Canterbury 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 Canterbury traffic to get to your piano classes.

Do your piano teachers come to Canterbury? 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 households without a piano.

When do you offer Canterbury piano lessons?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our Canterbury 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 Canterbury 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 Canterbury 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 one-on-one lessons? Why not Canterbury group  piano classes?

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

Only the best Canterbury 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 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 olden times likely had lessons on a everyday basis. We will frequently find that main authors and pianists came from a musical upbringing 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 daily lessons.

Piano Training is NOT Adequate

This is how weekly piano lessons should work. The tutor listens to what the student practiced in the previous week. The trainer would then provide suggestions on how to get better or impart new concepts to improve the new pianist both technically and musically. From there, they may add some practice tips and recommendations on what and how to rehearse in the following week. The student would then rehearse for a week according to the teachers recommendations and this would continue from week to week.

Unfortunately this is very hardly the way classes happen. This all concludes one very crucial thing. That the student in fact 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? Rehearse with the student of course!

That’s what takes place if the student just did not rehearse, but sadly even if the student DID practice this might still be the result. Why? Because practicing is difficult.

Why Practicing is Difficult

Let’s think about what we’re requesting young children, perhaps as young as 5, to do. The best way to practice is to eradicate all distractions sit down at the piano and sort out on sections of music that the student cannot until now play.

Playing from the start of a presentation is more often than not an inefficient use of time. Playing a minor section slowly and correctly is often a condition of good train. Then repeating it over and over and over. Then they would need to trace another minor section they are not contented with and do it once more.

I’m over simplifying here, but the point is to help us understand how tough 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 concentrate effectively for fifteen minutes without getting distracted. Or even better, how many adults do you know that could do the same?

And yet trainers expect that type of rehearse every week from their students. Realistically it is rarely if ever going to happen that way. But an exciting thing happens when the trainer is sitting there. You have the tutor 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 improper stance. These are things a young child, or even an grown-up would have a tough time doing in a determined way.

How Frequent Should Lessons Be?

For maximum success lessons should be held as frequent as feasible. If a student can afford lessons everyday, they’ll develop 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 rehearsing with the student. But that practice 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 everyone needs to become the next Mozart. So determining how often to take lessons really depends on your ambitions. Think about exactly what you’re looking for in lessons. Let’s define some common objectives.

Objectives 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 job

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

A piano coach will at all times be supportive and create the music sound the finest it can. If budget is a problem though, see if you can discover a lecture of the piece on YouTube. If you never desire to learn anything else, then it matters a lot less whether you are playing absolutely accurately or not.

Although this all changes if you want to, or you want your child to take this indeed sincerely. It doesn’t happen often, however I have a few students that would take an hour lesson 3 days a week, and then additional hour of music principle for a total of 4 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 sincerely, you won’t get as much pleasure out of lessons as if you put your complete spirit into it. As a pianist I can tell you that the pleasure that comes from playing captivating music is immeasurable. Don’t miss out!