All children under 6 will be required to take our Mini Musicians programme which will help them develop pulse, pitch and rhythmic skills before applying them to the piano. Once children have completed the programme or if your child is over 6 they can take 1:1 lessons.
Will my child need to practice?
Yes, to make progress your child will need to practice at least 4 days a week, ideally 7, doing the activities set by the teacher. We only take families willing to commit to this level of practice. Read more about why that's so important in our blog post about 'the essential ingredient for joyful music making' .
Does my child need a piano from week 1? Yes, your child will need, as a minimum a full size keyboard with weighted keys (Yamaha P45, Casio Privia 160 for example). Other options are a digital piano or, of course, a well tuned acoustic. We recommend the tuners from Handel Pianos in Ascot.
Bonners in Reigate have a wonderful selection of digital and acoustic instruments and it's well worth a visit.
Do you do exams?
That's a thorny question! We do exams but they are not our raison d'etre. We only do them when the child is ready and has all the skills needed to play musically at that level. If you're after exams quickly then we are not the teachers for you. Our teaching is holistic, covering all areas of music making, not just the narrow set of skills needed for exams. Our approach leads to a lifelong love of music making. An exam centered approach leads to learning for the sake of exams and learning often ceases once a certain exam has been reached. Read more about this in a blog post we wrote here and one Tim Topham wrote here.
How do we go about starting lessons with you?
Contact us using the contact form and we will get back to you. When we have a space we meet all families for an initial interview to explain our approach in more detail and check expectations match up. Because children already learning with us are very happy we only have spaces come up rarely so you may have to go on the waiting list. Do make sure you've read about our approach before coming and that you would be happy with it before agreeing to come for the interview.
What books do we need to buy?
You will need to budget for around £30-50 per year for the first few years.