Doonside Piano Lessons – Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to travel anywhere for my piano classes?

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

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

Please call 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 ok for beginners.

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

When do you offer Doonside piano classes?

We typically offer after school lessons, on weekday afternoons to evenings, our Doonside 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 Doonside piano tutors are experienced in tutoring 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 piano journey.

What styles of piano music do you teach?

Our Doonside 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 Doonside group  piano classes?

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

Only the best Doonside 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 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 way 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 past likely had lessons on a daily basis. We will frequently find that main composers and pianists came from a musical background 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 probably gave them day-to-day lessons.

Piano Rehearsal is NOT Sufficient

This is how weekly piano lessons ought to work. The trainer listens to what the student rehearsed in the previous week. The trainer would then provide recommendations on how to get better or teach new ideas to improve the young pianist both technically and musically. From there, they may add some training tips and recommendations on what and how to rehearse in the succeeding week. The student would then rehearse for a week according to the coaches suggestions and this would carry on from week to week.

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

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

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 rehearse is to eliminate all distractions 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 presentation is more often than not an unproductive use of time. Playing a small section slowly and accurately is often a requisite of good practice. Then repeating it over and over and over. Then they would need to trace another small segment they are not happy with and do it once more.

I’m finished simplifying here, but the point is to aid us understand how hard that is. How long should train be? I would be pleased with fifteen minutes from a young child and 30 minutes from an elder child. How many five year olds do you know that could focus effectively for fifteen minutes without getting distracted. Or even better, how many grown-ups do you know that could do the same?

And yet coaches anticipate that type of train every week from their students. Realistically it is rarely if ever going to happen that way. But an exciting thing occurs when the trainer is sitting there. You have the teacher leading the student telling them what they need to train and how many times to repeat it. The tutors can correct bad habits and incorrect stance. These are things a young child, or even an adult would have a hard time doing in a fixated way.

How Often Should Lessons Be?

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

Realistically

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

Ambitions 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 job

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

A piano teacher will continually be supportive and craft 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 study anything new, then it matters a lot less whether you are playing absolutely correctly or not.

However this all changes if you desire to, or you desire your child 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 at all times the best.

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