lesson only to discover that the student did not train. Oh no! What does the teacher do now? Practice with the student of course!

That’s what turns out if the student just did not practice, but unfortunately even if the student DID rehearse this could still be the result. Why? Because practicing is hard.

Why Practicing is Challenging

Let’s think about what we’re asking young children, perhaps as young as 5, to do. The best way to rehearse is to take out all diversions sit down at the piano and work on parts of music that the student cannot until now play.

Playing from the beginning of a presentation is more often than not an inefficient use of time. Playing a minor segment bit by bit and accurately is often a requirement of good rehearse. Then repeating it over and over and over. Then they would need to find one more minor section they are not contented with and do it once again.

I’m done simplifying here, but the fact is to help us know how tough that is. How long should train be? I would be glad with 15 minutes from a young child and thirty minutes from an elder child. How many five year olds do you know that could be attentive effectively for fifteen minutes without getting distracted. Or even better, how many grown-ups do you know that could do the same?

And yet trainers anticipate that kind of train every week from their students. Realistically it is rarely if ever going to happen that way. But an exciting thing occurs when the coach is sitting there. You have the teacher leading the student telling them what they need to train and how many times to repeat it. The coaches can put right bad habits and incorrect stance. These are things a young child, or even an adult would have a hard time doing in a focused way.

How Often Should Lessons Be?

For full success lessons should be held as often as possible. If a student can afford lessons everyday, they’ll progress many multiples faster than a student taking lessons once a week. It’s as straightforward as that. Most of the lessons will be the coach just rehearsing with the student. But that train is undeniably priceless.

Realistically

No not many of us can afford to take a lesson daily with their coach. Not only that, but not everyone needs to become the next Mozart. So deciding how frequent to take lessons really depends on your ambitions. Contemplate about just what you’re looking for in lessons. Let’s outline some common goals.

Ambitions for Piano Lessons

• Play one specific piece
• Play for my wedding
• Be able to play as a pastime
• Study serious as a lifelong pursuit
• Make it a business

If your ambitions for piano lessons is just to play one piece, evidently lessons daily really aren’t wanted. You may actually be capable to even study on your own!

A piano trainer will continually be ready to lend a hand and craft the music sound the finest it can. If fund is an issue though, see if you can trace a lecture of the piece on YouTube. If you never desire to learn anything new, then it matters a lot less whether you are playing absolutely right or not.

However this all changes if you desire to, or you desire your child to take this indeed honestly. It doesn’t occur often, however I have a few students that would take an hour lesson three days a week, and then additional hour of music principle for a total of four hours a week of lessons. These students are at all times the top.

You become what you put in. If you don’t take lessons very honestly, you won’t get as much satisfaction out of lessons as if you put your whole emotion into it. As a pianist I can tell you that the pleasure that arises from playing mesmerising music is boundless. Don’t miss out!