What to Expect from Piano Lessons

The piano is “just” an instrument – it can’t produce music if the person playing it doesn’t know how.

Your child will start out (and continue) by singing and tapping out rhythms – it’s going to look silly, but he’ll gain an innate understanding of music.

Just like learning our first language, students learn music by listening and echoing before reading.

At it’s most basic level, technique is simply HOW you play an instrument.

Your child will learn to arrange and align arms, hands, and fingers to get a variety of sounds out of the piano.

Playing any instrument comes with a (slight) chance of injury. Your child will learn to minimize excess tension to reduce the chance of getting hurt.*

*Playing related injuries are rare in amateur musicians, but if your child later decides to pursue music as a career, proper technique and body awareness will help to prepare them for the more stressful requirements of the trade.

Music theory gives students an understanding of how music is constructed. Once students understand how their music works, they can make informed choices on how to play different parts of a piece.

They can figure out WHY a composer wrote a group of notes where she did.

And…they can play around with those notes and improvise or compose!

To me, playing music is all about the story – whether the composer had a story or the musician creates their own.

Your child will use her imagination to interpret music. This process unlocks creativity, passion, and a sense of purpose and communication.

What is the music trying to say?

What is the piece about?

How can I play in a way that tells the story?

These are the types of questions that make students “dig in” to the music and find something deeper and meaningful to them.