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PIANO MUSIC DESTINATIONS

"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 training 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,
Pianist Paul Tobey
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.

 

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