Welcome to Empty Nest Piano Lessons!

Hi and welcome to Empty Nest Piano Lessons! I hope the following will help clarify what it is like to study the piano with me.

Not only do adults learn differently from children, they learn differently from each other.  Learning to play will involve coming up with answers to the following three questions:

1) What are your short-term and long-term musical goals?

As kids our teachers and/or parents usually set these for us, which is one reason lots of us quit. I wanted to learn to play Beatles songs, my teacher and parents wanted me to play Mozart. So Mozart it was! Though, since I wasn't interested, I soon quit. As an adult music student, you set the direction at all times. You also choose the frequency of lessons. You may need a week before you're ready for another lesson, you may need two weeks or a month or longer. So scheduling lessons is completely flexible.

2) What information do you need in order to play the music you've chosen?

If you want to play from sheet music, you will learn the symbols used (pitch, duration, rhythm and dynamics). If your goal is to accompany your singing and/or other singers and/or other instruments using lead sheets (which consist of chord symbols), you'll learn the structure of chords and the rhythmic patterns to play them. Both types of printed music – full sheet music and lead sheets – are available at all levels of difficulty.

3) What method(s) of practice will you use?

This is probably the most important one, and the one neglected by most teachers. You need a method that is productive and is pleasant enough to allow you to enjoy practicing. I'm not saying that practice will never be frustrating or difficult, but you learn to control the level of difficulty in order to allow you to stick with it. Fine-tuning your practice method and customizing it to your needs will allow you to enjoy being at the piano, even when you're learning challenging pieces.

And that's it.  Learning to set reasonable goals, to obtain the information you need to achieve them, and a method for putting that information into practice.

The best way to find out more detailed information is to call me: (617) 962-5352. I guarantee there will be no pressure.  Learning to play the piano is one of my favorite topics so I'm happy to talk with you for 10-15 minutes, answer questions, etc. and it doesn't need to lead to lessons, but it will undoubtedly be informative for you.