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"There is nothing remarkable about it; all one has to do is to hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument will play itself." Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
EARLY BIRD SPECIALS: Mondays-Tuesdays-Thursdays-Fridays why not stop off for a lesson on your way to work? ****** 60-MINUTE SPECIALS Thursdays and Fridays are good days for a 60-minute lesson. You can still have a 30-minute session if you need one ****** FREE 30-MINUTE AUDITION LESSONS Auditions and interviews for adult students or parents/students before acceptance ****** CONSULTATION LESSONS Fee payable on the day. (See Fees page for details) ****** MAILING LIST Put your name on my mailing list if I fail to find you a session ****** HOME LESSONS Home lessons by arrangement Extra charge outside the immediate area and within 10 mile radius ****** FORTNIGHTLY LESSONS We do not offer 30 minute fortnightly lessons.* Why? Because unless we can find another student who wants a fortnightly lesson on the alternate week on the same day and same time, we have an empty session we cannot fill and we would be preventing someone who wanted a weekly lesson in that slot from having one. *60-minute fortnightly lessons (one student only) are possible but they must be booked at the beginning or the end of the day during quieter periods.
WHAT KIND OF PIANO WILL I LEARN ON? Students learn on a Bechstein baby grand piano. The Bechstein is one of the top makes of piano in the world. IS THERE ANY AGE LIMIT? No. I teach children from the age of 6 up to intermediate level, adult beginners and adult returners. You are never too old to learn but below 6, children prefer to learn through play or they become inattentive and bored easily. I don't operate one of these baby and toddler music groups. Some 6-year-olds may still be hyperactive* and find it hard to concentrate for long, so I teach them a different method to that which I use for more mature 6-year-olds. All I ask is that children can read and do simple maths and that if they have any specific learning difficulties, I am told about this so that I can adapt my methods accordingly. *The word 'hyperactive' does not imply there is anything wrong with your child or that they may have specific learning difficulties. The word is commonly used in the sense of highly active. Most children are boisterous when very young. Some calm down by age 6, others may take longer. DO I NEED A PIANO OR WILL A KEYBOARD DO? You will need a piano on which to practise, but note that a keyboard is not a piano; it has a different mechanism, touch and tone and may not have the full set of keys that a piano has (88). If you take exams, a keyboard will not be a suitable instrument for you to practise on. You will need to adapt to using a piano if you play elsewhere. I allow keyboards for the first year of learning, after which pupils should know whether they want to continue. You will need to add pedals to your keyboard if you don't have them and unless your keyboard is fully weighted, you will not be able to vary the tone. An acoustic upright piano or an electronic piano, eg Yamaha Clavinova can be acquired in its place if you wish to continue; otherwise a keyboard teacher would be the next step for you. Toy keyboards are not acceptable for piano practise, or keyboards placed flat on floors or on beds. An upright piano takes up no more space than a keyboard. Some of my students have even bought pianos at reasonable prices from E-Bay. A list of piano suppliers is included in all students' Welcome Packs. Keyboards provide great excuses for not practising, including 'I haven't bothered to learn those notes because I don't have them on the keyboard; or 'I haven't bothered to learn what the dynamics signs mean because I can't play soft and loud on my keyboard and I don't need to know them'. Wrong! If you play for your own amusement, then I guess a keyboard will do, as long as you are aware of the drawbacks; so please be aware that a non-weighted-key keyboard with no pedals will not produce good results for you or your child. CAN I TAKE EXAMINATIONS? You can play for your own pleasure or work towards the ABRSM examinations if I consider that you are up to the appropriate standard and if I feel it will be beneficial. If you are not ready for the exam by the closing date, I will not enter you. Exam results at my studio show a very high standard, usually high merits and distinctions. There is more to an exam than just playing the three set pieces. You will be expected to learn the exam level scales by heart and to do sight reading and aural tests. You will need to have passed Grade 5 theory if you wish to take any of the Advanced exams (Grades 6-8).
Piano lessons are held in my Didsbury studio in south Manchester (or at students' homes by arrangement).
CURRENT VACANCIES: phone or email to book your lessons
0161 445 0159
Use the form on the Contact page
I look forward to hearing from you
HOW OFTEN DO I ATTEND?
Attending weekly is the best way to move forwards with your lessons.
WHAT IF I CAN'T COME WEEKLY OR REGULARLY?
Ad hoc lessons are also acceptable for busy people by arrangement. Just come when you can.
HOW DO I PAY?
Lessons are paid for in advance in blocks of four
OR
on a Pay-As-You-Go basis
OR
at the lesson for ad hoc students who can't come regularly.
See the Fees page for full details.
HOW LONG IS THE LESSON?
As long as you like it.
I recommend 30 minutes for beginners, 45/60 minutes for intermediate/advanced students and for exam students.
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DO I HAVE TO DO EXAMS?
If you don't want to enter for exams, you don't have to. Exams are useful to show a student's stage of achievement, they give some students a goal to work for and others like to keep up with their peers. But it's important to build up a good repertoire of music and learn technique aside from playing exam pieces, so I do recommend that you do this, rather than racing through one exam after another.
EXAMS AND MOCK EXAMS
For those students who are taking exams, about two weeks before the exam dates we hold mock exams to identify strengths and weaknesses and to give students the chance to experience what will happen on the exam day. It helps to prepare them for the exam and to be aware of what will be expected of them. It gives us time to correct weak areas and to assess the sort of comments and marks that an examiner might make on the exam report. We will go through the exam order and explain how the exams work.
Mock exams are an optional extra service. They are held in the studio at the weekend, so as not to disrupt lessons and are therefore available as an extra lesson.
There are three exam periods students can choose to aim for each year: March/April, June/July and November/December. Venues are at ABRSM examination centres in Stockport or Manchester and we can arrange for schoolchildren to take them on a Saturday.
2012 EXAM INFORMATION:
Registration:
Spring: by 13 January postal; by 20 January online
Summer: by 27 April postal; by 4 May online
Winter: by 21 September postal; by 28 September online
Mock exams: To be arranged; See fees page for charges
Exam dates:
Spring: 27 February - 31 March
Summer: 11 June - 14 July
Winter: 5 November - 8 December
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WHAT KIND OF MUSIC WILL I LEARN?
I teach classical music but students can include modern music, rags or jazz if they wish. Technique, scales and basic theory are included.
If you've learnt before, please bring the music you've been playing, so that I can find your current level. I will then suggest the best music for our lessons.
FOR HOW LONG SHOULD I PRACTISE?
There is more to playing the piano than dropping notes on the keys. Finding the correct notes is just the beginning of learning a piece and it all involves regular practise. I recommend that children practise at least five days a week for between 10-20 minutes. Adults should aim for longer, up to 30 minutes.
COMMITMENT TO LEARNING
If students don't have time or inclination to work through the teaching for the recommended practise times, then learning the piano may not be for them. Commitment to learning means applying yourself to practise and to learn and remember what I teach you at each lesson. If you are not prepared to do this or it proves inconvenient, working in blocks of ten minutes will still be helpful. It is the quality, rather than the quantity of the practise that is most effective. Practising in small chunks may work better for you but without practise you will not move forwards. If this continues and it becomes obvious that you are coming to lessons each week and not practising in between, I shall be unable to continue to teach you.
Before committing to lessons, parents and students should consider whether the amount of other activities in their lives or business commitments may prevent them from practising daily or honouring their lessons regularly. It is tragic to watch the lack of progress that some children display because their parents are ferrying them round every day from one activity to another; some show a special talent for music from day one but the end result is mediocrity at all their activities, instead of excelling at the one they showed an aptitude for; the same applies to talented adults who neglect their practise because it isn't high on their list of priorities. Some still can't recognise the notes on the page (or on the keys) after 6 months or more of study, simply because they can't be bothered or don't make the time to learn them.
HOW MUSIC CAN HELP YOU
Music is as important on the school curriculum as are history or geography. Playing an instrument can give your child poise, self-confidence and status and act as a springboard to a future career. My students who play at school assemblies get a huge buzz out of their achievements and it's a great boost to their self-esteem. Recent research has shown that children who learn a musical instrument showed 'more discriminate hearing and better dexterity' than those who didn't. They also scored higher on verbal ability and visual intelligence. The harder they studied, the better the results.
IS IT WORTH COMING IF I HAVEN'T PRACTISED SOMETIMES?
Absolutely. If you occasionally have to miss practise between lessons, or you think you are learning too slowly to have weekly lessons, note that your lesson is still worth having, as you will always learn something new and there is aural work, scales and sight reading to work on.
If it becomes obvious that a student hasn't been practising between lessons on a regular basis, they will be placed on 3 weeks practise probation. If things have not improved after that time, they may be asked to leave.
I will also expect you to read and do what I write in your notebooks!
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MASSAGE FOR MUSICIANS
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Playing the piano for too long can give us aches and pains in all sorts of places, like the back, neck, head, upper arms, fingers (although I'd wager a bet few of my pupils have that problem). But I do and so may those who practise for too long without a break or who play in public.
And I have the answer to relieving the tension we build up in our muscles. Therapeutic massage! It will benefit the muscles and give a boost to circulation and lymph. And I know just the right person to do this because she specialises in Massage for Musicians.
Gill El Najar does massage for non-musicians too, so anyone can benefit from her techniques. She practises in Chorlton and her number is: 0161 881 8229
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DON'T LIKE CATS? PLEASE READ THIS!
Please note that if you suffer from allergies or have asthma, or are frightened of cats, Harry the Cat, aged 21, is in residence at my studio. This is his home. I do not lock him away during lessons, the children love to see him but if you really don't like cats, this is not the studio for you!
Harry the Cat
