1 to 1 piano lessons
in person at my home studio
What do you get: a weekly or fortnightly meeting in person with me, your piano teacher, where I check the results of your daily practice. During this time:
- I evaluate your progress.
- By closely observing your performance, I spot and highlight issues which might arise with technique, understanding of musical content, theory, timing, sense of beat, etc. and give you feedback, guidance, practice strategies and exercises to enable you to break down and solve these problems.
- I highlight practice opportunities on the material you are working on, and let you practice them on the spot to make sure you have a clear understanding of what to do at home.
- Pick new pieces and revise old material
- Give you assignments for your own practice in between lessons, tailored to your level. Keeping the learning curve under control at all times.
Live online video lesson
What do you get: a weekly or fortnightly meeting in person with me via ZOOM video conferencing software. During the online meeting I apply the same methods I use for in-person classes, with the addition of third party software to clearly show notes, hand positions, scales, chord shapes, etc.
I will give you guidance, feedback, suggestions and practice opportunities just like if we were in the same room, all in the comfort of your own home. You can ask questions and get answers in real time.
You only need to have ZOOM installed on your computer or tablet. Everything else is running on my computer, and I can show everything to you thanks to ZOOM’s screen sharing feature. Other options such as Skype, Google Meet or WhatsApp are also available, however, in order to get the best value from the experience I strongly recommend using ZOOM.
I have a three-webcam setup: one for greeting / talking / explaining, one from the side angle of my piano which facilitates understanding of movements on the vertical axis, and another bird’s eye view from a top placed camera, to show students my hands and arms from above. I can zoom in the picture to show in extreme detail the movements that the student needs to imitate and reproduce.
Two well placed microphones in the studio room guarantee quality sound transmission.
Lesson by video exchange
What do you get: first you need to send me one or two short videos of yourself performing your assignments or repertoire. If you can describe where you think you need guidance (bar number in a piece, beat number, right hand / left hand, indecision about choice of fingering, etc.) all the better. The total length of the videos should not exceed 5 minutes.
After having watched your videos I will make a response video highlighting troublesome spots, suggesting solutions, practice tips and strategies, fixes, effective fingerings. I will then send the video to you for viewing and taking on board the suggestions I make in your subsequent practice sessions.
You can be flexible with how often you decide to take this type of class, and only send me a video when you feel ready.
While being technically an “Offline” activity, as we do not meet in real time, I find this option beneficial for all those people who might feel particularly self-conscious about performing live in front of someone, even if the audience is their piano teacher. However, I believe it suits best students of intermediate and advanced level who have a well established and effective practice strategy and routine, and only need guidance on specific aspects of their assignments that they find difficult to overcome on their own.
If you wish to take piano exams: I can sign you up for them and follow you all the way to diploma level.
If you do not wish to take piano exams: I will be asking you lots of questions about what music you like and what you listen to, ultimately to understand what music you would like to be able to play on the piano. Once I get that input from you I can start planning your musical journey and give you assignments accordingly.