Piano Lessons
I teach piano lessons to beginning and experienced piano students, approximately 8 years of age and older, including adults.
Lessons are taught at Emmanuel Anglican Church, 287 Harrington Street, one block from Walter Zadow Public School in Arnprior.
With beginning piano students, I use the Celebrate Piano! series of books, leading to Royal Conservatory study. For adult beginners, I usually use Alfred's Basic All-in-One Adult Piano Course. For those who have studied with another teacher, I will usually work with your current book until you have completed it.
A Typical Lesson
You (the student) will arrive at the church and enter through the front door. If you are early and I am working with another student when you arrive, you'll quietly take a seat at the back of the church to wait. Normally, though, you'll come to the piano at the front of the church and we'll get started.
We will normally start by reviewing the songs you learned at your previous lesson. When you're ready, we'll often play the song you learned as a duet, where I will play another part beside you at the same time.
After we've looked at last week's songs, we'll look at new songs. Sometimes, there will be exercises where you'll use a pencil in your book to learn something that will help you for the next songs.
And every week or two, we'll practise listening. The two ways we use most often are clapbacks (where I will clap a rhythm for you and ask you to clap it back to me), and playbacks (where I will play a few notes on the piano and then ask you to play them back to me).
And, after a half hour, it's time to go! Don't forget to practise at home before next week!
Books
Students and their families are responsible for buying and paying for their books. Please contact me, if you'd like me to suggest music stores that carry the books we will be using.
Students beginning lessons with me will normally start with one of the following series of books, depending on their age level.
Celebrate Piano!
The Celebrate Piano! series of books are published by Frederick Harris Music (which is also the publisher for the Royal Conservatory's books) and are available at most stores carrying piano music.
There are two sets of books in the series: the Lessons & Musicianship books and the Solo books. As well, once students reach Level 3, the Celebrate Piano! series correlates with the Grade 1 books of the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto).
Alfred Basic All-in-One Adult Piano Course
For older students, the Alfred Basic All-in-One Adult Piano Course provides opportunities to learn to play piano and learn basic note-reading and theory skills that allows them to recognize the music they're playing right from the beginning, and hear their progress as they learn.
Tuition
Unless other arrangements are made in advance with me, students are expected to take one lesson each week. Each half-hour lesson costs $17, and fees are collected at the start of each calendar month for the month to follow. Students requiring longer lessons should contact me to discuss the costs involved.
Students (or their families) are also responsible for purchasing books as they are required. Students must also bring a notebook with ordinary lined-paper to their lessons, so I can write down what is to be practised each week between lessons.
Cancellation Policies
Students are required to notify me as soon as possible if lessons must be cancelled. If the details of the cancellation are known in advance (for example, due to travel or a conflict with a school activity), and I am notified no later than the preceeding week's lesson, no charge will be made for the cancelled lesson. (If the lesson has not yet been paid for, it will be excluded from the calculation of that month's tuition. If the lesson has already been paid for, it will be deducted from the following month's tuition bill.)
At times, cancellations later than that point are unavoidable. At such times, provided I receive at least a day's notice and we are able to find a mutually-convenient time, I will re-schedule the missed lesson.
In the rare event that a cancellation is required within 24 hours of a lesson, full payment will be required.
Any variation from this policy is at my discretion.