Wow! It has been practically a year since I have written a blog post. My apologies. This year has been a beautiful example of learning to adapt to decisive change while accepting and embracing the unknown/unforeseeable change that occurs because...life, ya know?
I wanted to write a short blurb about the piano lessons I teach and what to expect from them.
Of course, for any of my lessons, I adjust and adapt to the student and his or her learning styles.
Typically, whether it is an hour lesson or 30 minutes, we will start with finger warm-ups, scales, chord structures, theory review, improvisation, and then make our way into a book series. For some students, we will find a popular song that they want to learn and veer from the book to allow time for learning a new song.
For most of my younger students, I usually recommend the Alfred piano series (amazon link below).
I love the way these books sequence material and I have found that students ranging from ages 5-14 tend to enjoy learning from these books.
I structure my lessons so that students walk away feeling confident and encouraged. For the younger ones (5 and 6 years old), simply sitting at the piano can be difficult. It requires a lot of brain power and, after a long day at school, this can be a challenge. I make sure to play games, keep the energy light-hearted and fun while making sure to engage the bright minds of my students. Learning and laughing happen simultaneously in my studio.
Even though voice is my primary instrument, I believe that the piano is the best fundamental instrument for beginner musicians. The instrument itself is clearly laid out which makes it better for new students to explore music theory, ear training, scales, and basic skills that can be translated to any other instrument.
I hope this post helps to clarify what goes on in piano lessons and encourages you (no matter what age) to learn this beautiful instrument : )
I plan to write my next post (in 2019!!) about my band(s) and give a little more backstory about me.
Tata for now!
Love,
Erin