For context, I teach wih my own private studio as well as a larger school. while I do have my own policies about quitting (you pay the month's worth on the first week and if you quit that's on you, etc) but at the larger school the payments are done practically every other week. it's a bit more individual since teachers don't control the payments. which is nice since if there's a billing issue it's not my problem, i just deal with scheduling.

i just find it fascinating when a student signs up for lessons, then after one or two lessons their parent messages me "hi we're wanting to try a different teacher". Especially a transfer whom I have to spend the first lesson seeing how they learn or what they know, note any technique they're lacking, etc.

I was mostly thinking about this since i just had one do exactly this. I thought the lesson went well despite the kids seeming a little tired but they still picked up the things I gave them. i think they dropped because the parents wanted "harder" music but it's of course only lesson one, I was going to have them start new pieces this week to learn things like not being stuck in a fixed position and understanding chords sicne they wanted to do church music...also they needed to learn those things before trying anythung harder anyways.

i don't know, most of my students have thankfully not dropped (or at least had been with me a little while and dropped at the start of the new year) so I'm just curious about other experiences with these teacher-hopping students. i mean I get dropping if you don't work well with the teacher or just started and can't commit but...just my thoughts really.

I have an 11? Year old student who refuses to listen and is quite rude at times. I can tell that he loves piano but he insists on playing pieces that are well above his level. I’ve tried to be supportive but find something that’s his actual level to play but he refuses to learn it, finds the music for the pieces he wants to play and then learns them even though I’ve told him they’re just too advanced at the moment. I wasn’t getting through to him and insisted he was going to learn these pieces (told me when I gave him other music that he just wasn’t going to learn it ?????) so I just explained to him that it’s going to take longer for him to complete these pieces but I’m ultimately not going to stop him from learning them.

It’s been 10 months and he hasn’t finished a single one. He wanted to do them for an exam earlier this year which he didn’t book obviously (I told him he wouldn’t do the exam this year but got annoyed at me for that but it was the truth). He rushes everything and plays very very loud to the point it hurts my ears and he is straining his arms and fingers and shakes his hand every single time he stops playing even after scales. I tell him every single lesson that he is rushing, to slow it down, I get a metronome set at a reasonable tempo. He gets the notes wrong, it’s out of time, etc. If I correct a note he goes on a tangent about how he didn’t notice it bc of xyz and he should’ve gotten that etc and if he keeps making the same mistake and I correct it he just tells me that he knows and gets annoyed at me.

I am not a mean teacher by any means. All of my feedback is purely constructive and I abuse the compliment sandwich approach. The worst thing I do is make him replay a section until he gets the correct notes and timing 3 times in a row so I know he will practise it correctly when he goes home (I also explain this lol).

If I try to correct his technique he doesn’t listen and like smugly whispers under his breath about how I’m wrong (?) (he also does this when he complains about how it’s the pianos fault he’s making a mistake consistently and I say it’s not the piano it’s how he’s playing it?). I make him play it the way I tell him to and surprise it actually does help and he will say something about how I was actually right for once?????? It is so bizarre.

He also lies about what I teach him to other teachers at the school who take him when I’m away- apparently I’ve never told him that he was rushing or to practise slowly (which I do at least 20 times every lesson not exaggerating). Or I’ve never told him to work on his dynamics, etc.

I’m concerned about the lack of progress obviously I was expecting it and was going to let that be a natural consequence for insisting on learning those pieces (he would not listen). But I’m also very concerned about potential carpal tunnel or wrist/arm injury. I usually have really busy days and his parents drop him off and pick him up outside of the building so I don’t see them often. But I don’t know what to do. But the way he plays is going to cause an injury if it hasn’t already and I have explained that EXCESSIVELY. And the fact that he says his arm feels better after not practising over the holidays also says that. And the fact he shakes his wrist out every time he plays the piano says that. I’ve tried to talk to him about it multiple times and he doesn’t tell me anything and says it’s just a habit.

He also has repertoire I didn’t know he was playing? I caught up with another teacher who mentioned a piece he was learning (and how he doesn’t listen to feedback at all) and I genuinely have never heard him play that piece in my life. And I haven’t seen the sheet music for it in his folder either? It’s genuinely so bizarre I’m so confused what is happening or what to do about it. Sorry about how long this is there is just so much going on. I want to talk to my boss/his parents about this but I don’t know what to say.

Sort of a weird question but I'm not sure how best to word it.

Basically, my thought is, if a child (or even an adult, I suppose, but my point is kids would learn faster because they aren't thinking about bills and stress when learning) is shown intervals, patterns without thinking what key is A or B etc.

For example, let's say today you begin sight-reading 101.

Instead of creating an order in their mind of 'musical symbol --> A --> key on piano' it could just be 'musical symbol --> key on piano'

I realize scales are still necessary, key recognition, etc. But SIGHT-READING by itself I feel handicaps anyone's ability to actually sight-read, simply because of that second step making the brain map an unnecessary step.

Am I making any sense??

I’m very new to teaching piano (I started last month)! I don’t have any trouble with my students except one I have a hard time connecting with. He’s 14, and is a beginner. He learned a quite difficult piece through memory and started lessons with me to learn how to actually play piano and read music.

He was extremely nervous during the first lesson and seemed even scared of me. This has continued for five weeks now and he doesn’t seem any more comfortable. When I show him or tell him to do something, he doesn’t really hear me. I have to repeat myself three times for him to register what I said and he apologises excessively when he does something "wrong".

I’m very down to earth and I’m not a strict teacher. I try to be relatable to him and kind. I tell him everything is okay and he doesn’t need to apologise so much. But I haven’t seen any improvement and I can see a genuine fear in his eyes during our lessons.

I’ve tried so hard to make him feel comfortable and safe and I always compliment him (since he has a genuine natural feel for the piano). Has anyone had a similar student? How can I make him feel more comfortable?

I’m a solo developer in Switzerland trying to understand how teachers handle the score during online lessons. In person you can just point out a bar or a pencil in a fingering. Online, I’m curious what you actually do. Do you share your screen to hold up a book to the camera or you send annotated PDF afterwards and can the student Mark things back on the same page?

I’d love to hear what works for you and what is still clunky at this stage. I’m just trying to learn how people really do it.

I'm a piano teacher and just assigned my student the first two etudes from Burgmüller's Op. 100. To prepare, I played through them myself to find the trouble spots he might hit. I then put on a full-playlist recording of the set on Spotify (Donatello Renando) and noticed a bunch of very obvious discrepancies right away.

I'm following the 25 Etudes, Op. 100 edition from IMSLP. Here's what I've caught so far, through Etude 4:

No. 1

Left hand plays quarter notes where the score has whole notes.

In m. 15, 18, and 20, he plays staccato eighth notes in the left hand instead of half notes.

No. 2

Pedal goes down in m. 7.

Plays an F in the right hand instead of a G in m. 9.

Plays a D♯ in m. 19, but it belongs in m. 18.

Slur is missing in m. 25.

M. 27 is played in both the first and second endings, but it should only be played in the first.

The final fermata is barely held.

No. 3 (more subtle)

In mm. 12 and 14, he seems to add a brief A in the left hand between the G and B on the dotted half notes.

In m. 27 (third to last measure), he seems to add a C in the left hand on the first chord, creating a small clash/cluster.

No. 4

Mm. 5-6 are rushed, with the quarter rests squeezed when they should be open and marcato.

In m. 16, the move to the quarter-note B and D goes up a step to C and E. That throws off beats 3-4 of that measure and beats 1-2 of the next.

Two measures later, the same right-hand figure appears and he plays the correct B and D.

I couldn't find anything blatant in Nos. 5 and 6, and that's as far as I've listened.

I can't tell whether these are sloppy takes that slipped through, deliberate "spot the error" quirks, or something else. The blatant left-hand rhythm changes and the repeated m. 27 across both endings seem too obvious to be simple slips.

A few questions:

Has anyone else listened to this recording and noticed the same things?

Is there a different Op. 100 edition where these differences would actually be in the score?

Any recommendations for a clean, reliable recording I can point my students toward?

I’m new to teaching, only been doing it for about 5 months now, and I just don’t get how other teachers make their classes exciting for young students.

I’m not a very bubbly person, I care very deeply but I’m not very energetic and I tend to show my enthusiasm in short bursts rather than constantly keeping an energetic facade. I was sick last week and a different teacher at the studio I work at subbed in for me, and my kids said that she played games with them and asked if we could play games and I said no because I don’t know any games and honestly that doesn’t sound enjoyable to me at all.

Am I just not cut out to teach kids? I love these kids so much but I’m worried that I’m doing them a disservice by not being more energetic, and I just don’t know how to present myself that way.

Hi! Would you offer a make up lesson for a wasp sting?

For reference I offer one make up lesson per month as long as 24 hours notice is given. But does this fall into the emergency category even though it’s a small one?

Thanks!

I’ve been teaching a few later beginner students and they didn’t really have a lesson book when I started teaching them, so I’ve kind of just been trying to find pieces online that aren’t too hard for them that they enjoy playing. My teacher used the Faber Piano Adventures series when I was young and I’d like to start these kids on that series because I think they need some more structure to their learning.

The problem is, they’ve got kind of these gaps in their knowledge, so I can expect that they know their scales but I don’t know if they’d be able to name chord. I know they can move their hands around the piano to different positions, but I don’t know if they can play two-handed arpeggios, stuff like that. So I don’t know where to put them in terms of the level they should start at. Any advice on this is greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone ! So I've been building something of a piano and music theory visualization tool for the past year and I had a bit of an epiphany recently and decided to lean hard on features that could help teachers.

So things that can:
- Reduce fiddling in sessions
- Make it easier to communicate with students
- Make communicating theory easier

And I also recently added something and I'd like your opinions on it:

I made it so you can generate a quick link for a student to click, it then sends them to their browser and if they have their keyboard connected you'll see what they're playing on your end highlighted in another color.

I didn't want to make some bs where the student is forced to get the app so I thought sending them to the browser in a click might be easier on teachers.

I'd really like to make this tool useful to teachers since I know how clunky the process can feel (I remember when I was a jazz piano student in covid haha).

Let me know if you have any ideas or things you would like to see in a tool like this :)

I built Piano Atlas Studio: a piano theory atlas and practice app for Android (no ads, no account)

I'm learning piano and couldn't find one app that showed theory on the keyboard and also helped me practise, so I built it. It's on Google Play now, and I'd love feedback.

🎼 Explore the theory

Chord Atlas: every chord type in every key, shown as real two-hand voicings with finger numbers and inversions. Tap to hear it.

Scale Atlas: the modes, jazz and world scales, Hindustani thaats, Japanese koto tunings, and all 72 Carnatic melakartas

Ragas: janya ragas with their arohana and avarohana, and what makes each one distinct

Fingering Lab: standard fingering for both hands, up and down, with every thumb crossing shown

Progressions: famous chord progressions by style, in any key, voiced so the hands move smoothly

Theory tools: Circle of Fifths, chord and scale comparisons, arpeggios, intervals and a glossary

🎤 Practise with your real piano

Sight Reading: notes, chords, lines and short pieces on the grand staff, at four levels. It listens through your phone's microphone (or a USB MIDI keyboard), so you play on your own piano and it tells you how you did.

Play: your piano, lit up. Play on screen, on a MIDI keyboard, or on a real piano through the mic, along a scale or in an echo game.

Staff Trainer and Note Trainer: learn to read a note at a time; the ones you find hard come back until they aren't

Metronome: with tempo ramps and Indian talas

Guided practice sessions: built from what your drills have recorded, weakest first

✍️ Create

Composer: write songs a section at a time (chords, then the tune, then the left hand), or let "Surprise me" start one. Hear it back, print it as sheet music, or practise it in Sight Reading.

MIDI files: open any MIDI file and the piano plays it with the keys lighting up. Learn it mode waits for your notes, one hand at a time, as slow as you like. You can also open a MIDI file in the Composer or Sight Reading.

🎨 Other bits

Five looks (Stage, Score, Grand, Classic, Pads), each with three themes

A sampled grand piano sound

Backups to a file, or to your own Google Drive (the app can only see its own backup folder)

🔒 Privacy

No ads, no account, no analytics, no tracking. Everything stays on your phone. The microphone is only used when you ask it to listen, and the sound is never recorded or sent anywhere.

💰 Free and Pro

A large part of the app is free. A one-time Pro purchase (no subscription) unlocks the rest: every chord type, scale and raga, the builders, unlimited songs and MIDI files, advanced sight reading, guided sessions and more designs.

Get it:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pianoatlas.studio

I'm one person building this, so any feedback really helps: what's confusing, what's missing, what you'd want next. Thanks for reading!

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I quit Learn Now Music, and they confirmed in writing that my last day was June 28. Today, October 13, they emailed me asking me to cover classes, then texted me the same request.

Part of why I was frustrated with the job was the curriculum and teaching setup. I didn’t feel like it supported meaningful music instruction. An Indeed reviewer described teaching different instruments to different age groups at the same time as “confusing and concerning,” which gets at the problem I’m talking about. That’s their account, but my own experience also left me unhappy with the program.

The quitting process was rigid too. Their email required 30 days’ notice with no schedule changes, substitute requests, or cancellations during that period. They also required materials back within 7 days of my last class, with return mailing costs on me.

After all those strict requirements, it’s frustrating that they still haven’t removed me from their coverage list months after acknowledging my resignation.

Would you send a final request to stop contacting you, ignore it, or block them? Has anyone else worked for LNM and had similar experiences with the curriculum or leaving?

Hi all, I have a piano I bought years ago hoping to learn on my own. It’s tougher then I thought. Is there a place or person in bay ridge that teaches piano for beginners? Hopefully not too expensive. I would love to learn and play for my kids. Any input is super appreciated. Thanks!

I've been looking to get into teaching online lessons for a bit and I'm what wondering people with more experience handle showing stuff to students and seeing what they're doing.

Do you just ask them to put the cam on their keys ??

New to this community but not to teaching, but I find myself needing suggestions! I have a student who recently completed the Piano Adventures series and is capable of playing fairly complex music, but she loses interest super fast, so learning most complex music has been difficult because she gives up after just a week or two. She stumbled across River Flows in You, and it's a good fit at only 3 pages. I need ideas for other songs of similar length but still challenging. A book of songs would be even better. Ideas?

Hey all,

I’ve been teaching piano for about 2 years, and clients have been between 8-13 years old.
Got contacted by a mother of a 6 year old boy asking for lessons.
Wondering how big of an adjustment this would be?
I usually start with Fabre Primer book. Would this work?
Happy to hear tips!
Thanks

I just started teaching/tutoring kids in piano.

But how do you guys handle students around 8 years old who want to play more advanced pieces, like the Turkish March or even La Campanella? They could definitely play the simpler versions, but I think playing a piece not too easy and not too hard (ex. fur elise, canon in D, etc.) would help them more in their learning journey. What do you guys usually do?

As the title suggest, I am new piano teacher that struggle to teach kid around time concept in music (note duration, time signature, and so on). Especially regarding when the note duration concept is introduced to the time signature.

I just started teaching/tutoring kids in piano.

But how do you guys handle students around 8 years old who want to play more advanced pieces, like the Turkish March or even La Campanella? They could definitely play the simpler versions, but I think playing a piece not too easy and not too hard (ex. fur elise, canon in D, etc.) would help them more in their learning journey. What do you guys usually do?

Hi, all

I currently have a 45 minute student who’s 11 and it was a dreadful lesson. She didn’t seem too interested or focused on what was going on, so I’d figure for our next lesson, it’s to give the first couple of minutes or so of our lesson outside of the piano to doing some body stretches and breathing exercises. I was in choir for a number of years and doing that sort of thing really helped me get settled into the space and I feel like it would be a fun thing for us to do.

After that, then we run through the book for 30 minutes, do a jam session (I bring my uke), and then we go over homework. Any teachers out there who like to do things outside of piano?