Westleigh 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 Westleigh traffic to get to your piano class.

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

Please call 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 perfectly fine for beginners.

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

When do you offer Westleigh piano class?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our Westleigh 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 Westleigh 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 Westleigh piano trainers 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 Westleigh 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 tutoring ensure that your child won’t get left behind, and can learn at their own pace.

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

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 Westleigh piano teachers qualifications?

Only the best Westleigh 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.

Normally 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 personally 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 day-to-day basis. We will often find that major composers and pianists came from a musical experience and their first teachers were often one of their parents. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven just to name a few had parents who were musicians and possibly gave them day-to-day lessons.

Piano Rehearsal is NOT Enough

This is how weekly piano lessons should work. The trainer listens to what the student trained in the previous week. The trainer would then give suggestions on how to improve or impart new ideas to develop the young pianist both technically and musically. From there, they may add some training tips and suggestions on what and how to practice in the succeeding week. The student would then train for a week according to the trainers recommendations and this would continue from week to week.

Unfortunately this is very rarely the way trainings happen. This all assumes one very important thing. That the student actually rehearsed. Sadly more often than not the teacher will come to a lesson only to find that the student did not practice. Oh no! What does the coach do now? Rehearse with the student of course!

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

Why Practicing is Difficult

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

Playing from the beginning of a piece is more often than not an unproductive use of time. Playing a minor section bit by bit and correctly is often a requisite of good train. Then repeating it over and over and over. Then they would need to find one more minor section they are not happy with and do it again.

I’m over making things easier here, but the fact is to assist us know how difficult that is. How long should rehearse be? I would be happy with 15 minutes from a young child and 30 minutes from an elder child. How many 5 year olds do you know that could concentrate effectively for fifteen minutes without getting unfocused. Or even better, how many grown-ups do you know that could do the same?

And yet coaches anticipate that type of practice every week from their students. Realistically it is seldom if ever going to happen that way. But an exciting thing occurs when the coach is sitting there. You have the coach 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 grown-up would have a difficult time doing in a fixated way.

How Often Should Lessons Be?

For full effectiveness lessons should be held as frequent as possible. If a student can afford lessons everyday, they’ll advance many multiples quicker than a student having lessons once a week. It’s as simple as that. Most of the lessons will be the tutor just rehearsing with the student. But that rehearse is undeniably invaluable.

Realistically

No not many of us can afford to take a lesson everyday with their coach. Not only that, but not everyone needs to become the next Mozart. So determining how frequent to take lessons really varies on your objectives. Contemplate about just what you’re looking for in lessons. Let’s define some shared ambitions.

Goals for Piano Lessons

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

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

A piano tutor will at all times be supportive and create the music sound the best it can. If budget is a problem though, see if you can find a lecture 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 kid to take this indeed seriously. It doesn’t happen frequently, however I have a few students that would take an hour lesson three days a week, and then extra hour of music theory 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 honestly, you won’t get as much satisfaction out of lessons as if you put your complete spirit into it. As a pianist I can tell you that the happiness that arises from playing captivating music is boundless. Don’t miss out!