St Ives Chase 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 St Ives Chase traffic to get to your piano class.

Do your piano teachers come to St Ives Chase? And on which days of the week?

Please enquire for more information as well as for information on Saturday and Sunday piano lessons.

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 great for beginners.

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

When do you offer St Ives Chase piano classes?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our St Ives Chase 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 St Ives Chase piano teachers 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 St Ives Chase 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 St Ives Chase group  piano classes?

Group piano classes are a great way for your child to socialise, but that’s about where the perks end. Individual 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 classes.

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 St Ives Chase piano tutors qualifications?

Only the best St Ives Chase 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.

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 way to answer this question 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 frequently find that major writers and pianists came from a musical family and their first trainers were frequently one of their parents. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven just to name a few had parents who were musicians and probably gave them everyday lessons.

Piano Practice is NOT Adequate

This is how weekly piano lessons must work. The trainer listens to what the student practiced in the previous week. The teacher would then give ideas on how to improve or impart new concepts to develop 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 following week. The student would then train for a week according to the coaches suggestions and this would continue from week to week.

Unfortunately this is very rarely the way classes happen. This all assumes one very crucial thing. That the student actually practiced. Sadly more often than not the tutor will come to a lesson only to find 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 practice, but sadly even if the student DID train this may still be the result. Why? Because practicing is difficult.

Why Practicing is Hard

Let’s think about what we’re requesting young children, perhaps as young as 5, to do. The best way to train is to eradicate all diversions sit down at the piano and work on parts of music that the student cannot so far play.

Playing from the beginning of a piece is more often than not an unproductive use of time. Playing a minor section slowly and correctly is often a requirement of good rehearse. Then repeating it over and over and over. Then they would need to pin point another small section they are not contented with and do it once more.

I’m done making things easier here, but the fact is to assist us understand how tough 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 5 year olds do you know that could concentrate well for fifteen minutes without getting diverted. Or even better, how many grown-ups do you know that could do the same?

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

How Frequent Should Lessons Be?

For full effectiveness lessons should be held as often as feasible. If a student can allow lessons everyday, they’ll progress many multiples quicker than a student having lessons once a week. It’s as simple as that. Most of the lessons will be the coach just rehearsing with the student. But that practice is completely precious.

Realistically

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

Ambitions for Piano Lessons

• Play one exact piece
• Play for my wedding
• Be able to play as a diversion
• Study serious as a all-time pursuit
• Make it a job

If your ambitions for piano lessons is just to play one piece, obviously lessons day-to-day really aren’t desirable. You may actually be capable to even learn on your own!

A piano trainer will always be ready to lend a hand and make the music sound the best it can. If fund is an issue though, see if you can trace a lesson of the piece on YouTube. If you never desire to study anything different, then it matters a lot less whether you are playing absolutely accurately or not.

But this all changes if you desire to, or you want your child to take this indeed sincerely. It doesn’t happen frequently, however I have a few students that would take an hour lesson 3 days a week, and then another hour of music principle for a total of 4 hours a week of lessons. These students are always the finest.

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