During the current health crisis, I am providing online tuition via Zoom from my studio in Huntington. I will continue to provide tuition in this manner for the foreseeable future but intend to return to face to face lessons when it is safe to do so.
“I can honestly say I am delighted that my grandson is associated with such a decent and talented young man. Will is so good with his pupils and knows instinctively just how to pitch the lessons…” Sylvia Rawlinson
“Will has worked with my daughter for a number of years guiding and supporting her through her piano grades. Not only has he assisted her academically but he has helped improve her confidence…” Stephanie Kewley
Age
The minimum age is normally about six or seven though this depends upon the child and their level of maturity. I do teach younger children as well though this tends to be on a less formal basis with lots of games and requires parental support both in lessons and for practice at home.
Practice
Parents are welcome to sit in on lessons if they wish, in fact I encourage this as they are more likely to be able to help the student with their practice at home. This is also actively encouraged! I can try to enthuse students in their lessons but cannot help them with their practice.
Instruments
It is important to have an instrument of a reasonable standard to practise on either at home or somewhere that is ‘regularly accessible’ and by this I mean accessible for practise every day! I have a Yamaha U3 Piano in the studio as well as Roland FP4-F and Yamaha P-121 Digital Pianos which I can use for concerts and external performances.
Instruments are expensive and I would recommend as a minimum, a Yamaha P45 as this instrument does at least have a piano sized, graded hammer-action, weighted keyboard closely replicating that of a real instrument, and is affordable at just over £300. Digital pianos are improving all the time and whilst digital pianos can never quite replicate the depth of touch and tone of a really good quality, well-maintained acoustic piano, parents are better off considering a digital instrument for a budget of less than £1500. Whilst the “family heirloom” piano which grandma used to play might work well as a piece of furniture, I have experienced quite a few scenarios where the experience of attempting to learn to play such instruments can put actually put students off when they would probably have flourished with a digital instrument!