Arncliffe Piano Lessons – Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to travel anywhere for my piano classes?

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

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

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

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 households without a piano.

When do you offer Arncliffe piano class?

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

Group piano tutoring are a great way for your child to socialise, but that’s about where the perks end. 1 on 1 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 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 Arncliffe piano teachers qualifications?

Only the best Arncliffe 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.

Usually students take piano lessons 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 courses.

Some of the best pianists in history likely had lessons on a everyday basis. We will often find that main composers and pianists came from a musical upbringing and their first coaches were frequently 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 Adequate

This is how weekly piano lessons ought to work. The trainer listens to what the student rehearsed in the previous week. The tutor would then provide ideas on how to develop 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 train in the following week. The student would then practice for a week according to the tutors suggestions and this would carry on from week to week.

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

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

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 practice is to eliminate all diversions sit down at the piano and sort out on sections of music that the student cannot until now play.

Playing from the beginning of a piece is more often than not an inefficient use of time. Playing a small section gradually and correctly is often a requisite of good train. Then recapping it over and over and over. Then they would need to pin point another minor section they are not happy with and do it again.

I’m done simplifying here, but the fact is to aid us understand how challenging that is. How long should practice be? I would be pleased with fifteen minutes from a young child and thirty minutes from an older child. How many 5 year olds do you know that could focus 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 practice every week from their students. Realistically it is rarely if ever going to happen that way. But an interesting thing happens when the trainer is sitting there. You have the trainer leading the student telling them what they need to practice and how many times to repeat it. The trainers 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 fixated way.

How Frequent Should Lessons Be?

For full effectiveness lessons should be held as often as possible. If a student can afford lessons day-to-day, they’ll progress many multiples sooner than a student taking lessons once a week. It’s as straightforward as that. Most of the lessons will be the coach just rehearsing with the student. But that train is undeniably precious.

Realistically

No not many of us can have enough money to take a lesson daily with their trainer. Not only that, but not every person needs to become the next Mozart. So deciding how often to take lessons indeed varies on your objectives. Think about just what you’re looking for in lessons. Let’s outline some shared objectives.

Goals for Piano Lessons

• Play one exact piece
• Play for my wedding
• Be able to play as a pastime
• Study serious as a lifelong pursuit
• Make it a career

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

A piano coach will always be supportive and make the music sound the finest it can. If fund is an problem though, see if you can discover a lesson of the piece on YouTube. If you never desire to learn anything different, then it matters a lot less whether you are playing absolutely correctly or not.

But this all changes if you want to, or you desire your child to take this really honestly. It doesn’t occur frequently, but I have a few students that would take an hour lesson 3 days a week, and then extra hour of music principle for a total of four hours a week of lessons. These students are at all times the top.

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 complete heart into it. As a pianist I can tell you that the happiness that arises from playing beautiful music is boundless. Don’t miss out!