Box Hill Piano Lessons – Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to travel anywhere for my piano lessons?

At Piano Lessons In Your Home, our tutors teach you in your own home, ensuring you don’t waste time stuck in Box Hill traffic to get to your piano classes.

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

Please touch base 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 budget keyboard is perfectly fine for beginners.

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

When do you offer Box Hill piano classes?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our Box Hill 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 Box Hill 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 Box Hill 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 Box Hill group  piano lessons?

Group piano lessons are a great way for your child to socialise, but that’s about where the perks end. Individual 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 individual 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 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 Box Hill piano tutors qualifications?

Only the best Box Hill 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 classes 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 think the best approach to answer this enquiry is to look at the best of the best and see how often THEY took classes.

Some of the best pianists in history likely had lessons on a daily basis. We will frequently find that major authors and pianists came from a musical upbringing and their primary tutors were often 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 Practice is NOT Adequate

This is how weekly piano lessons ought to work. The teacher listens to what the student practiced in the previous week. The tutor would then give suggestions on how to get better or teach 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 train in the succeeding week. The student would then train for a week according to the teachers recommendations and this would carry on from week to week.

Unfortunately this is very hardly the way trainings happen. This all assumes one very crucial thing. That the student actually trained. Sadly more often than not the coach will appear to a lesson only to discover that the student did not practice. Oh no! What does the teacher do now? Train with the student of course!

That’s what takes place if the student just did not practice, but unfortunately even if the student DID train this might still be the outcome. Why? Because practicing is hard.

Why Practicing is Tough

Let’s think about what we’re asking 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 sort out on parts of music that the student cannot so far play.

Playing from the start of a piece is more often than not an unproductive use of time. Playing a minor segment gradually and precisely is often a condition of good practice. Then repeating it over and over and over. Then they would want to pin point a different small segment they are not comfortable with and do it again.

I’m done simplifying here, but the point is to aid us realise how challenging that is. How long should rehearse be? I would be glad with 15 minutes from a young child and thirty minutes from an older child. How many five year olds do you know that could focus well for fifteen minutes without getting distracted. Or even better, how many adults do you know that could do the same?

And yet coaches expect that kind 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 teacher is sitting there. You have the tutor leading the student telling them what they need to train and how many times to repeat it. The tutors can put right bad habits and improper posture. These are things a young child, or even an grown-up would have a challenging time doing in a determined way.

How Often Should Lessons Be?

For full effectiveness lessons should be held as often as feasible. If a student can afford lessons daily, they’ll advance many multiples sooner than a student having lessons once a week. It’s as simple as that. Most of the lessons will be the coach just practicing with the student. But that train is undeniably precious.

Realistically

No not many of us can afford to take a lesson daily with their teacher. Not only that, but not every person needs to become the next Mozart. So determining how often to take lessons really varies on your goals. Think about exactly what you’re looking for in lessons. Let’s describe some common goals.

Ambitions for Piano Lessons

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

If your objective for piano lessons is just to play one piece, evidently lessons day-to-day indeed aren’t desirable. You may really be able to even learn on your own!

A piano trainer will always be supportive and create the music sound the best it can. If fund is an issue though, see if you can discover a lesson of the piece on YouTube. If you never want to learn anything new, 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 indeed honestly. It doesn’t take place often, but 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 top.

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