Piano Teachers: Home or Travel

In selecting piano teachers, home or travel lessons is a huge consideration, just in terms of convenience. I think having lessons at home is far superior. There are many factors you should consider as you design a musical education for your children or yourself.

The major question to answer is the location of the lesson. Will you be taught at home by a traveling instructor or will you travel to the piano teacher's studio? Finding a piano teacher who will travel to your home may be a better solution for a busy family. The home provides a better learning environment than a stranger's piano studio.

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Lessons At Home

If you want to find a traveling instructor in your local area, try the local paper or local print media ads. Many piano teachers advertise in newspapers as well as online. Most piano teachers do not travel because of the major added expenditure of transport.

It is more convenient for the piano teacher to teach at their studio. But it is more convenient for the piano student to be taught at home. In the end, the decision may be left up to which types of teachers are available in your area. If you are in a very remote area, your only choice may be to purchase a piano method via mail and the internet.

Benefits Of Lessons At Home

There are many benefits to hiring a traveling instructor and having your lessons at home. First of all, having lessons at home is far more convenient, as being conducive to learning because the child is in a comfortable, familiar environment.

Next, you will be able to see the lesson and observe how the teacher teaches and how your child will react. You can bet that the teacher is eager to do a good job because you are present. If you are not in the same room, at least in the house and able to monitor your child's experience from afar.

Kids Feel More Comfortable

Kids feel more comfortable at the home piano, and can glide from their own activities to the lesson and back again, all in the comfort of home. Piano teachers who come to your home are more expensive, necessarily, but in my opinion, assuming you have a good teacher, you get what you pay for. Home lessons are a better buy because the learning environment is better and more secure.

You may also want to make the point that many families want to have their children playing music in the home as a cultural value they support. Having the lessons at home set that example for the children, but perhaps even more valuable is the fact that you may show praise for their efforts, however humble, more easily in your home.

Lessons At The Teacher's Studio

Perhaps the prime virtue is that they are cheaper, and since most piano instructors teach only out of their home, there is a greater selection. Some teach in their own home, or a studio attached to it. Others teach at music schools, exalted and famous, or in a storefront type of operation. In any case, you'll need to travel to the piano lesson and then either sit in on the lesson, or spend a half hour or so doing something else.

And if you have other children to attend to, this can become difficult to organize and pull off happily. One virtue of the studio teacher is that they usually have a larger library of music than a traveling piano teacher would ordinarily carry with them. This probably would not make a difference to the average child starting out, as they would usually have a single text assigned to them at first. But for an adult or more accomplished child, it could be a benefit.

Fewer Teachers In Rural Areas

In other cases, such as a rural location, you may not be able to find a teacher at all, or a teacher may prove too expensive. In this case, I would suggest trying to find what I would call a starter method; that is, a method that is organized simply enough that you can do it yourself at home.

There are many available, from large manufacturers to individuals who market their products online. I would suggest that you compare all the piano products. Some piano methods allow you to try them out online, using a virtual piano that uses your computer's mouse so you can get the idea of how that piano method works.

Regardless of which method you use, exploration of the piano whether in lessons or on your own can be a rewarding experience. Go very slowly and this is most important, learn at your own pace. The piano is truly the grandest of all musical instruments and the benefits are life-long.

REFERENCES

Parents

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