What's your availability for lessons?
Adult lessons utilizing the flexible punch card system are scheduled in the mornings, early afternoon, and occasionally and after 7pm at night. Because adult students often need more flexibility than school age children, exact availability may vary. Feel free to reach out with questions about specific days/times.
What if I need to miss a week?
Adult lessons are on a flexible, punch-card system. You’ll have 8 weeks to schedule 6 lessons, so if you need to miss a week here and there, no problem. You can also schedule multiple lessons in one week if you want!
Do I need to know how to read music?
Nope, that’s what we’re here for! We’ll guide you through the process of learning to read music using a step-by-step, carefully sequenced system.
How long does it take to learn a new song?
That depends on what song it is and how much time you spend in practice! Shorter beginning pieces may only take us a week or two. Longer, more complex classical and pop songs you hear on the radio involve lots of new skill development along the way, so those tend to be much longer term projects.
I want to play [Billy Joel/The Beatles/Chopin]. How long will that take?
We’ve all seen those little kids playing big fancy things on YouTube, or listened to a favorite radio song and thought “it would be really cool if I could do that!” And you can! Maybe.
You have to be willing to put in the work, stick with it for a long time, and most important, you be patient with yourself as you start from scratch learning a new skill.
In our experience, adults can often progress more quickly than children. An adult brain comes fully wired to process abstract concepts, and you’ve already got the life experience to understand how to break hard concepts into small pieces and stick with it through moments of tedium and frustration.
But- you have to remember that those 10 year olds you see online have likely been practicing an hour a day for 5-6 years to get to where they are. Even with a fully wired adult brain, it’s going to take your fingers some time to catch up to that level.
If you have a particular piece you’ve been dreaming of playing, let’s talk together about what skills you need to get there, and how to make a game plan to make it happen! Just remember it will likely take more time and more practice than you think it’s going to.
What tech do I need for online lessons?
Fast internet connection. We recommend a minimum of 5 mbps upload/download speed. If you're not sure about your speed, you can check at www.speedtest.net.
Fully charged device with the zoom app installed and both mic and webcam enabled- we recommend going with whatever device has recently updated software and the largest possible screen so you can see clearly.
Wired internet connection if possible- this tends to be faster and more reliable than wifi, so if you’re able to plug your device into an ethernet cable, that will help us better see and hear your playing
And that’s it! You can get really fancy with extra webcams and headphones and external mics if you want to, but as long as you’ve got the basics outlined above, you’re good to go!
Can we do in-person lessons?
Yes! in-person lessons take place at our studio in downtown Washougal
