How Do I Find a Piano Teacher?: A Beginner’s Guide
If your question is, how do I find a piano teacher? and you aren’t already part of a music community, you might feel lost as to how to find a piano teacher in your local area. So here are 4 tips to help you both find a teacher and know what to look for in a teacher once you find one.How Do I Find a Piano Teacher: 4 Tips
1. Ask Your Local School’s Music Program
Whether you have connections with an elementary school, a high school, college or university, each institution would have a music program.
You can ask any teacher or professor if they know how you can find a local piano teacher or if they know anyone that you could ask. If they don’t know, at least they may know someone who might know.
Your local school may even have a piano class with a piano teacher who teaches outside class times as well. They of all people should definitely know other local piano teachers in you area!
Put the word out there for what you’re looking for within these communities. The network of faculty is a great resource to utilize when looking for something pertaining to education such as piano lessons.
2. Look for Local Flyers or Cards
People within communities often post flyers for their services or events. You can find these flyers at coffeeshops, local small business fronts, children’s places such as gymnasiums, daycares, etc. Wherever you go during your day-to-day, take a peek to see if that location allows people to post their flyers or leave their postcards anywhere. Although this probably isn’t the most efficient way of finding a piano teacher, it is another way. Keep in mind also that it is usually small, private, perhaps often less “business professional” people or groups who put out flyers and cards. You would probably be more likely to find a single independent piano teacher this way rather than a music school, for example.3. Put a Status Out on Your Social Media for Suggestions
If you have social media, great. If you don’t, skip on past this suggestion. If you do have social media, go ahead a post that you are looking for a piano teacher and if anyone knows someone who teaches piano. Facebook is great for this! Try posting to Facebook groups as well. Perhaps you follow a local mom’s group or maybe a music community of some sort. What about your neighborhood social media groups? Maybe your neighbors have a suggestion. Maybe there’s a piano teacher living right in your own neighborhood! That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? Putting this out on social media is probably more efficient than asking your friends. It is asking your friends, just not one at a time!
4. Google Search for a Teacher
Of all the answers to the question, how do I find a piano teacher, searching Google is by far the favorite answer. These days more people look for everything and anything online. You can Google search a variety of search terms and phrases that may bring up several different options for you. Keep in mind though that not everyone uses Google to put themselves out there for students to find them. Piano teachers and music teachers in general don’t often have the desire to build their platform of marketing on Google. It is, after all, a lot of extra work that they are most likely not skilled for. It would also cost them a lot of money to pay someone else to do it for them. So often, they just don’t show up on Google. Who does show up more on Google though are music schools. Music schools are in the business of music. It is more mandatory for them to have a Google presence in order to bring in piano students and even hire their piano teachers and staff. So let’s just say, you might get a better oiled system finding a music school but you might get a more tailored and personal experience with an private and independent piano teacher. Here is a list of Google search terms and phrases you might try to see what pops up for you in your local area: Piano teachers in (name of your city) Piano teachers near me Piano instructors near me Local piano teachers Local piano instructors Local piano classes Local piano lessons Piano lessons in (name of your city) Piano lessons near me Piano school near me Piano school in (name of your city)What to Look for in a Piano Teacher
Once you have found yourself a piano teacher, we would highly suggest setting up a trial lesson. Some people even prefer to set up a trial month to see how the piano lesson goes. Doing a trial lesson is setting yourself up for a respectful way of backing out of a lesson commitment with a particular teacher if for any reason you would choose to do so. That being said, there are a few things you may or may not want to be aware of when choosing the right piano teacher for you. Don’t be afraid to set up a couple of trial lessons with a few different teachers either! See which teacher you could see yourself committing to long-term.Possible Considerations When Choosing a Teacher
1. Are They Timely?
Timeliness may or may not be an important factor for you but for those of you who are planners and like to know exactly what to expect, timeliness may be an important factor for you. Timeliness can also be a sign that the teacher is a more organized instructor than not. Remember, character traits like this overflow into other areas of life as well. You do want someone to respect your time, but again, that may look different for each individual’s expectations. Hint: pay attention to the timeliness of when a teacher responds back to your inquiry. That could give you a glimpse into their priorities.2. Do They Seem Calm or In a Hurry With You?
If, when you communicate with this teacher, they seem to give you their time with no rushing, then consider that a sign that they value you and your time. If you get a sense that they want to hurry up with the communication or perhaps they are too pushy with your timing on commitment, you may want to continue to pay attention to other clue into their personality. But if you are someone that can appreciate people who, step in, step out, and be done. Then you may want to work with this kind of personality. Sometimes “type A” personalities can be like that without any maliciousness. They may be a good match for you if you consider yourself a type A personality as well!3. Do They Create a Good Vibe For You At The Trial Lesson?
“A good vibe” is a very relative phrase. But really, what constitutes a good learning environment is different for every piano student. If you need someone who teaches through positive reinforcement, pay attention to how this piano teacher may correct you. Pay attention to how they correct you both in your social interactions as well as in the piano instruction style. There are other factors to consider at your trial lesson that might effect “the vibe” of your lesson experience with this piano teacher. Some people, for example, feel more clear-minded with a clean and organized space. Not all piano teachers are going to maintain as clean and organized a space as you would prefer and that may drive you crazy or it may not be an issue for you at all. Either way, if the lessons aren’t going to be held in your own space, it would be good for you to see the space where you would be taking your piano lessons.4. What is Their Professional Piano Background?
In the pursuit of answering the question of how do I find a piano teacher, we can’t stress enough how important it is for you to know what your piano teacher’s piano background is! A lot of people out there call themselves pianists who haven’t had any real formal training. And that might be OK if you’re looking for something super light-hearted. But if you want to make sure you are learning the correct technic from day one, you should inquire about your teacher’s professional background. We wouldn’t want you to end up learning bad technical habits that would get you stuck one day or make you have to go back and relearn things that you already spent time and money for learning. But again, if you’re are looking for a very light-hearted and extremely casual experience, this may not matter so much for you!Now That You Have An Idea of How to Find a Piano Teacher…
Now that you have a few ideas to guide you on finding yourself a piano teacher, it’s time to go out and find yourself a teacher! Don’t be timid to find a few teachers and set up a trial lesson with each one! Test them all out and see who you connect with best. Just let each know that you are setting up a few trial lessons and will be back in touch with them as to whether you have decided to continue with them or not. Just be confident and don’t worry about feeling bad if you decide not to commit to most of them. A good teacher knows that a teacher-student relationship is unique to the connection between two people and that it is important for both ends to have “good vibes” from the beginning of this musical journey. Good Luck and Have Fun!Learn More About Martucci Music School Click HERE
