Piano Lessons in NYC For Kids and Adults
In-studio and in-home lessons for all ages in New York City
A Well-Rounded Piano Education
We want our students, both kids and adults, to feel confident as not just pianists, but musicians in general. Our piano students are able to listen to pop songs and identify form and chord patterns, appreciate the symphony more deeply, explore and understand new musical genres, and engage in conversations about music.
That said, we teach our piano students how to read music fluently, how to identify key signatures and time signatures, how to play a piece of music beautifully and with great dynamics (not just how to play it with technical perfection), and more. We can also take you through a variety of piano literature by different composers as you improve, so that the list of music you can share with friends and family will continue to grow.
We’ll work on challenging pieces, yes, but we will also present you with easier music that you can use to practice sight reading. We’ll also make sure your playing technique is good and perfectly healthy. For more information about our teaching material, get in touch!
Highly Experienced and Educated Piano Teachers in NYC
The quality of a piano lesson starts with a good teacher. At NY Piano School, our instructors have advanced degrees, years of experience teaching both kids and adults, and professional playing ability. In fact, we are also involved as musicians in both the local musical community and around the world. We believe in leading by example, so we often demonstrate for students in piano lessons.
As mentioned above, our experience also helps us with a deep understanding of the piano repertoire. We can help you find the right piece of baroque, classical, romantic, contemporary, or pop music to aid your development, and we will always give you some options so you can find a piece that you love.
Piano Lessons For Kids in New York City
Whether your child is just starting to learn to play or is already an advanced pianist, we will provide guidance and instruction in a professional, yet friendly and personal manner. We consider it a privilege to share our love of music and to be a part of your child’s musical and personal development.
Students of all backgrounds are welcome and piano lessons are available for beginners all the way through to advanced students.
Why Should Children Take Piano Lessons?
Learning to play the piano involves creative as well as analytical skills, as well as the ability to focus deeply on a task, both in lessons and during independent practice.
We believe all music lessons — especially piano lessons for children — should be creative and thoughtful, always engaging your child’s imagination. Your child’s piano teacher should always engage and encourage your child’s creative thinking, while helping to develop his or her analytical skills.
Piano lessons are a great way for kids to get their introduction to music.
No Auditions Necessary at NY Piano School
We are happy to start young kids on the piano, and we are equally happy to welcome students with years of playing experience. We will spend a lesson or two acquainting ourselves with your child’s musical knowledge, preferences at the piano, and individual aptitude for different musical concepts. Then we will dive in with repertoire selections, technical etudes, theory exercises, and anything else that will help your child play the piano beautifully.
A Focus on Private, 1-on-1 Piano Lessons for Kids
We believe that private, 1-on-1 piano lessons are the best way to help children develop at the piano. This is not to say that kids can’t improve in group classes, and in fact, group piano classes can be valuable for different reasons. But our focus is helping kids learn the fundamentals, play meaningful music, and understand music theory, form, and more as quickly as possible. This will set the stage for a lifetime of competent music-making.
We will be able to pick method materials, assign exercises, suggest music theory worksheets, and choose pieces of music specifically for your child. As far as duets and ensemble music are concerned, we always play duets with our young students – so they won’t miss out on that aspect of lessons at all.
What is Our Age Limit at NY Piano School?
While we don’t have a specific age threshold, we typically start accepting students around ages 4-5. It all comes down to readiness. By “readiness,” we mean that a student needs to have the discipline to focus for 30 minutes, the coordination and finger strength to play keys on the piano, and the language skills to comprehend instructions and interact with the teacher. Knowledge of the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G is also important. We don’t expect our young students to focus on the piano for an hour at a time, and we keep things interesting with activities and musical games off the bench. We will also assign age-appropriate practice materials and songs – we will also help coach the caregiver on how to help their young children practice effectively at home for 15-20 minutes per day.
What Can Your Child Learn in Piano Lessons?
Typically, we use methods like Faber Piano Adventures to start teaching five-finger patterns at the piano. We will generally start with “Landmark notes” like Middle C, F, and G, and we can teach five finger patterns from there. Once your child has mastered these five finger patterns and can name the keys, we can even start playing real music and duets.
Note reading is another hallmark of competent musicians, and we help all of our piano students learn to read music and sightread. We’ll start by introducing your child to the musical staff, and explaining that we add notes to the staff so that the pianist knows which keys on the piano to play. Notes on the staff are very much like letters in the alphabet. As your child progresses, we’ll discuss the difference between the bass and treble clefs, introduce flashcard drills to memorize notes, and even start working through sight-reading exercises.
Piano playing is far too involved for us to explain the entire progression on the website, but we proceed through a logical learning framework that builds upon itself and never goes faster than your child is ready for. We will build finger technique, reading, music theory, improvisation, and even songwriting into the curriculum over time as your child is ready.
Piano Lessons For Adults in NYC
Lessons Tailored To Your Interests
We take a personal approach to every adult student. We will tailor your lessons to your interests, working with you to identify your goals at the piano and helping you achieve them. We want your experience with piano lessons to be the best.
Some adults are interested in traditional classical lessons — while others want to learn to play the pop songs they know and love.
Some adult learners want to take piano lessons because they find piano playing relaxing, while others are interested in lessons to help perfect their technique. Your teacher will get a sense of what you would like to accomplish and will tailor your lessons to your interests, helping you to learn the music that you want to play.
Adult Beginners are Welcome!
You can learn to play the piano as an adult, even if you’ve never taken lessons before. If you’re an adult beginner, we’ll introduce you to the fundamentals, and get you on your way to playing the music you want to play. Private lessons are a great way for adults to get their introduction to the piano.
We love working with beginners, and whether you’ve played before or this is your first time taking piano lessons, we’re here to help.
How Long Does it Take For Adults To Learn the Piano?
Firstly, “learning piano” is a broad phrase. It takes several years of lessons and consistent practice for someone to become competent in a well-rounded sense:
- Picking up a challenging piece of music and working through it, step by step, independently
- Sight reading piano music with both hands fluently
- Interpreting dynamics, form, and voicing
- Playing technically challenging music with speed and accuracy
- Understanding music theory
- Playing music by ear
But specific goals can be accomplished within a year or two, even for beginners. Perhaps you want to read music – we can specifically focus on that. Or maybe you want to learn a set of holiday tunes over the period of 8 months; we can jump right in and start practicing beginner-level pieces, teaching you the fundamentals of piano playing through that music.
We don’t necessarily recommend that you grab a popular piece of music, like the second movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” and start learning it by rote over the course of a year. Adults sometimes do this as a party trick (and they sometimes pull it off), but if you spend many months learning one piece of music by rote, you will have wasted your time. You still won’t be able to learn another piece of music in a timely sense, play by ear, read music fluently, and more.
Get Started With NYC Piano Lessons Today
For more information about lessons at NY Piano School, please get in touch! We are happy to discuss curriculum, teacher available, lessons in our studio in NYC, or lessons in your home. Please tell us about your goals and the age of the student – we look forward to hearing from you.