Homeschool Piano Lessons

I was compensated for mytime, but my opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

All eight of my children and I play the piano, right down to my 6-year-old. We also play multiple other instruments and we frequently play as an ensemble. The hubs doesn’t play, even though his mother, who does play, tried to give him lessons as a child.

He has always said that he would play someday. He’s even asked me for lessons a couple of times and then things have fizzled out.

He recently decided to try again. So I was thrilled to find the Revolutionary Piano Method!

The first thing I noticed was that this piano method was laid out so well and so intuitively that I, the piano teacher, became practically irrelevant. The books are very well-organized and each lesson walks the student through the concepts they are learning, so that most older children and adults could teach themselves to play piano without a teacher.

That said, a piano teacher will be able to spot and correct little things a non-pianist might never notice, such as hand position and technique. You could certainly learn all of the piano basics on your own with these books, up through book 5 and then hire a piano teacher to progress further, although you might have to unlearn a few bad habits once you hire a teacher.

I assure you that having a full-time teacher does not mean you won’t pick up any bad habits. I am constantly and forever helping my students, who I teach weekly, to overcome their bad habits.

Is it possible to teach yourself (or your children) to play the piano from the comfort of your own home and without a professional teacher? Absolutely!

Learning to play the piano is more about diligence and perseverance than it is about the music lessons. Let’s talk about how to use the Revolutionary Piano Method to do just that.

 

What is the Revolutionary Piano Method?

Two different series are available at Revolutionary Piano Method: the Itty Bitty series for very young pianists (ages 4-5) and the older Student Series geared to ages 6+.

The Revolutionary Piano Method older student series, for students ages 6 and older, contains 5 levels, each of which consists of a Lesson Book, a Theory Book and the answer key. There is also a Fun Book.

The Itty Bitty series covers the same material as the older student series, but at a much slower pace. After completing the fifth level, the student would continue in the course for older students, starting at Level 2.

I’ve taught from most of the most popular method books and I can really appreciate Leslie’s thoughtful touches and her strategies for making note-reading more intuitive. Her method is a great way to build young musicians confidence right from the start.

 

Using the Revolutionary Piano Method

Learning to do anything requires time and effort. I typically start children in kindergarten or younger off with 15-minutes of practice time daily. Older beginners can probably handle 20-30 minutes of practice time daily.

The lessons in the first book in this series are very short, beginning at about a minute and progressing to about ten minutes. Each lesson in the Revolutionary Piano Method is simple and easy to follow, even for non-musicians, so self-teaching is not a problem.

After learning the concept in the Lesson Book, the student should complete the corresponding lesson in the Theory Book, in order to reinforce the concept. Then the student should practice that concept sufficiently to achieve proficiency.

Daily practice is much more effective, even in small doses, than a single, longer session of practicing once per week. Daily practice also builds discipline in children.

The more time you spend, the faster you’ll learn, so I advised my husband to spend as much time as he could, up to about an hour a day, progressing through the books. You don’t need to spend a whole week practicing songs if you can play them perfectly after one day of practice. At the rate of a lesson per day, you could potentially breeze through all five levels and be playing at an early intermediate level within a year if you practiced sufficiently.

There are lots of helpful teaching tips in each level of the Revolutionary Piano Method books. They are applicable even to those who are self-teaching or to those who are teaching with no music experience of their own.

Leslie also gives explicit instructions and more great tips in this article, “How to Have Successful Piano Lessons“.

 

How is the Revolutionary Piano Method different from other methods?

There are a few things that really do make Leslie’s piano method revolutionary. I’ll try to explain them in layman’s terms in case you haven’t spent the last twenty years of your life teaching piano lessons.

First off, she starts students in a hand position that makes sense. Traditionally, students start in “Middle C position”, which means that both of their thumbs are on middle c.

Students play with both hands right from the start. Because they don’t yet know the notes, they are asked to play by finger number rather than note name. It can be a little confusing to beginners.

Leslie starts students on F in just the right hand. F is the bottom space on the treble clef, and students start by just playing the space notes in the treble clef. It helps students familiarize themselves with the staff right away so they don’t develop the crutch o f playing by finger numbers or how notes move on the staff (repeat, steps and skips).

Her students then learn the line notes in relation to the space notes, but students continue to play with just the right hand. Students spend more time learning notes in this method than in other methods I’ve used.

After thoroughly learning the notes in the treble clef, students progress to learning the bass clef (in the same manner as in the treble clef) with the left land, but they also continue to review the right hand. These books provide plenty of review to really help students learn to read notes.

Right off, students are learning note names and how to read music. This is huge!

So many students shortchange themselves by not learning to actually read music. Instead, they learn to compensate for note reading by recognizing the position of notes in relation to one another. This can be a huge handicap down the road. The Revolutionary Piano Method helps students to avoid pitfalls like this.

Note value, rests, and timing are introduced in Level Two. Students also increase sight-reading skills and playing skills through more advanced performance opportunities of progressive difficulty. Students build confidence by methodically increasing one skill at a time.

I love that this method encourages students to always name the notes aloud while playing. That can be tough, but it is incredibly helpful in learning to read music. I also love that she strongly emphasizes playing by touch rather than by looking at the keyboard.

The Revolutionary Piano Method includes theory lessons in correlation with each piano lesson. The order in which she introduces theory provides a strong foundation for sight reading and further piano skills.

 

Teach Your Child Homeschool Piano Lessons

If you’re like me, you want all of your children to learn music. There are just so many benefits! But if you have several kids the expense really adds up!

I teach my own kids to play the piano, but they each also play a stringed instrument and a couple of them play bagpipes, harp and guitar. That’s an awful lot of money each month!

Teaching your own kids at least the basics is a great way to ease into learning a musical instrument. The Revolutionary Piano Method will teach your children the basics of reading and playing music. If you are motivated to help your children learn, and if your kids are willing to put in some work practicing, there is no reason that they won’t be able to learn just as well as a student in weekly, formal, private piano lessons

The Revolutionary Piano Method takes the guesswork out of teaching piano and learning piano even for those who have never touched a musical instrument. It provides the step-by-step guidance needed to help aspiring musicians develop skills in note reading, rhythm, sight reading, technique and music theory.

 

Benefits of Homeschool Piano Lessons

Many scientific studies have proven that reading music improves brain development and cognition as well as social and academic skills in children. There are also numerous mental benefits for older adults. In fact, I’ve taught several older adults whose primary reason for learning to play was that their doctors advised it as a way to delay mental deterioration.

Check out these incredible benefits of homeschool piano lessons:

• increased attention span and concentration
• increased visual acuity
• improved finger dexterity
• ability to follow directions is improved
• improves counting and math skills
• encourages creativity
• organization skills are practiced
• piano practice require discipline and patience
• neural pathways between brain hemispheres are formed
• increased levels of human growth hormone, which slows memory deterioration in older adults
• greater capacity for spatial cognition
• useful as therapy for ADD

 

Introduction to the Revolutionary Piano Method by Leslie Young

 

 

Visit the Revolutionary Piano Method website for further information and testimonials! If you have any questions about the Revolutionary Piano Method, feel free to contact Leslie through her website, and she’ll answer you promptly.

 

 

 

 

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