Piano Lessons for Beginners – What’s Best?

If you are a real newbie at learning piano then you’re going to need some proper piano lessons for beginners. Reckon twice about getting a human piano teachers because there could be all sorts of problems that you might not have thought of.

1. Not all piano teachers can teach. For generations, people who have learned piano as a child and have become reasonably adept at it have turned to teaching piano as a way of earning a living. And it’s a perfectly decent occupation of course. If you’re fortunate enough to find a excellent piano teacher for your lessons then excellent for you. For, the unfortunate fact is that there are many people out there, who, no matter how excellent they are at playing piano, are just not excellent teachers. Being able to impart information in an effective and memorable way is a skill that has to be learned, and may piano teachers seem to focus on the technicalities of piano playing to the exclusion of the educational aspect. The result is that you might have a piano lesson every week for years and still feel you haven?t learned very much at the end of it all.

2. You might find your teacher hard to get on with (or they might find you hard instead). Everybody is different and I?m sure you?ve had the experience where you take an instant dislike to someone, even if you can?t place your finger on the actual reason. Such a thing occurred to me a while back when I booked a course of lessons with a guy that a friend had mentioned was particularly excellent. I was told that he was knowledgeable, friendly and polite. He arrived ans was just as described but I’m worried from day one, I just found it hard to get on with him. I just didn?t like his manner and couldn?t get on with him at all. Of course, an extreme example like this doesn’t occur very often, but if anything like it does happen, it’s likely to interfere with your learning. It?s just something to reckon about, that?s all.

3. Real live piano teachers don?t come cheap. It depends where you live of course but you?ll probably find that most piano lessons for beginners come in at between $35 and $75 per hour. If you?re learning piano from scratch then the likelihood is that you?ll need at least one piano lesson per week for a year. It soon adds up, I can tell you. You might end up spending two or three thousand dollars on employing a piano teacher before you know it. It?s as well to be aware of this commitment before you start because it?s not always simple to get rid of teachers once they start teaching you. They?ll tell you that you need a few more lessons, then a few more, then a few more. You don’t reckon you should stop because they’re the professional and you’re the beginner.

You might reckon that I’m a bit prejudiced against humans for piano lessons – not at all. Many piano teachers provide a first class service at a reasonable price, but they?re not always simple to find. In reality piano lessons for beginners aren’t very complicated. If you’re a beginner then you need something simple and straightforward – you don’t want a piano teacher breathing down your neck.

For beginners, the most economical and effective piano lessons are delivered via the teach-yourself route. You can work at your own speed and learn in your own way. The most well loved piano lessons for beginners are featured at http://www.pianodetective.com where you can read actual user comments on the different packages available.


Piano Lessons: Make Sure They Include Chords & Music Theory!

Proper piano instruction is an element extremely vital to learning the instrument well. Though it’s very possible to be a self-taught piano player, piano lessons can really increase the speed and efficiency with which one learns the instrument.


That’s not to say that fantastic piano instruction makes fantastic piano players overnight; even the most naturally talented pianists still play for years before they consider themselves advanced. But proper piano lesson instructions will maximize those years to the fullest and ensure that the student is learning the right techniques.


Though teaching styles always vary from instructor to instructor, piano instruction generally covers the same basic areas: fingering, music reading, scales, technique, and sight reading. The early lessons will cover fingering and posture, making sure the student knows how to hold his or her hands and where to place them on the keys; series of scales practiced repeatedly will be the basis of this area. Piano instruction will then go on to notation essentials, starting with the basics of notes and key signatures and time signatures and then moving forward to more advanced concepts in rhythm, tempo and dynamics.


Many of these concepts are introduced into the piano instruction while the student is learning to read music, a practice that runs through the entire course of the piano instruction. Teachers will assign small, simple pieces to kick start the student’s music reading knowledge and eventually go forward to more advanced pieces. Sight reading, the ability to play a piece of music without ever having seen it, is sometimes placed sporadically throughout the piano instruction, after a student is honestly well-versed in reading music.


One crucial element of piano playing that is often left out of traditional piano lessons is the study and practice of chords and music theory. To learn to read music without understanding the theory behind the music and the chords and chord progressions that form the music is nearly like teaching a surgeon to cut without understanding the human anatomy and it’s interrelated parts. The student will be able to play the piano from a piece of sheet music, but take that music away or have it blow off the piano and he or she is immediately in huge distress.


There is a well-known anecdote about a lady who was a concert pianist and could impress people with her playing, yet when questioned to play “Pleased Birthday” at a party had to decline with fantastic embarrassment because she didn’t have sheet music for the song handy. To be tied to the written music is a shame, when learning chords and music theory adds so much to the value of piano instruction.


Given a healthy dose of music theory and chord instruction mixed in, all of the other elements of piano instruction eventually start to work hand in hand. Piano instruction then becomes an intricate web of gaining bits of detailed knowledge small by small and understanding the music that’s being played without fully realizing that it’s being gained.


Playing the piano then becomes more fun and a joyful event that can be shared with full understanding of the music theory and form and chord structure that lies behind each song.

A series or free lessons from Duane on the various aspects of chords & music theory is available: “Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions!”


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