Posts from — May 2009

Learning Piano Withour A Teacher From an Online-Purchased Course

As mentioned in past posts, in this fabulous era of electronic communication and everything available on the web, it’s only natural that a whole new crop of piano teaching programs would show up online.

There are many reasons why someone would choose to learn piano at home, without a teacher, from one of these boxed sets. Many adult piano learners have schedules and business obligations that simply don’t allow for consistent weekly lessons with a teacher. Or perhaps, they simply desire to learn at home, practicing and progressing at their own pace,
without any teachers’ expectations hanging over them.

Since the shift, now more than ever, is towards learning to play only at the pace, and to the level, you desire, just enough for your own piano-playing enjoyment, this trend towards online book-and-video-based courses is a great thing.

As we covered in previous posts, very few students of the piano will go on to be full-time musicians and professional piano players, either in the classical or popular genres. Those who have the talent and drive to desire, and possibly reach, that goal, should definitely work a live teacher, actually several of them over the course of their training.
 

But for someone who just wants to learn to play for their enjoyment and the enjoyment of their family and friends, one of these online courses could be quite sufficient.

The important thing is to purchase one that is well-reputed, successful in its design and approach, and easy to follow. I’ve checked out some of these online piano learning courses, and found many that offer a comprehensive course of note & rhythm training, music theory,  sightreading, finger training and sometimes even ear/pitch training. Here’s five of my most worthy contenders:

Learn and Master Piano
Rocket Piano
Piano Wizard For Children   
Piano By Pattern
Piano For All

Virtually all of these feature hundreds of hours of audio lessons, video lessons (some featuring excellent filmed shots of the teacher’s fingerwork) and books, enough to take any piano student from rank beginner to competent mid-level (at least) player in contemporary styles and even many classical pieces.  Some even give you a fair introduction to the world of jazz voicings and runs.

I suggest you take a few hours to research these five and other online piano programs, read unbiased reviews, and view samples of their materials. Most are very reasonably priced (costing hundreds or thousands less than comparable live-teacher lessons,) and many offer a money-back guarantee…if the course is not a good fit for you, you can return it and lose nothing.

Happy hunting, and learning at home!

There are so many shapes and sizes of artistic music boxes. Some are small enough to fit in your hand, while others are designed to hold jewelry, and still others are large enough to stand alone like a piece of furniture. Wood, metal, glass, and stone; jewelry boxes are familiar to all of us. Equally familiar is the musical jewelry box. In fact, it is almost rare to see one without the other. A piano music box is another variation on that theme, a unique keepsake.

A piano music box is exactly that; a music box shaped like a piano. But its appeal extends well beyond its familiar shape and the songs it plays. Some piano music boxes are simple enough; the least expensive models are often just a standard music box inside a case that resembles a piano. And like many other music boxes, they often have room to hold trinkets and jewelry. But it is the expensive, hand crafted models that are so unique and interesting, they have to be seen to be believed.

Often imported from Europe, a hand crafted piano music box is a work of art. Hand carved, hand-painted, and inlaid with rare stones, piano music boxes can often cost hundreds of dollars or more. The lids of these miniature grand pianos lift and reveal the musical movement, which is the heart of the musical instrument, just like a real baby grand. The musical movement on a piano music box is just as impressive as the case in which it sits.

A high quality piano music box can be custom ordered with a musical movement that fits your needs. A basic musical movement might be capable of playing eighteen notes, and that would allow a piano music box that is outfitted with that movement to play simple songs that are short in duration. As you progress in price in sophistication, the musical possibilities become greater and greater. The most expensive musical movements are capable of up to one-hundred and forty-four notes. This allows a piano music box to play intricate songs that last much longer than the more basic movements allow. Naturally, the list of available songs becomes quite long when your piano music box is outfitted with the finest musical movements.

A piano music box is something that is sure to bring joy to its owner, and it is equally likely to be passed down as a family heirloom. Its ultimate appeal lies in the fact that it is so much like its full sized counterpart. Its beautiful woodwork and beautiful sound make a piano music box more than just a music box; it is a work of art.

The biggest gap in the quality of tutoring from all the piano teachers out there is that most are very good at playing the piano, but not necessarily good at teaching piano, or teaching at all.

Teaching is a very special skill set, reuiring a excellent balance of clear communication, encouragement, experienced discrimination of how much to ask of each student, and that special ability to transfer knowledge. Few people have all that.

Therefore it’s essential that you use two barometers to test whether this or that teacher will be best for you.

The first is to get recommendations from others you trust. Don’t just pick a name out of the yellow pages. Find out if they have a shining and long-established track record, and then find others who have taken lessons from them and ask their honest opinion of that teacher’s strengths and weaknesses.

The second gauge is your own personal compatability. We’re all so unique in our personalities, the way we think and the way we learn. You may find a teacher who’s crystal clear in their directions and explanations, but for some reason, you just don’t get their languaging style, and you have trouble following them. Or maybe the personalities don’t line up. And of course, some of us are more visual learners while others are auditory, kinetic or informational learners.

So what do you do. Simple. Tell any teacher, up front, that you want to try them out for a while and see if your styles & personalities match up. Don’t be afraid to state this right up front, and don’t be afraid to “divorce” them if the marriage just ain’t working out. If they’re a long-experienced, high-quality teacher, they know all this already, and won’t be offended in the slightest if you need to move on and try someone else.

To be sure, give it a fair amount of time to see if the match is good. As long as the teacher is quality and relatively kind and clear, 3 or 4 lessons just isn’t going to be enough to gauge it. Commit to at least 3 months – about 12 lessons, and then assess.

Once again, as in our earlier discussions, the key is enjoyment. You don’t have to take piano lessons. You want to enjoy learning and playing piano, in your own time, at your own pace. So find a teacher with whom you so thoroughly enjoy the learning process that you really look forward to meeting with them each lesson, and even look forward to diving into the work they give you each week. And if it takes a few hit-or-misses to find that, don’t feel any concern. Get what you need; it’s your  piano-playing “career” at stake, and if you force yourself to stck with someone you don’t enjoy, eventually you’ll quit altogether and miss out on the joy of actually being a piano player.

 In the old days, learning to play piano was a one-choice prospect, and that choice was to find a decent teacher nearby, take lessons from him or her at least once a week, and practice for at least 45 – 60 minutes each day between lessons. Most teachers taught classical-only styles from regimented curriculums built around the succeeding grade-level books of well-established course guides like Michael Aaron or John Thompson or Jane Bastien.

I’m old enough to remember those days, and that’s precisely how I got my start. I had an endearing teacher I nicknamed Aunt Alice (even though she was not related to me,) and those were the materials she used, along with finger-exercise books and occasinal separate sheet music pieces. Since it was the 60s, the era of pop’s explosion with the Beatles and the Stones, Aunt Alice was patronizing enough to occasionally throw in a “pop” song or standard from a Broadway musical, to sweeten the deal. Not all teachers of the day were that kind. Some insisted on a strictly classical approach, and rapped their students fingers with a stick if they didn’t come prepared with an excellent performance every week.

Today (thank God) the list of methods to study piano are almost endless, and while having a real teacher can be invaluable, there are many excellent courses in books and on DVD that you can tackle at home, and still turn out quite competent.

Personally I would say, if you wish to play Carnegie Hall, you’ll need a top-notch human teacher who will refine your skills and help keep you on track. But if you’re self-disciplined enough, and can make sure you get to your piano with your choice of home-study course in front of you, at least a few times a week, you’ll see steady progress. This home teaching advancement will be further enhanced if you keep an accurate journal of your weekly progress, with honest notes about where you’re good, where you’re stuck, what you need to work on, and so forth.

The good news is, the pressure’s off. And since I’m a firm believer that everyone who wants to play, should play the piano, at any level, then this is a good thing. The truth is, the number of serious students who are going to wind up as virtuosos who actually play professionally (and make any kind of living at it,) are few and far between. Even within the hopefuls working their poor little fingers off at fine conservatories like Juliard and Peabody, or at contemporary-playing institutions like The Berklee School, those who will actually graduate to any level of renown in the music business isnunder 15%.

So, driving yourself crazy trying to be the next Rubenstein or Horowitz or Art Tatum (who was blind and self-taught) is only for the over-serious. Start with the goal off just wanting to play nicely enough to really enjoy yourself and entertain some of your friends and family. If you find you have an extraordinary gift and really want to go “all the way,” find a master mentor and give it everything you’ve got.

Otherwise, the choice between a live teacher and a home study approach is totally up to your taste and temperament. In either setting, you will have to practice with some regularity and application, to make any progress. But there’s no timeline except the one you place on yourself, so make progress but make it enjoyable

In our next post, we’ll break down some of the actual methods and approaches out there.