Piano Lessons

If you want to learn to play the piano, what do you need, and what can you expect in lessons? Well you need a piano at home, or at least a keyboard, for starters. Progress depends on what happens between the lessons, more than at them, so a routine of practice is essential. Secondly you need a teacher, or tutor.

To achieve a balanced curriculum, there would be a variety of pieces in different styles, sight-reading, technical exercises and aural training. Depending on age and experience, I recommend different pieces and different books. I also try to mix the level - so there are some ‘easy’ pieces to foster a quick sense of achievement, and others that are more of a challenge.

I prefer students to take performance opportunities, including piano exams (see here), but I have many students who don’t sit exams. There are many reasons:

A lot of students hate scales, but we should all learn piano scales as part of our technical development: sadly the ABRSM seems to view technical exercises in a very narrow way as scales and arpeggios only. Indeed, I have sat across the table from the Chief Examiner of the ABRSM and said “There are too many scales for pianists” - other instruments don’t have the mountain of scales especially at Grade 2 and 5.

Quite a few don’t like theory either: for pianists aiming for higher grades, Grades 6,7 and 8 need Grade 5 Music Theory (although that is not a good reason to do it!). I run courses in Music Theory (please see here). Nevertheless, despite my excellent teaching, Music Theory is not for everyone: for some very practical keyboard players, Practical Musicianship is an excellent alternative, which is now supported by good educational material. For some others, for whom Grade 5 Theory is a bridge too far, they jump ship to Trinity.

If you are looking to find a local piano teacher, in Peterborough, whether for children, teenagers, or adults, give me a call. But you don’t have to live near me - I teach online, and even for private lessons, my pupils come from all over the area: including March, Stamford, Spalding.

Please look at my resources for pianists: