Wondering what pitfalls to avoid when choosing a piano teacher?  Before investing your resources of time and money into a piano teacher, look for these things first.

What to look for when choosing a piano teacher:

1. Price: is it affordable?  Piano lessons can continue for years, so make sure it is in the price range you can afford and that the payment policy works for you.
2. Their studio policy: expectations for attendance.  If you happen to be out of town or get sick, what then?
3. Their practice policy.  Are their expectations realistic for your life?  If you are considering sending a child to music lessons, how much parental involvement is expected?
4. Their love for teaching music.  You won’t enjoy it if they don’t!
5. Their ability to teach well.  Attend a lesson to preview their ability to explain concepts, demonstrate, and guide the student. Consider contacting a few of their current students to gain insights.

Since much of your success in piano will be determined by the teacher, you will want to carefully evaluate which one you choose as you begin the great adventure of mastering the piano!

 

Price: is it affordable?

 

Once you begin piano lessons, you will want to continue until you have become competent.  Therefore, it is important to look for a teacher while keeping the long term in mind.  If piano lessons is only something you can afford for a little while, then reconsider finding an option that is more affordable for you over the long term.

The average cost of piano lessons is somewhere from $15/lesson up to $50/lesson.  If you are paying more than that, then your expectations should be pretty high and you should expect a pretty serious piano education.  That’s not to say that a less expensive lesson won’t have the caliber of a more expensive piano lesson.  Which is why you need to carefully evaluate each teacher before you “sign up”.

Each piano teacher or studio will have their expectations for how payments should be made and when.  They may expect you to pay ahead for several months, or one month at at time, or per lesson.  Make sure that their due dates fit with your pay schedule.  Be aware of how they expect to be paid (cash, check, venmo, google pay, etc.) and that it is a way that would be convenient to you.

Also, since we all have the tendency to forget to pay every once in a while, then be aware of what the late payment policy is.  You don’t want to be stuck with someone who requires an inflexible and exorbitant amount of late fees.

 

Their studio policy: expectations for attendance.  

Life happens.  You won’t be able to make every piano lesson scheduled.  Unseen events will pop up that cause you to be unable to attend your scheduled lesson.  What is the policy in the piano studio if that occurs?  If possible, negotiate a couple of “sick days” where they can be made up.

If you aren’t sick, then there are other reasons you may have to miss a lesson.  Vacations or work obligations.  Other important events or performances.  In other words, if there are times you know you will be absent, what is the policy in that case?  Best case scenario would be that there would be a discount in the price.  But don’t plan on it for that is more rare than common.

 

Their practice policy.

This is a very important item to consider when you are looking for a piano teacher.  Each teacher is going to have their own policy.  If they don’t have a practice policy, then that’s a good sign that this teacher is one to walk away from.  Practice is arguably the most important aspect of taking piano lessons and if a teacher does not have a policy, then it spells failure and lack of success.

It is likely that the practice policy would be a little less rigorous at the beginning, then increasing in time frames as the student advances.  Evaluate how much you or your student would be able to practice realistically and make sure it would meet the practice requirements.  Ideally, you will want to already have a time scheduled out to work in practices before you sign up to make sure that will happen.

Some teachers will not allow the student to continue taking lessons if the student fails to practice.  A common practice policy is two lessons without practice, and the student is rejected from the studio.

Another important factor to consider is how much parental involvement there will be if you have a child who you are looking to sign up for piano lessons.  Depending on the age of your child, you may or may not be required to be present when your child is practicing.  You also may be required to attend some of the lessons.  Check your schedule and availability if that is the case for you will want to be prepared for that!

Even if you aren’t required to be with your child during lessons or during their practice, it is wise to consider that the more parent involvement you have, the more successful your child will be.  There is a direct correlation to effectiveness of the lessons to parent involvement at home.  The more you are able to sit down with your child to help them through their practices, or simply just to listen and praise them in their efforts, the more they will not only enjoy practice, but be able to learn much more efficiently.

At the very least, each parent or guardian should have an expectation of being the one to make sure practices are being held and the practices are going as they ought to.  A child who just sits at the piano randomly playing keys and notes is not going to be progressing in their lessons unless they are doing as the teacher requires.  Listening in on the practices will be most beneficial in the long run.

Monitoring practices, making sure they are happening when and as long as they should be, most of the time ends up falling on the heads of the parents.  Be aware of this, so it doesn’t catch you by surprise when lessons begin!

 

Their love for teaching music.

You or your student will not love piano lessons unless your teacher loves it!  The other items on this list are a little easier to measure and evaluate.  Whether or not a teacher loves what he/she does is a little harder to measure, but still important to try out.  Here are some suggestions to get an idea of the passion of the teacher.

Read over their studio policy or whatever welcome/introductory letters you can get your hands on.  Try and read between the lines to get a feel for how they feel about teaching piano.

Go to a sample lesson.  Observation will tell you a lot.  How do they interact with the kids?  What is their approach to music and how do they teach it?  Is there enthusiasm in their voice?

Ask the teacher why they have chosen to teach music.   Sometimes just getting them to talk about their career as a piano teacher will reveal how they feel about it.

Ask for referrals.  You can learn a lot from talking to other students and their parents!  Ask them if they feel like their teacher likes what he/she does and if they feel like their teacher likes them as a student.  Generally speaking,  how the student feels in their lessons will indicate just how much passion the teacher has.

With a little research and observation, you can get a glimpse of how much the teacher enjoys his/her job.

 

Their ability to teach well.

You can have a concert pianist who can play incredibly well and who has a resume to impress the pope.  But how much good is that going to do you unless he/she can actually teach it?  On the flip side, don’t underestimate a teacher who can teach incredibly well, but may not be on a concert pianist caliber.

So how do you decide just how well a teacher teaches?

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
— William Arthur Ward

Some traits of a good teacher to look for are:

• They are organized.  They respond to you in a reasonable time.  They have a schedule, a plan, and/or written policies.
• They are confident.  They have a “teacher’s voice” and know how to take charge of a situation in a respectful manner.
• They know how to listen.  A student and a teacher need to understand each other and both need to be able to listen.  It takes perception on the part of the teacher to realize when a student doesn’t understand.
• They are creative.  They have new and innovative ideas about how to teach a concept.
• They are encouraging.  You will want a teacher who will correct when needed, but will also be optimistic and encouraging to the student.

You can observe these qualities by asking for a preview of a lesson.  Sometimes they have a video you can view, or sometimes they will allow you to attend one of their lessons.

If previewing a lesson is not an option, at least take the time to interview the teacher.  Ask if they would be willing to give a mini lesson to your child on the spot or schedule one so that you can “know what to expect”.  At the very least, attend the first lesson of the student to observe and decide if it is the right fit for the teacher and the student.

Ask for referrals.  When talking to a referral include questions about what a lesson is like.  Ask them what their favorite lesson has been, or something about piano lessons that they look forward to.

 

Finding the right teacher.

When looking for a piano teacher, it is well worth doing this research to evaluate the right fit for you.  Don’t give up on finding a teacher that you will be happy with.  If you need some more resources on where to look for a teacher, think of these suggestions:

• Look on craigslist, facebook, or for local advertising such as newspapers.
• Ask a music teacher (choir, or band, for instance) for references for piano teachers.
• Call a local music store.  Often times they have lists of local piano teachers who are open to taking students.
• Find someone who is already taking lessons and ask who they are taking from.  Be willing to talk to people about your need for finding a piano teacher.  Look for recommendations from neighbors, relatives, church members, coworkers, etc.
• Google “piano teachers near me”.

Alternate choices: online learning

Maybe you have done all the research for trying to choose the right piano teacher and come to find out, you are not finding the right fit.  Or perhaps you are wanting to pursue piano lessons but need an alternate way of doing so because one item or another is unavailable to you at this time.

Lucky for you, you live in the right day and age because never before in the history of the world have we had so many options for self-teaching.  YouTube has countless resources for learning piano.   You can find mini lessons for free, right online.

Or, find an online teacher that will walk you through piano lessons, step by step.  Such as Hoffman Academy.  Not only are their prices reasonable (free) they are a great resource.  Here’s the thing.  You can start lessons for now and then move to the more traditional style of lessons with a piano teacher when you find the right teacher, for the right price, for the style you are looking for.

If you do decide to do online lessons, then there is a great deal of need for self motivation.  That is fantastic, of course, for self-motivation will get you much farther anyhow.  But you need to make sure that you set your own deadlines and that you are just as consistent in your practices as you would be with a traditional teacher.

I would encourage you to eventually end up with a real live person who is interacting with you, watching your playing, and giving suggestions and coaching in real time.  Thus, in the end, I would shoot for a piano teacher in person once you are able to do so.

 

Is it worth it? 

If you feel overwhelmed about making such a commitment as beginning piano lessons, don’t forget just how beneficial this will be for you.  Just as any skill takes time and resources, the skill of piano has some major rewards.

Learning the piano is a major brain exercise and by doing so, you are strengthening your brain to become a mega power.  Piano uses multiple areas of the brain simultaneously in a way few other activities do.  Whether old or young, playing the piano will keep your brain sharp and will help in other areas of life as well.

Not only is it healthy for your brain, it is healthy for your emotional stability.  Creating music is an excellent way of coping with life’s stress.  It is a way of relieving the days’ events and a way to zone in your brain and leave the rest of the world behind.  The act of creating something such as music fulfills a need within our souls.  It is innate within is ever since we were born!  One of the first thing a baby does is create music, or sound, in order to communicate and connect with the world around him/her.

Learning music, especially while playing the piano, can lead to many other skills as well.  It is common for singers, song writers, and band players to begin their careers by first playing the piano.  Learning music is akin to learning another language and once that language is learned, it opens up a whole new world!

Is it worth all the sweat, blood, and tears?!  Absolutely!  So go find that teacher that is just right for you and get going!