What to Prepare for Our Piano Lessons

1.) Your Instrument: Piano

If you have an upright piano or a grand piano at home, that is the ideal setup for our lessons. Make sure that they are in tune and well-maintained.

Other than acoustic pianos, you can also have electric keyboards. It is recommended to have 88-weighted keys, with pedals, a stand, and a bench. If you have a keyboard with less than 88 keys, that is no problem and it will depend on what goals you want to achieve. For example, if you want to learn classical pieces, it is recommended to have at least an upright piano or 88-weighted keys. If you want to learn to read basic chords and accompany yourself while singing, a shorter keys will be enough to learn the basics.

We can discuss more options and I will give you suggestions about your instrument if you plan to buy or replace a new one.

2.) Piano Method Books, Scores, and Pieces

I have been teaching piano for a long time and I know which piano method books out there in the market are good and effective. During my graduate study, I did a comparative analysis of the different kinds of piano method books for children, and each of these books has different perks, styles, originality, and methods but they all have the same goal: to teach you how to play piano.

I can recommend books for the new learners depending on their personalities as well! I also consider greatly what the students like to study especially the adult piano learners. There are a lot of adult beginner piano courses available in the market and there are many resources of scores, pieces, and chord charts easily available on the internet. We don't limit ourselves to the books we have and we can definitely explore other means and methods depending on the type of music we want to learn. 

If you already have started a specific method book and would like to continue, that is not a problem, too. We can definitely continue those books. So don't worry if you have no idea what books to use on the first day of our lesson.

3.) Music Writing Notebook

In our advanced era where we use iPads, laptops, and phones to write down things, a notebook will always be an oldie but a goodie. We need a music writing notebook for composition, theory, lesson progress, tips, things to work on, and other notes that you may want to jot down.

4.) Google Account (Gmail)

I use Google as a workspace (Sheets, Classroom, Youtube, Meet, and Drive) for easy organization of our files, videos, lesson resources, attendance check, and lesson progress updates.

For younger beginners, I communicate with the parents via email and Google Classroom to check the lesson progress reports. I upload the supplementary materials online so they can be easily downloaded. Parents can also track their child's attendance and my schedule and availability through Google Classroom. 

For adult learners, all these platforms will be used as well. We mainly communicate via email, but I also do lesson progress reports in the Classroom, so you can go back and remember what we covered in the last lesson, and use the supplementary materials and resources uploaded.

5.) The desire the learn

This is what I consider the most important thing that we must have during our lesson- the desire to learn. Just like the student gets inspired to learn the piano, I, too, get inspired to teach my students what I know about the instrument. 

I always tell my students that we will learn together. As a teacher, I see myself as a lifelong learner, always growing and learning with my students. So, if you become my student, remember that both of us are learning together, not just you, but both of us. 

"Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will."
— Vernon Howard