Your first few lessons
Your first piano lesson is likely to be a gentle introduction; we 're not expecting you to play anything instantly at this stage!
The basics, such as sitting correctly on the piano, positioning your hands and how to touch the keyboard properly, are often the first steps that have been taken and are important for building on later lessons.
If you're completely new to music, we'll also explain how musical notes are written and what each of them means in relation to the piano keys. Of course, some serious practice is going to be involved, and a scale or a simple melody is likely to be where you start.
The first steps towards success are always a strong and solid foundation, and that's what we're aiming to do in the first steps of your piano journey!
After six months of piano lessons
Many piano players overestimate how much progress they will make in a short time. Learning a piano is a challenge, though rewarding. For many people, after 6 months of piano lessons, they find that they can read most of the notes and play quite a few scales!
You should be able to play simple musical compositions with both hands, and your coordination should improve a lot at this stage.
The first six months are really all about laying a strong foundation for the future.
The Peterson Piano Institute has a policy to ensure that all our students learn how to play the piano properly, even if it means more time, effort and focus!
We may take a little longer to get you to play exciting pieces of music, but in the process, we make sure you learn how to play with the right technique. (From the very first lesson!)
We 're also very serious about reading a note, and we want you to be very comfortable reading a musical score as well as understanding the markings on the musical score!
After a year of piano lessons
After a full year of lessons, you should feel comfortable sitting on the piano, and hopefully you'll find more relaxing, fun and rewarding playing.
Playing the piano means that you will be able to develop and work on the skills you have gained in the first year to further develop your playing skills, and the work is certainly not over after a year of lessons.However, some of the foundation building blocks are now in place to make you grow.
Please note that many people can take several years of piano lessons before they become competent pianists! You should move to the graded examinations at this stage (depending on several factors) if that is your cup of tea or work on more complex compositions of a relatively easy standard. (Around Grade 1).
If you have had previous experience as a child, you may move to higher grades, such as grade two or three, depending on your level of play after one year of lessons.
Of course, if you're studying jazz piano with us, you should start to be very comfortable with the basic triads and seventh chords and start to feel a little better about improvisation and how to improvise over easy chord changes.
It's always very difficult to predict where you'll be in one year of lessons, because it really depends on the amount of time you 're practicing, how many lessons you 're taking per week, and your dedication / passion to thinking about the piano outside of the lessons!
Students who take four lessons of one hour per week and practice for two hours per day will most likely see a far better result than the same student who attends a 30-minute class per week with 10 minutes of daily practice.
It is therefore imperative that you practice diligently and apply yourself faithfully to your piano journey! If you don't have too much time, then be willing to take more years to learn!
The piano will always be there for you to play and you will achieve your musical goals as long as you stick to it and practice it daily! Time is going to do the rest.
The best advice is to just get started and immerse yourself in music! Don't be overly concerned about your progress in the first three years, and follow the advice of your teacher to the tee!
If you do that and practice it on a daily basis, success will definitely come!