Never, ever, too old! Adults have many different reasons for learning to play the piano, or for relearning old skills, or for continuing to develop skills already learned, and they are all valid. It is true that some things are learned differently as we age,  but that cuts both directions i.e. some things are more difficult or require more patience, and some things are more obvious to someone with years of life experience. 

    I have many adult students and very much enjoy teaching them. If you are thinking about this, please call or email, and we can plan a meeting to discuss your particular interests and concerns.

 

    I seldom teach children younger than seven to play the piano, although there are many people who do, and with success. I feel that for children of pre-reading age, the most natural and useful musical activity is singing, alone, with parents, with recordings, with groups, structured or not.  

 

 

 

If your goal is to learn to play the piano, even a little bit, then practising on an electric keyboard is similar to learning to play the game of basketball using only a tennis ball. Because a tennis ball does bounce, you can practise passing and "dribbling" it, and you can even practise shooting baskets with it, and some of the skills that you develop in the process will be somewhat helpful when you do try to play with a real basketball. You can even learn quite a lot about the rules of the game without ever even seeing a real basketball. But if you want to play the game of basketball -- even with only moderate skill -- you will have to play most of the time with the real thing. There are many skills involved in playing the piano, and only a few of them can be practised on even a good electric keyboard. A beginning student can learn some things about playing the piano wihtout practising on a real instrument, but will not be able to progress beyond a few months of work without regular access to a real piano.

 

Note: there are touch sensitive electric pianos that are entirely suitable for anyone to practise on; these are real pianos, and cost about as much as acoustic pianos. They are fine instruments, almost never require maintenance (certainly not the regular tunings that an acoustic piano does) but do cost initially about as much as other pianos.

 

A further thought: if a piano seems like a big investment -- and it certainly is -- look at it this way: a half hour piano lesson a week will cost close to a thousand dollars a year. If you postpone taking formal lessons for a year, and save that money for a piano, you will come out ahead.

 

In short, buy the piano before starting the lessons, not the other way around. You can learn quite a bit about a musical instrument by playing with it on your own, without lessons, but lessons without the instrument will be only frustrating. 

 

 

 

Each student is assigned a regular, usually weekly, lesson time, and I reserve that time in my schedule for only that student. I am happy to make occasional adjustments for the convenience of students, students' families, and myself whenever possible, and can often accommodate special requests for a different time.

 

At this time I also recognize any cancellation for any reason that is made more than 24 hours in advance. Of course, if this happens too often, we need to talk about another regular time, or the student's commitment to music lessons.

 

Lessons cancelled on less than 24 hours notice are not made up and billed at the full fee, unless for a sudden illness or other emergency. I must do this to maintain some consistency in my income and keep myself organized.

 

Emergency cancellations will be not be charged or will be made up, at the student's choice.

 

I define an "emergency" as an event unanticipated -- and rare. For example, I once had a student who broke both of her arms in a skating accident two hours before her piano lesson. She was excused.

 

 

 

 

I much prefer teaching in my own studio and feel that students have a better experience that way. In-home lessons lack the advantages of two pianos and other studio resources, but are sometimes necessary for families with especially complicated schedules. At this time I offer 45-minute lessons within 5 miles of my home at $ 50.