Riverstone Piano Lessons – Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to travel anywhere for my piano classes?

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

Do your piano teachers come to Riverstone? 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 homes without a piano.

When do you offer Riverstone piano classes?

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

Group piano lessons are a great way for your child to socialise, but that’s about where the perks end. One on One 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 quicker 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 Riverstone piano tutors qualifications?

Only the best Riverstone 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.

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 response to this question is to look at the best of the best and see how often THEY took lessons.

Some of the best pianists in the past likely had lessons on a everyday basis. We will frequently find that major composers and pianists came from a musical upbringing and their first teachers were often one of their parents. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven just to name a few had parents who were musicians and possibly gave them day-to-day lessons.

Piano Practice is NOT Enough

This is how weekly piano lessons ought to work. The tutor listens to what the student practiced in the previous week. The tutor would then provide suggestions on how to develop or explain new ideas to improve 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 rehearse for a week according to the tutors recommendations and this would continue from week to week.

Sadly this is very rarely the way lessons happen. This all assumes one very crucial thing. That the student actually trained. Unfortunately more often than not the coach will come to a lesson only to find that the student did not rehearse. Oh no! What does the tutor do now? Train with the student of course!

That’s what takes place if the student just did not rehearse, but unfortunately even if the student DID rehearse this may still be the outcome. Why? Because practicing is tough.

Why Practicing is Challenging

Let’s think about what we’re asking young children, perhaps as young as 5, to do. The best way to practice is to eliminate all distractions sit down at the piano and sort out on segments 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 section bit by bit and accurately is often a requisite of good rehearse. Then recapping it over and over and over. Then they would need to trace a different small segment they are not comfortable with and do it again.

I’m over simplifying here, but the point is to assist us know how tough that is. How long should train be? I would be happy with 15 minutes from a young child and 30 minutes from an elder child. How many five year olds do you know that could concentrate well for fifteen minutes without getting diverted. 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 exciting thing occurs when the trainer 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 coaches can put right bad habits and incorrect posture. These are things a young child, or even an grown-up would have a tough time doing in a focused way.

How Frequent Should Lessons Be?

For maximum success lessons should be held as often as feasible. 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 teacher just practicing with the student. But that train is undeniably invaluable.

Realistically

No not many of us can have enough money to take a lesson daily with their teacher. 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. Think about exactly 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 pastime
• Study serious as a lasting pursuit
• Make it a career

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

A piano tutor will at all times be helpful and create the music sound the best it can. If budget is a problem though, see if you can find 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 accurately or not.

Although this all changes if you desire to, or you want your kid to take this indeed honestly. It doesn’t occur often, but I have a few students that would take an hour lesson three days a week, and then extra hour of music principle 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 sincerely, you won’t get as much satisfaction out of lessons as if you put your entire heart into it. As a pianist I can tell you that the joy that arises from playing beautiful music is immeasurable. Don’t miss out!