Westmead 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 Westmead traffic to get to your piano lessons.

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

Please call 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 ok for beginners.

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

When do you offer Westmead piano lessons?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our Westmead 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 Westmead piano tutors are experienced in teaching 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 Westmead 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 Westmead group  piano lessons?

Group piano tutoring are a great way for your child to socialise, but that’s about where the perks end. One on One 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 private lessons progress a lot quicker 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 Westmead piano teachers qualifications?

Only the best Westmead 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 think 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 daily basis. We will frequently find that key writers and pianists came from a musical background and their first tutors were often one of their parents. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven just to name a few had parents who were musicians and likely gave them day-to-day lessons.

Piano Rehearsal is NOT Enough

This is how weekly piano lessons ought to work. The coach listens to what the student trained in the previous week. The coach would then give suggestions on how to improve or explain new ideas to develop the new pianist both technically and musically. From there, they may add some training tips and recommendations on what and how to practice in the following week. The student would then practice for a week according to the trainers recommendations and this would continue 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 coach will appear to a lesson only to discover that the student did not rehearse. Oh no! What does the teacher do now? Practice 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 might still be the result. Why? Because practicing is difficult.

Why Practicing is Tough

Let’s think about what we’re requesting young children, perhaps as young as 5, to do. The best way to rehearse 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 start of a piece is more often than not an inefficient use of time. Playing a minor section slowly and precisely is often a requisite of good train. Then recapping it over and over and over. Then they would need to find a different small segment they are not contented with and do it once again.

I’m over making things easier here, but the point is to help us understand how challenging that is. How long should train be? I would be glad with fifteen minutes from a young child and thirty minutes from an older child. How many five year olds do you know that could focus effectively for 15 minutes without getting diverted. Or even better, how many adults do you know that could do the same?

And yet coaches expect that kind of practice 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 tutor leading the student telling them what they need to rehearse and how many times to repeat it. The tutors can rectify bad habits and improper pose. These are things a young child, or even an adult would have a challenging time doing in a fixated way.

How Often Should Lessons Be?

For full success lessons should be held as frequent as feasible. If a student can allow lessons day-to-day, they’ll progress many multiples sooner than a student taking lessons once a week. It’s as easy as that. Most of the lessons will be the trainer just practicing with the student. But that train is completely priceless.

Realistically

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

Goals for Piano Lessons

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

If your ambitions for piano lessons is just to play one piece, clearly lessons daily really aren’t needed. You may really be capable to even learn on your own!

A piano teacher will always be helpful and make the music sound the best it can. If fund is a problem though, see if you can trace a lecture of the piece on YouTube. If you never want to study anything different, then it matters a lot less whether you are playing absolutely right or not.

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

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