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"The 3 Key Elements
to Look For When Considering Online Piano Lessons"
by Paul Tobey
With the popularity of online
piano lessons growing rapidly, it makes it much harder
to choose from among the dozens of available options. Here
are 3 key elements your online
piano lessons must have that are absolutely essential
to your success; credibility, a
proven piano method and a strong
motivational component.
First of all, do not even consider taking piano
lessons from someone who has no credibility. That means
sifting through the hype and digging deep to find out as much
as you can about the person giving the piano lessons.
Who are they? What is their background? Is this person a professional
musician or just fly by night teacher with a idea to make
money off your eagerness to learn.
You see, it’s very easy to get sucked into a great
sales pitch such as, “learn all your favourite songs
by ear in just one day,” or “the secret piano
method that will teach you piano in just a few short hours!”
Claims like these are becoming more and more common on the
internet and for most people who’ve never taken a piano
lesson before can seem often exciting and achievable.
But beware, this is just good sales copy.
Many people can learn to sell but, in most cases the end result
is a weak system built on hype rather than substance.
When searching for someone to learn piano from look for things
like; a strong track record, credible testimonials, good recordings,
quality video, teaching credentials, performing credentials
and most of all a sheer talent and ability to actually
play the piano.
Then, once you’ve researched diligently about the teacher,
you must be able to understand the teaching method being offered.
What’s a good teaching method? Well, that’s a
very complicated question but what it really boils down to
is; does what is being offered make sense to you? Many of
these so-called online piano
courses never tell you how they will be teaching you.
That’s because they don’t know how. Look for things
like a strong harmonic basis and a simple yet effective method
of understanding chords and scales.
Learning piano by ear alone or by watching
someone play and trying to copying it will result in a low
understanding of how music really works. You must be able
to understand music thoroughly in order to get enjoyment out
of it. Otherwise it’s like cramming for an exam, with
no thought to understanding the information but, simply a
way of collecting information and ending up with a knowledge
base that’s paper thin.
And finally, I believe that there must be a strong
motivational component to any music
lessons, especially online
piano lessons. Learning piano should be fun and enjoyable
but it’s very easy to get discouraged. Your online piano
teacher must have the ability to keep you motivated by finding
ways of helping you adopt new practice methods that are solid
and habit forming. We all know how to develop bad habits but
did you know it’s just as easy to develop good habits?
Good practice habits are the key
to learning piano fast! In my 35 years of experience playing
the piano I’ve found that the key to productive learning
is a good solid practice habit. For example; it’s important
to know how often you are to practice and how much. If your
online piano teacher does not give you this information then
it’s really up to you to decide how much you practice.
That’s not good. Why? Because you simply don’t
know what good practice habits are unless you've had any previous
experience.
I teach a practice habit that’s based on the 10-24-7
method. It’s a rarely used yet highly effective method
of practicing. It’s based on a little known concept
called accelerated learning. The
concept is this; what you hear you tend to forget, what you
see you tend to remember but, what you do, you understand.
Now that’s pretty powerful but, in simpler terms, it’s
the doing part that will make you a better pianist.
Does the 10-24-7 method work? Let’s put it this way.
As a professional concert pianist I’m often required
to perform 2 hour concerts without a single sheet of music
on stage. How is this possible? Using the 10-24-7 method.
If you download my first free piano
lesson, you will discover more about this exciting method.
I’ll leave you with this thought. Learning
piano will require you to take action. There are
no shortcuts. That’s not to say that a good teacher
can't find ways to teach you faster, of course they can. It
just means that if the claim seems to good to be true, it
usually is. Take your time in deciding who you want to learn
online piano lessons from
and then when you choose, make sure you take the required
action. Most good teachers will give you the information you
need to succeed. The rest is up to you.
Musically Yours,
Paul Tobey
PS: I hope to see you April 1st, when we roll out the red
carpet on the Paul Tobey Piano
Lesson Method - a training program for Intermediate
and Advanced Pianists! Download our first free piano lesson
and discover for yourself the difference quality learning
and proven teaching methods can make.
PPS: We are currently designing a piano
lesson program for beginners to pre-intermediate. Our
launch for the Beginner Program is scheduled for July 07.
To be advised of this product launch email info@paultobey.com
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