NEW STUDENTS

Lessons:

Lessons are 30 minutes, one time per week. 

I teach lessons from my home.

I charge a weekly rate. However if you want to pay up front for a month at a time, I offer a discount! This usually equates to a free lesson every month (some months, 2 due to how the 5th week falls!!)  This also allows some flexibility should you need to skip a lesson for illness, vacation, unscheduled/unknow school/sporting events, etc.

I also offer a discount for multiple students within the same family.

Expectations:

Course Materials: We will discuss the level and author of piano books I'd like you/your student to work from. If you have books from other students, let me know and we'll work from those. If the student is brand new, I recommend one of three courses. You can find links below. You will be provided a record book for me to write down what to practice weekly. 

Typically a student will need 4 course books for beginning: Piano/Lesson book, Recital/Performance book, Technique book, and Theory book. After a few levels we'll want to add other books/pieces that fall under the student's preferences of what they like to play.

Scheduled Lesson Time: As I run my lessons from my home, you are welcome to walk right in within a few minutes of your scheduled lesson. As I will often have students back to back, I do expect polite and quiet behavior while waiting.

Assigned Pieces: I will assign pieces according to the level you/your student is on. Once they can perform these pieces sufficiently, they will be able to "pass them off". They will receive a star (I'll scribble it in the record book) for every piece passed off, and will be able to earn prizes with the stars.

 There is no specific number of pieces that will be assigned every week. If it feels like too much, please let me know. But keep in mind that if we cut out too many pieces, you won't take up your whole 30 minute lesson.

Practice: I have no set "rules" on how to practice. My method and theory is if you/your student wants to learn piano, then you need to spend time outside of lessons to progress. How quicky you do that is largely dependent on practice!

For young beginner students - starting out with playing every piece I assign 1 time per day (for at least 5 days per week) is usually sufficient. This will typically only be 10 to 15 minutes of practice time daily.

For older beginner students - playing every piece I assign 1-2 times per day is sufficient until they come to a piece/section they struggle with. Then they will be expected to go over that piece/section a few extra times, slowly and carefully to make sure they are practicing it correctly.

For intermediate/advanced students - practice until you're comfortable/confident or fed up! This will mean different lengths of practice every day, because sometimes when you sit down to play, your fingers just don't work as well as they did the day before. If you get fed up, take a break - either pull out a different piece or walk away for a few hours or even until the next day!