Beginner Lessons |
Advanced and Intermediate Lessons |
20 or 30 minutes |
45 or 60 minutes |
Weekly in term times |
Weekly or fornightly in term times |
A TYPICAL LESSON
piano4t embraces a 'simultaneous learning' approach to music teaching.
Proactive rather than reactive, this approach engages the imagination and powers of creativity.
It’s also great fun!
www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Files/Guides/Education/Toolkit/Simultaneous-Learning
Every lesson will give you a chance to discover the 'ingredients' of the music you are studying
and make connections between reading, improvising, listening and performance skills.
I will hand over lesson notes to help us both recall what we learnt each week
– please check these regularly!
Proactive rather than reactive, this approach engages the imagination and powers of creativity.
It’s also great fun!
www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Files/Guides/Education/Toolkit/Simultaneous-Learning
Every lesson will give you a chance to discover the 'ingredients' of the music you are studying
and make connections between reading, improvising, listening and performance skills.
I will hand over lesson notes to help us both recall what we learnt each week
– please check these regularly!
In the studioThere is a beautiful Brodmann grand piano in the studio as well as a Roland keyboard and a small Yamaha digital piano, enabling us to socially distance at two or more keyboards. The studio is also well-equipped with recording, mixing and composition technology and software.
Teaching at a distance
We use Cleanfeed, for high quality multitrack, multi-party live audio and recording from a browser; the video link up is via Zoom or Jitsi.
If you have a midi keyboard, then we can use Internet Midi from Timewarp Tech to connect our instruments together, record and playback, and use an on-screen keyboard with animated keys, pedals, and velocity meters. Visit the blog pages for more details of how we can get set up for success. Beginner resourcesI always take time to find the right Primer or Tutor book for every pianist. So we will choose the books that suit you together, but here are some favourites:
Colour Play by Sharon Goodey. 'Proper' notation but in colour to help reading skills. Great for....getting youngest players to use all their fingers fluently from the beginning. Me and my piano by Fanny Waterman. Traditional but quickly progressive tutors. Great for... sneaking a fair bit of theory and technique into the fun! Piano Adventures (Faber) A real favourite of mine, from first steps and right into the later grades. Great for....building all round musicality and general knowledge while learning superbly imaginative pieces. Piano Discoveries (Lusher et al) A very useful, gently progressive series. Great for.... building confidence while playing lots of short solos and duets with the teacher. Music Makers (Joan Last) Virtuoso teacher and composer Joan Last produced fantastic pieces for learners. Great for....fast-learning older beginners and adults who are happy to work quite a independently. And for theory: Chester Theory Puzzle packs.........Poco series (Ng)............Theory Made Easy for little children (Ng) |
Intermediate resourcesClassical Style series by Nancy Bacchus. A bit of history and context mixed in with the music. Great for... explorers!
Rock, Pop piano and Jazz tutors from John Kember, Martha Mier and Chris Norton. Great for...everyone, wherever they are on their jazz journey Hello Mr Gillock, Hello Carl Czerny..........Really innovative approach that adds to the appreciation of both classical and contemporary styles. Great for...developing versatility and a really great toolkit of techniques And for theory: Dorothy Dingle Pass Grade 5 Theory Anna Butterworth Harmony in Practice More advanced repertoire
John Thompson’s Graded course books
Schubert’s, Schumann's and Tchaikovsky’s pieces for children Heller and Burgmuller studies Mendelssohn Songs without Words Grieg Lyric Pieces Bach Inventions and Partitas Chopin Preludes |
