She said… to step away! And we both started laughing and to this date I still make fun of her about this.

Ok, there may be instances where it is applicable but in most cases no.

There are many reasons why a person would start to frustrated when practicing piano and are some of the guidelines that I have seen work:

• Slow down. As you got frustrated, that part you were practicing right then or right before it, you may be practicing it too fast. Sometimes it takes longer to “digest” a section. Slow down for that particular part. There is much more about this “slowing down” tip but for now that’ll do.
• Find out which point in your practice your were doing fine and when it turned to the “dark side” A few things may have happened right there where it got messy and buttered with frustration. And at that point, one of several things may have happened: you skipped over something you didn’t fully understand, you didn’t fully master a section and were practicing it too fast, you continued pounding yourself on a section you already did well to a point of total slavery, and a bunch of other things.
• You may have started to practice in a hurry being concerned about things that are external to your piano practice. In that case, you may just want to realize it and either continue your practice or if it’s really urgent or bugging you, end your practice and go handle it!
• You may be just straight tired and/or hungry
• And though you should use this one as an excuse for being frustrated and finding fault in others, you may have had an upset with someone making it hard to practice. When you practice…. well, you practice. And if you’re going to waste your time semi-practicing and thinking about upsets, well then, don’t practice OR just push it aside, push through it and zero in on your practice and move forward. Though I recommend that after your practice, you repair the upset you had with the person or whatever was bugging you.

Interestingly enough, the first 2 points are probably the most common. Many time students will practice too fast, skip something and start being frustrated.

I teach piano in Hollywood and many different parts of Los Angeles (Burbank, Glendale, the Valley, Shadow Hills, Tujunga and Sunland) and if you are interested in piano lessons you can always reach me at 323-953-1655.

Patrick
info@lapianolessons.com

I just wanted to share how cool it is to play piano!!! Really, music is such an awesome art. It’s communication. It’s alive.

What’s cool about music is that nobody has ever seen a note flying around….! You can only hear them. And yet, you can create all types of emotions.

And if we come back to our blog topic, why piano lessons, why would anyone, especially professional adults decide to practice piano? Is it just a crazy idea and a lost of time in the long run?

Hell no!!!

There’s so many things that happen while you practice piano. First you get out from the normal work you are doing and second, you start creating something different.

Just the discipline and the effort of going through each exercise and learning the new pieces is quite a mental exercise.

Why piano lessons?

If you can hear and your fingers move, most of the chances are on your side. Actually all the chances are on your site as it depends only on you!

Playing piano can be for anyone. If you start from scratch, give yourself half a year and you’ll be able to play some piano pieces and start understanding your keyboard better. It’s a long term investment. Not a short term engagement — meaning 2-3 month deal….!

I’ve been play piano for 25 years today (wow, I just realized this, no joke). And have been teaching for 12 years now and I’ve seen many many students. I concluded that most people decide to take lessons to add something special to their lives. Want to express themselves in a certain way.

I would say that is one WHY piano lessons, wouldn’t you?

Anyway, I might be starting to sound like a preacher here (not a teacher).

Hey by the way, these days I decided to go back and practice the Fantaisie Impromptu by Chopin Op. 66. It reminded me college when I first was practicing that piece. Now this is some music my friends…. wow! And for me, if I look back that was one of the WHY piano lessons questions?

You can do it if you really put yourself to it or put a little time aside every week for this.

Later,
Patrick
Piano teacher in Los Angeles
lapianolessons.com

Basically a piano lesson is not just a one way flow….!

If it only goes from the piano teacher to the student, or close to 100% of the time, the piano lessons may break down after a while.

I really think the teacher should let the piano student express him/herself in different ways.

The problem you may encounter is the student just keeps on talking…. the one-hour lesson is already gone… almost nothing was covered! That would not really be an optimum lesson, slowing down the progress.

Using good communication and keeping the goals set for the current lesson, the piano teacher can direct an efficient piano session.

The student has something to say, let’s have fun and talk for a second.

***

But this is only one aspect of what I wanted to cover in this blog post.

The other one is letting the student play as much as possible.

This reverses the flow.

While he/she is playing piano, he/she is communicating something!

If the student can play about 75% of the time during the lesson.

Of course, some lessons will concentrate on theory and that is totally fine. But overall the piano teacher needs to look at the balance between theory and actually playing the piano.

I would say that just playing and not covering the theory would also be unbalanced lesson plan (when looking at a whole series of piano lessons).

So here, the piano teacher talks and explains and shows and makes the student do things, repeat things, etc. That’s pretty intense when you think about. That’s the flow from the teacher to the piano student.

That is why it’s crucial to let the student play. After all, you need to hear and see what your student does. And by him/her playing, you can observe and point out exactly what he/she will need to focus and practice for the coming week. This can be done without much talking at all. Very efficient.

***

To conclude, the piano lesson scenario should involve free communication but quickly reorienting the student with the purpose of meeting this particular session’s goals.

The student should be “communicating” (via the piano) at least 50% upwards to 75% (and I tend to make it close to 75% as mentioned above).

So that’s it for today. I just thought I would put this down and hopefully this could help you sort out what is a piano lesson for yourself.

***

I’m a piano teacher in Los Angeles and teaching for over 10 years now…. (that makes me look old, well, older at least). I meanly teach in-home in any of the cities close to Hollywood such as Burbank, Glendale, Silverlake, NOHO, Hancock Park, Beverly Hills, Studio City and the eastern part of San Fernando Valley.

Patrick
Los Angeles piano lessons

Though I’m a piano teacher in Hollywood CA, I do teach and travel to many parts of Los Angeles. Mainly those that are close to Hollywood such as Los Feliz, Silverlake, Glendale, Burbank, NOHO, West Hollywood, Hancock Park, Studio City and can go as far as Northridge in the San Fernando valley.

As a piano teacher I make sure that you get the proper step-by-step education so that you can get the most out of each piano lesson.

Basically, whether you are looking for a piano teacher for beginners, advanced, kids or adults, I will do must best do help you progress toward you purposes.

To work at obtaining new abilities such as those of playing piano give the student a satisfactory feeling. Indeed, each piano practice demands some energy and attention but adding up each practice together results in higher ability to create music with the piano.

If you are looking for a piano teacher in Hollywood but do not know yet if you will take lessons, you can still call and ask me questions on how it will go.

So again, I’m a piano teacher in Hollywood and hope to see you in front of your own piano for a lesson soon!

To play piano is fun and rewarding in many ways!

Thanks,
Patrick
Los Angeles Piano Lessons

I’m a proud piano teacher in Los Angeles and wanted to write a few words about the teaching method that I use.

I meanly use what I myself experienced was workable and created results in the piano student’s progress.

The students will buy piano theory books that are already available on the market but I’ve also created many pages of precise exercises that will streamline the student’s progress. Hopefully one day I can put this into a book and publish it but for now it’s only a big bunch of pages.

When the student starts the piano lessons, I always ask him/her to buy a 3 ring binder in which we will insert these piano method pages. I believe that combined with other music books already available, the method I’m using can help a piano student increase the quality of his/her practice.

Also depending on if the student is a beginner, intermediate or advanced, I will be using different books and different parts of my method.

I came up with my own method not to be “different” or just making my own thing but simply because in my 10 years of teaching I have noticed that while teaching I would see better results when a certain concept was explained a certain way. So I started to put these musical concepts on paper and gave them to my students.

So, if you live in Los Angeles and want to start or continue piano lessons, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you,
Patrick
Los Angeles Piano lessons
323 953 1655

I’m a piano teacher in Los Angeles and can give piano lessons in-home anywhere between Beverly Hills, Hancock Park to Silverlake, going by Glendale and Burbank all the way to Northridge in the San Fernando Valley.

Los Angeles is vast but I live in Hollywood which is central-ish, so it’s easy for me to give piano lessons in any of these parts of Los Angeles. Santa Monica is a bit too far but if I have 2 students scheduled in the area, I will do the trip.

In-home piano lessons is for those who want to learn piano but don’t want to go out again for another trip. I will gladly teach on your own keyboard/piano.

I teach children (kids from about 6 years old) to advanced adults who want to improve their performance and efficiency in their piano practice.

As a teacher, I prefer not using a “military” approach, rather I choose building the student’s real interest. Of course, for those who decide to make a career in music, my approach might be a bit stiffer!

Thanks,
Patrick
323 953 1655
Los Angeles Piano Lessons

Today I wanted to talk about piano practice warm-up but particularly about just being conscious of the body.

What I’m going to share is not evaluated by a doctor and is just my observation and may not apply/work for everyone.

I have notice that as I start my practice my muscles and fingers may be stiff a little. Over the years I came up with a the following rules for myself (again this may not be workable for everyone as we have different bodies and attitudes):

• I start with slow exercises or pieces or sight reading.
• This period last about 10-15 minutes.
• Then I go in the fast mode!

At this point, I practice arpeggios, pieces that are more demanding physically, improvisation, etc…

It quite simple but for me it works. As I do this most of the time I feel my hand loosening up and ready for the action.

Many times I’ve gone to the “fast mode” right away and felt my forearm getting tense, instead of loosening up.

This is what works for me. So the purpose of this post is to make you aware that you might have to work out your own way to start your piano practice. It certainly can be based on what your piano teacher advises you to do. Also, this is especially valid for those piano students who practice over an hour a day as you need to maintain a good physical shape for that long of a period of time.

Patrick
Los Angeles Piano Lessons

In-home piano lessons is no different. It’s the same service (just a little extra cost) but you save time on the travel.

I give piano lessons to kids, adults, beginners and advanced. Whether you like classical, jazz or pop.

I can travel anywhere in the San Fernando valley (Northridge, Noho, Canoga Park starts to be a bit far), Burbank, Glendale, Hollywood, Silverlake, Los Feliz Village, Echo Park, etc.

So hope to see you at a piano lesson and possibly in the comfort of your home!

Patrick
Los Angeles piano lessons

No. This is not a Los Angeles classified ad for a refrigerator for sale.

Well I’ve been listening to what my refrigerator had to say lately!

When the refrigerator starts to run, it makes some noise. Now if you start listen really closely, you will hear some harmony in that “noise.”

Basically, my refrigerator’s bass sound is a B. When I listen to it, I can clearly hear the D# and the F#.

This is normal by the way. If you start listening to different machines making “noise,” you will start hearing different sounds within that “noise.”

Same for my laundry machine. Same for many, many different types of machines.

So if we look at this musically, the harmonics (sounds that are vibrating because of another sound, that’s my simply-stated definition–might not be precise but will work for now).

Here, B is the basic sound for my refrigerator. D# is the major third and F# is the fifth of B. Very interesting isn’t? This is a major chord.

It’s a fun game, try it when you have a chance. Actually try as much as you can as I think it is a very good ear training exercise.

Developing one’s ear is vital for a musician. In my piano lessons, I actually try to work with the students, as much as possible, to improve their ability to ear sounds.

When someone decides to make music a priority in his/her life, ear training because even more important and should definitely become of the top priorities of the student.

So pay attention to what your refrigerator has to say, you could be learning a lot from it!

I’m Patrick and I give piano lessons in Los Angeles. I go to your place (in-home piano lessons). If you have questions or comments, don’t hesitate, I will try to reply as soon as possible.

In the 30s and the 40s, we had this big resurgence of music and other arts. Kind of a renaissance. Big band music, Gershwin, etc… The economy was rough. It was the depression.

So what people did was to start creating. Creating a lot.

We all have to live not matter what is the economic situation. And one positive thing that someone can decide to do is arts, and of course starting piano lessons!

In Los Angeles, you can find several piano teachers (I’m one of them) and if you ever thought to start piano lessons, now might just be a good time.

The musical training and the actions of going through each musical difficulty is a challenge but certainly pays off in many different ways.

This is just a thought, but just as we create music, I believe that we create our own economic situation despite external influences. One can push toward his own goals and achieve states he only dreamed of by continuing to push, continuing to push. Again despite whatever others may say or believe and regardless of the state of the economy!

I have a lot to say about this but for now I will stop. But again, if you’re looking for piano lessons in Los Angeles, you can call me and we see if you like my teaching approach.

Thanks for reading,
Patrick
LAPianoLessons.com