Manly Piano Lessons – Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to travel anywhere for my piano class?

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

Do your piano teachers come to Manly? 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 Manly piano classes?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our Manly 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 5 can begin learning the piano and basic music theory.

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

What styles of piano music do you teach?

Our Manly 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 Manly group  piano lessons?

Group piano tutoring are a great way for your child to socialise, but that’s about where the perks end. Private piano tutoring 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 Manly piano teachers qualifications?

Only the best Manly 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 courses once a week.

But 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 personally believe the best approach to response to this enquiry is to look at the best of the best and see how often THEY took classes.

Some of the best pianists in the past likely had lessons on a everyday basis. We will often find that major writers and pianists came from a musical experience 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 Enough

This is how weekly piano lessons ought to work. The tutor listens to what the student rehearsed in the previous week. The teacher would then give recommendations on how to develop or teach new concepts to improve the young pianist both technically and musically. From there, they may add some practice tips and suggestions on what and how to train in the succeeding week. The student would then practice for a week according to the teachers recommendations and this would continue from week to week.

Sadly this is very hardly the way lessons happen. This all concludes one very important thing. That the student actually trained. Sadly more often than not the teacher will come to a lesson only to discover that the student did not practice. Oh no! What does the tutor do now? Train with the student of course!

That’s what takes place if the student just did not rehearse, but unfortunately even if the student DID train this might 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 train is to eliminate all diversions sit down at the piano and work on segments of music that the student cannot yet play.

Playing from the beginning of a piece is more often than not an unproductive use of time. Playing a small segment slowly and correctly is often a requirement of good practice. Then recapping it over and over and over. Then they would need to pin point another small segment they are not happy with and do it again.

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

And yet trainers expect that kind of rehearse every week from their students. Realistically it is rarely 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 teachers can rectify bad habits and improper stance. These are things a young child, or even an grown-up would have a hard time doing in a focused way.

How Frequent Should Lessons Be?

For full success lessons should be held as frequent as feasible. If a student can afford lessons day-to-day, they’ll develop many multiples quicker than a student taking lessons once a week. It’s as straightforward as that. Most of the lessons will be the trainer just rehearsing with the student. But that practice is absolutely invaluable.

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 indeed depends on your objectives. Contemplate about just what you’re looking for in lessons. Let’s describe 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 all-time pursuit
• Make it a career

If your goal for piano lessons is just to play one piece, clearly lessons daily indeed aren’t desirable. You may actually be able to even learn on your own!

A piano coach will at all times be supportive and craft the music sound the finest it can. If budget is a issue though, see if you can discover a lecture of the piece on YouTube. If you never desire to learn anything else, then it matters a lot less whether you are playing absolutely correctly or not.

However this all changes if you want to, or you desire your kid to take this really seriously. It doesn’t take place often, but I have a few students that would take an hour lesson three days a week, and then additional hour of music concept for a total of four hours a week of lessons. These students are at all times the best.

You become what you put in. If you don’t take lessons very sincerely, you won’t get as much delight out of lessons as if you put your complete emotion into it. As a pianist I can tell you that the joy that comes from playing captivating music is immeasurable. Don’t miss out!