What is the best way to get a piano teacher?

[Starbear]

We have a very old piano from DH's gran. We now all want to learn DS 5 years old, DH very old and me old but wearing well. I don't just want to find someone in the paper and I don't anyone who is having lessons. Where do I start? {smile]

If there are any music shops near where you live, they sometimes have adverts for music lessons on a noticeboard.
We had a boy from the local grammar in the 6th form who taught 3 of mine piano. He was only 16 and he put them through exams and music festivals.

I have recently found a fab piano teacher through www.musicteachers.co.uk - lots of ads and I contacted a few before finding one that sounded like the right person.

Personal recommendation is best really. There are county organisations that have peripatetic tecahers too. I am a piano teacher. I personally do not teach anyone under the age of 7.

I honestly think we have the best piano teacher in the world. OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but he is utterly, utterly great. Inspiring, creative, attentive, engaging.

He's a Suzuki teacher, but on the creative end of the Suzuki spectrum. And I don't think he uses the Suzuki method for older pupils. Though I'm not sure about that.

We found him through the Suzuki network. And he was then recommended by the informal parents' network. So doubly-found!

Alas, he's in Stockwell, which is probably too far for you.

But anyway, the above is how we found our great piano teacher ... hope you find yours!

Tnak you for your tips. I will be looking at the site and musics shops you all recommend But I have no knowledge of music so I must ask - 'What is Suzuki spectrum?'

• peripatetic? Sorry & Why not under 7 ys? Again thank you for the advice.

peripatetic - travelling teachers who go from school to school(largely music teachers).

I personally do not believe most under 7s have the ability to cope with notational understanding and I would be happier to teach a child who is a little older and will in general progress much faster due to maturity of thought processes.

I am a piano teacher and I wouldn't take a 5 year old either, sorry. I sometimes take 6 year olds but the parent has to be clear about what they're getting for their money. A 6 year old will generally make progress much more slowly than, say, an 8 year old, and you will find that by 11, a child who started at 6 is often very little further ahead than one who started at 8+. If you are happy to pay just for your child to have fun - and can accept it will to be a much slower, more play-based experience, then fine.

Having said that, I did start my 10 year old just after her 6th birthday, mainly because she'd been nagging me for about 2 years. But then, I wasn't paying for the lessons .

And true to form, and despite the fact she is now a very capable and competent little pianist, her best friend who started with me at 8 is only about 2 terms behind her if you're looking at grades. It wasn't a mistake to start her so early because she loved it and still does, but her progress was very slow for the first year or two. I knew that would be the case and we just had fun, but I worry that parents of such young children will expect too much too soon and put them off for life.

As to how to find someone, I would go by recommendation if at all possible, ask as many people as you can think of if they know of anyone. Also, a teacher who is fairly full is more likely to take recommended students. Failing that, get a list from the music shop, phone a few, not just one, and see who you click with and like the sound of.

Starbear, have you tried the Richmond Music Trust? Their teachers go to schools for the lessons but your child can participate even if it doesn't belong to that school.
I agree that the age of 6 is the earliest to start. Before that the child can just "free" play with the piano.

Thank you for all the top tips. I know nothing about pianos and your advice will save us heartache as I don't want him to think he has failed by starting him to young. Same with swimming a friend who teaches said don't start until 3 unless he gets it at once. She saved him from feeling disappointed and he's a great little swimmer now. We have a piano it will be tuned on Wednesday he can play on it until he is 7/8yrs. The money saved can go towards his student fees or first child which ever comes first

I taught piano on w/ends for 5 yrs and taught a few 4/5 yr olds.

been thinking about starting up again... don't suppose you live in west sussex

I teach piano and violin and would say that 7 or 8 is probably a better time to start. I do have a 5 year old learning violin (very pushy parents) and mostly just feel sorry for him as his parents have him doing after-school activities every night of the week and he looks so stressed!

I had a lady ring me up the other week enquiring about violin lessons for her 3 year old!!!! Er.... no. As a guideline I say they need to be able to read pretty well before they can start (though my 4 year old can read well but is in no way ready for music lessons so not a great rule of thumb...)

MathsMadMummy Sorry, no in that bit of Surrey that really is SW London. I love West Sussex but to much of a drive after school. I think we are going to take the advice and wait. From your name do you also tutor kids for Math?

aww darn it, thought I was in for a job there! although we haven't had my piano moved here yet anyway... will be soon though, I miss it so much

my name is actually because I'm doing a maths degree (open uni) but I've done a bit of tutoring before, thinking about starting up again in the future.

for my sins, I also worked for a year at Kumon... I left as I hated it!

Suzuki is a type of teaching method and associated with dc starting young (though my ds started at 10 and it was fine).

It's quite marmite.

Here's an idea, lifted from Suzuki, why not play tunes and let your dc potter on the piano, picking out tunes with one hand? then working out which notes (on left hand) go with chunks of the tune?

Get dc to think about how tunes go up and down and to play tunes (with one hand) of their own?

That's kind of Suzuki stuff.

Something to do while waiting for a music teacher, anyway.

Oh Thank you I will try but I can't play so we will have fun together.

animula reminded me, I also meant to say, you could play some listening games to train her ears. Really simple stuff - you can just bash out some notes and she listens without looking, you could try asking her:
high or low?
fast or slow?
loud or quiet?
lots of notes together, or just one note?
2 notes - close together or far apart? (i.e. from opposite ends)
spiky or smooth? (IYSWIM? make the notes jumpy or run them all together?)

this is the kind of stuff we'd do with our students as a warm up. HTH, sorry it's quite hard to explain in writing!

Okay I'll do that. Thank you Any more lessons over the web and you'll start charging me.

oops just noticed I put 'her' sorry

anyway another thing is, if he is messing around on the piano, try asking him to play something that sounds like a particular emotion - happy (high and tinkly), scary (loud, low and bashy), sad, angry etc. it's just another thing to get the ears/brain going.

now, send me £20...

xxxxx

Anyone can recommend a very good piano teacher around SW15 area for 9 years old girl? She is very talented and just moved to the area.