Piano Lessons individually cost £22.50 (up to 1 hour)

A block of 4 or more lessons are cheaper, calculated at £17.50/hour or £70 for 4 lessons. 5 lessons of 45 minutes same price by negotiation. 

These blocks are for regular weekly lessons with expected gaps (if any) being arranged at time of purchase. 

Blocks are not refundable but a lesson can normally be rescheduled with a few days notice.

See above for example times. I would recommend an hour for most people. Children and some teenagers generally have shorter concentration spans but I would still advise at least 45 minutes for a lesson, as time and energy is spent getting into the learning mode.

As you expected, some practise is essential to meaningful progress. There is a kind of practise away from the piano that can be quite useful in adults provided the mind is focused on learning. Piano practise is most effective when it is little and often.

I would tend towards suggesting 30 minutes a day, either in one session or split into two sessions. It has to be said though that one focused 5 minute practise is infinitely better than no practise at all. Above all, it must be borne in mind that long stints in the name of practise often just result in fatigue and a consequent practising of mistakes and bad habits. Little and often! If you can stagger an hour or more per day and ensure the quality of practise then you will excel even quicker than otherwise.

I try and keep lesson prices as reasonable as possible so that as many people as possible can afford them. I cannot rule out small price increases in the future unfortunately but will ensure that existing clients can enjoy the existing prices for a short while (few months) after the increase. The reason I charge modestly relates to the general recommendations by experts on how much to pay for wine. You clearly should not pay as little as possible if you want quality, but neither should you pay the most. 

Overcharging wine producers and marketeers are focused on working out how they can charge as much as possible for their product. Maximising profits from sales is a time intensive business, using resources which could be used to improve the quality of the product. Likewise, I prefer to focus on giving the best quality advice and teaching (and thinking it through when not teaching) rather than spending my time focusing on the highest prices that I could excuse for what I am doing.  

Since 2011 I have promoted lessons with leaflets representing composers – usually with a picture of them – who died or were born multiples of 50 years ago. There are eight of them and if you collect them all you are entitled to two free lessons. It is a good bit of fun and it also promotes musical awareness which is important in the playing of any musical instrument. Find out more on the Anniversary Composers page

Generally not: Travelling takes time that could be spent teaching other people. For most at school, and adults working 9 – 5, there are only so many teachable hours. For those of you who are available outside of peak hours – home educated pupil as part of his/her curriculum, retired person, someone whose work starts at 11.30 am &c – I may be able to offer to travel, if close by, if you so wish. 

Yes certainly: A large proportion of those who I teach are taking exams either with Associated Board or Trinity. I have never believed that exams, especially not the lower grades, are essential for the learning journey. Nonetheless, many students, more so the younger ones, find exams useful. Having a goal to aim for is a good gauge of performance level. That is why much of my teaching is of current ABRSM and Trinity syllabi.

Does he/she realise what is involved as far as possible for their age? If the child has the passion to learn and is prepared for whatever it takes then they will make an excellent student. Such great enthusiasm is moderately rare however and often the shepherding of one into musical studies becomes the responsibility of the parent. In most cases six or seven years old is about what I recommend. If slow progress is not going to cause frustration there is a case for growing up learning to play and wanting to continue if started at a younger age (3 or 4). So, in short, about 7 years of age unless there is a natural feeling that lessons would gel at a younger age.

Once again, a question where I think you can guess my answer. If you are mentally agile enough and interested in life enough to look, enquire or think of lessons then you will certainly gain something irreplaceable from taking up lessons for the first time, or else indeed taking up lessons again.

Refer to the question on practice. You do not need that much time to practice provided the focus is there. 5 minutes is much better than no time at all. Time difficulties are most often scheduling difficulties. What if you think of something you do once a day and then see if you can smuggle your 15 or so minutes practice immediately before it.

You can download my Cancellation Policy by clicking here.