About my piano lessons

My curriculum

I try to adopt a personalised approach for each pupil, based on my firm belief that pupils are unique in their learning style and personality.

I aim to give beginners a thorough and solid grounding in basic musical skills and concepts. The laying of these solid foundations in both understanding and playing ensure that progress can advance smoothly to advanced playing, but they can equally be transferable to other instruments should that be required.

For beginner students I use a wide variety of piano tutor books, endeavouring to match each student to the one that bests suits their learning style. Often a mixture is used supplemented with other music or my own learning materials.

Many students take exams (ABRSM, TRINITY or LCM) where I have a 100% success rate with the majority of students gaining merits or distinctions. However preparation for these does not exclude other learning so that students have a wide exposure to music and do not get bored with a narrow exam curriculum.

A wide variety of musical styles and genres is encouraged and students are particularly encouraged to bring music that they have discovered or would like to play.

Lesson length and fees.

Most students take lesson of 45 minutes. I find that my varied approach of teaching both at the piano and with activities away from the keys (games, singing, and music theory) holds the attention and interest of even young students.

Occasionally the very youngest pupils start off with 30 minute lessons for the early stages before progressing to a longer lesson.

For all students I teach holistically, ensuring that all areas of aural, theory, sight-reading, improvising, & composing are covered at a stage relevant to their playing ability.

Fees are reviewed annually and kept in line with the ISM guidelines for an experienced teacher. Please contact me for current fees.

Practice

Regular and effective practise is essential to a student’s progress and pleasure in learning. I adopt a variety of incentive schemes to help motivate pupils, such as practice points to win prizes or more specific short -erm schemes, such as a `Piano Olympics`. All students are given a detailed practise notes to ensure practice done at home is efficient and worthwhile.. Students need to be prepared to follow the following practice guidelines for a minimum of 5 days a week to ensure regular progress and long term success.

  • 5-7 years - 20mins
  • 7-11 years - 30mins
  • 12+ years - 45-60mins

Parents of young children are encouraged to stay during lessons to help them facilitate their child's practice at home.

Prospective students are invited to contact me for a free no obligation 30minute consultation to discuss their needs.