How to Start Teaching Piano Lessons

Teaching someone else to play the piano requires a high level of technical skill on the part of the teacher as well as the ability to convey--in simple terms--music theory to a student who may never have played an instrument before. Because of the difficulty in teaching another person how to play the piano, you should not attempt this unless you are an expert piano player and have some general knowledge and experience with teaching.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fliers
• Beginner piano books
• Metronome

Preparation

1. Place a classified ad in the local newspaper or at your local arts center telling people that you are offering piano lessons.

2. Hand out fliers or post them on community bulletin boards that allow advertising.

3. Create space in your home or rent a studio where you can teach students. This should be a dedicated room for teaching that can be isolated from major distractions in the rest of the house.

Start Teaching Piano

4. Start with the C scale, and start with the right hand first. This would also include familiarizing the student with the keys and showing the student proper fingering position and transitions (i.e. C, D, E; finger: 1, 2, 3, then F, G, A, B, C; finger: crossover to thumb, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.)

5. When the student has learned the C scale with the right hand, teach the left hand.

6. Put together the previous two steps. The student should be able to play both hands together.

7. Repeat Steps 1-3 in this section for every scale on the piano.

8. Introduce tempo to the student (possibly through a metronome) to help "clean up" his play.

9. Apply the scales to simple songs that would be appropriate for beginners. Use a book series such as "Bach For Beginners," for examples. Don't teach out of the beginner book just yet. Using the "copycat method" (memorize a song out of the book, play it for a student and then teach the student how to copy you) will show students what keys to hit and get them familiar with the keyboard. At this point, you are just trying to "imprint" what you have taught in Steps 1-3 in this section upon the student's memory.

10. Teach the student how to read what she has been playing after she has a good grasp on the keys, finger positioning and how to transition finger position when playing scales and the simple songs.

11. Continue teaching students new songs out of piano books so that they can become familiar with sight reading. Again, using a book series such as "Bach for Beginners" will help a student to practice sight reading without overwhelming him.

12. Teach the student how to use the pedals on the piano.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to assign your students "homework" that they must do. Practicing outside of lessons is crucial for improvement. Many people who have never played an instrument before may be hesitant to play in front of you initially. You may consider playing a song for them or several simple songs to see what kind of music they like and what they would like to learn. This will also reassure them that their teacher is capable of playing and teaching them how to play what they want to learn.