Crows Nest Piano Lessons – Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to travel anywhere for my piano class?

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

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

Please enquire 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 cheaper keyboard is perfectly fine for beginners.

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

When do you offer Crows Nest piano classes?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our Crows Nest 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 Crows Nest piano tutors are experienced in teaching 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 Crows Nest piano tutors 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 1 on 1? Why not Crows Nest group  piano lessons?

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

In personal experience, piano students learning in private lessons progress a lot faster than students learning in group tutoring.

Am I too old to start learning to play piano?

NO! There is no set age to begin 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 Crows Nest piano teachers qualifications?

Only the best Crows Nest 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.

Typically students take piano lessons 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 consider the best approach to response to this question is to look at the best of the best and see how often THEY took courses.

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

Piano Training is NOT Sufficient

This is how weekly piano lessons should work. The coach listens to what the student practiced in the previous week. The tutor would then provide ideas on how to improve or teach new ideas to improve the young pianist both technically and musically. From there, they may add some practice tips and recommendations on what and how to rehearse in the succeeding week. The student would then train 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 crucial thing. That the student actually rehearsed. Unfortunately more often than not the teacher will appear to a lesson only to discover that the student did not train. Oh no! What does the tutor do now? Train with the student of course!

That’s what happens if the student just did not rehearse, but sadly even if the student DID practice this could still be the outcome. 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 train is to eliminate all diversions sit down at the piano and sort out on parts of music that the student cannot so far play.

Playing from the beginning of a piece is more often than not an inefficient use of time. Playing a small section bit by bit and accurately is often a condition of good practice. Then repeating it over and over and over. Then they would want to find a different small section they are not contented with and do it again.

I’m over making things easier here, but the point is to assist us understand how difficult that is. How long should rehearse be? I would be happy with 15 minutes from a young child and thirty minutes from an older child. How many 5 year olds do you know that could concentrate effectively for 15 minutes without getting unfocused. Or even better, how many grown-ups do you know that could do the same?

And yet tutors anticipate that style of rehearse every week from their students. Realistically it is seldom if ever going to happen that way. But an interesting thing happens when the teacher 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 pose. These are things a young child, or even an adult would have a difficult time doing in a determined way.

How Often Should Lessons Be?

For maximum success lessons should be held as frequent as possible. If a student can allow lessons everyday, they’ll progress many multiples sooner than a student having lessons once a week. It’s as easy as that. Most of the lessons will be the teacher just practicing with the student. But that practice is undeniably invaluable.

Realistically

No not many of us can have enough money to take a lesson daily with their tutor. Not only that, but not every person needs to become the next Mozart. So determining how often to take lessons really depends on your objectives. Think about exactly what you’re looking for in lessons. Let’s define some common ambitions.

Objectives for Piano Lessons

• Play one particular piece
• Play for my wedding
• Be able to play as a hobby
• Study serious as a lifelong pursuit
• Make it a job

If your goal for piano lessons is just to play one piece, obviously lessons everyday indeed aren’t needed. You may actually be able to even study on your own!

A piano coach will continually be supportive and create the music sound the finest it can. If budget is an problem though, see if you can discover a lesson of the piece on YouTube. If you never want to learn anything else, then it matters a lot less whether you are playing absolutely right or not.

But this all changes if you want to, or you desire your child to take this really sincerely. It doesn’t occur frequently, 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 4 hours a week of lessons. These students are always the best.

You get what you put in. If you don’t take lessons very sincerely, you won’t get as much satisfaction out of lessons as if you put your full heart into it. As a pianist I can tell you that the pleasure that comes from playing mesmerising music is immeasurable. Don’t miss out!