My child is really young. How young do you take students?
Laura generally takes students starting at the age of 4, but as with all students, Laura evaluates the student in a lesson to see if they can focus for the length of the lesson, follow instructions, and show interest in learning the piano.
How old is too old for lessons?
No one is too old to take lessons! Laura’s oldest student was 82 at the time that he took lessons, and he was successful. If you have a desire to start playing or pick up where you left off, now is the time.
What do I/my child need to start lessons?
To start piano lessons, the student needs:
- the required texts as determined by the teacher
- a composition or spiral bound notebook
- a metronome (a free app works!)
- a high quality digital piano with weighted keys or an acoustic piano
How much should my child practice?
While it would be easy to say, x amount of time for x amount of days, that is not really an accurate measure of practice. Each student’s practice time will depend on what he/she is learning and what level that he/she is. For very young students, Laura generally asks that they play their exercises/pieces for a certain number of times each day. With older students, Laura instructs them on practice techniques to use for each piece. If they are practicing using those techniques, practice time will range from 30 minutes and up.
How do I get my child to practice regularly?
Do you teach hymn playing?
Yes! Hymn playing lessons start with foundational reading skills and music theory. From there, the student moves to learning accompaniment styles and improvisation on hymns.
Do you teach group lessons?
No and yes. Laura teaches group performance classes for students enrolled in private lessons as an addition to their individual lessons.