A very young beginning student should spend a minimum of 15 minutes daily in physical/skill practice and learning to recognize notes and musical symbols.  A parent should be fully engaged in the practice/learning at the beginning stages.  A little each day is MUCH better than an hour of stressful practice right before your weekly lesson.  As the student matures/progresses, daily practice time should increase accordingly, and less parental supervision will be needed.

No, that is not the goal of the assignments.  Each assignment is given to practice skills that develop over time. Progress is much more important than perfection. Learning music is not a rigid step by step process. A piece of music has many different components:  knowing where to place the hands, use the fingers, how to read the notes, understanding the rhythm, and so on.  It is not uncommon for a student to take many weeks to be able to grasp certain concepts/develop skills and consistently apply them to their playing. Also, as a student progresses, I will assign music that will be more challenging.  If a student comes every week to their lesson and always plays all of their assignments perfectly, that will be a clear indication to me that the music is WAY too easy to master, and therefore not much use in moving them to a higher level of  skill.

For younger, beginning students, YES, at least for the first month or two.  (If at all possible, please come without siblings or friends as they are disturbing)  I need to be able to communicate with you during the lessons so that you understand the exercises, as well as discuss what I expect your child to practice and learn during the coming week.  Once there is a good foundation, your attendance for the entire lesson is welcome but not required, but please check in for a few minutes regularly so that I may update you on your child’s progress.

For older students, parents are free to attend or not.  Just be sure to come in regularly for a few minutes for communication purposes. 

This is disappointing, but not the “end of the world”.  I usually have extra lesson and exercise books from which to play.  BUT, I will not have the student’s special books or music, or their personal assignment record (in their spiral notebook) to guide me during the lesson, and the assignments I give for the coming week will have to be written on a loose piece of paper (and kept track of for the next week’s lesson). If a student quite often comes to lessons unprepared (little or no practice, with no books, or some missing) it shows me that piano is a low level priority, and progress will be slow.  It is very possible that I will suggest the termination of our business relationship if a student regularly comes to lessons unprepared.

You can help your child with practice in many ways.

1) Work with your child to schedule 15-30 minutes of practice time daily – and keep to the schedule as much as possible.  Schedule times when you and your child are not likely to be stressed or tired.

2) If your child likes to fill out charts, help them design one for daily practice time – or find one online that will be motivating to them.

3) Always look at their assignment notebook to see what I have written about what pieces to practice, and what about a particular piece needs work (the tempo, rhythm, dynamics, etc.)  If you and your child do not understand something about the music or what I have written, please email me with your question.  I am happy to explain things to you. 

4) Do your very best to keep practice time undisturbed by siblings or other distractions. This is VITAL. Do not allow others to interrupt the student for any reason. Keep all music books and materials out of reach of destructive youngsters.   If others in the family want to play on the piano, they can do it at another time. Parents, the very best way to get progress/value out of lessons is to treat musical study as important and valuable. Practice time is worth protecting.

5) Practice might be challenging at times, but it should not be overly stressful.  Do not push too hard. If frustration boils over, just set that part of the lesson aside and work on something else.  Take a break by playing a song for fun, then work on something that takes more concentration.  Always try to finish a practice session with something positive.

6) A word of caution:  Sometimes we parents do a little TOO much when we help our children. If your child is having trouble remembering how to recognize the notes, please do not ever write the note names on their music (or have them do it).  I know it seems like you are helping, but this is actually the worst thing you can do. You may, however, make a COPY of the music and have your child use it as a worksheet for note recognition. If they spend time writing in the notes on this separate sheet, then it should help them remember how to play them from the “clean” music in the book.  Being able to read music is the KEY to being able to learn and play new songs .Writing in the notes on the music that they use to play at the piano will just about guarantee that the skill of actually reading the music will never be developed.

7) Another word of caution: Please do not show or teach your child how to play an assigned piece of music. I say this because there are many very bright kids out there who will learn the music that way, memorize it, and then end up with no clue as to how the music written on the page in front of them relates to the piece they are playing.  It is fine for kids to learn other music that way (like Heart and Soul, Chopsticks and other fun stuff) but the music assignments I give to practice during the week are for the student’s total development, and they must be learned by the student reading/understanding the written music mostly on their own.  It is fine to encourage and guide, but do not “spoon feed” assigned music to your child. When you do, it gives me a false idea of how well the student is really progressing in their understanding of written music.

Generally, the sooner the better, and always via email or written note – unless you are with me at my computer and the change is done and confirmed at that time.

If it is just a few minutes, don’t worry about it.  If it looks really bad, please call my business number – 678-775-8489 – and leave your message. It will come to me via email (which I will be checking since you are not here!)

Certainly. I do not require any contracts or registration fees.

When a parent says “we need to take a break from lessons” it generally means that either the child has been reluctant to practice, is over-scheduled, or stressed.  It is best to address the issues head on and decide simply if this is a “rough patch” that can be worked out between student/parent/teacher, or if the student is not suited well for piano (quite possible!) and should move on to other interests.

 A “break” for a student who really needs to move on to something else just delays the inevitable, and a “break”  for a student who needs to work through the real issues does not usually solve any problems.  .

Certainly, I am happy to help you find an instrument that will suit your needs and budget.  It is a very good idea to do thorough research on this type of purchase.