One of my voice students was leaving after her lesson recently, and her Dad looked at the piano in the lesson room and said that theirs was a similar brand. I told him I had a Chickering from years ago. A fine piano indeed. He also said it’s hard to sell a basic piano these days. Nobody is buying. Unless it’s a grand piano which of course are not cheap. Everyone seems to want a digital keyboard with the weighted keys, which mimic the weight of piano keys.

This made me think. Everyone wants the least possible intrusion into their lives in this day and age. A keyboard which does have weighted keys is similar to a piano in that sense but it’s not a piano. The feel and action of the keys is still a bit different. And the price can even be more than a simple spinet piano. Plus a digital keyboard is not necessarily that much smaller than a small spinet piano. Granted a piano needs to be tuned at least once a year but then again, nothing electronic can go wrong with it. And a piano is a very nice piece of furniture.

The director/owner of the studio where I teach this young lady told me a few weeks ago that their aren’t a lot of inquiries into private lessons lately. More people are looking into class piano, which is about 4-6 students in the room learning as a group. It’s a less intensive approach to learning the instrument than a one-on-one lesson with the teacher. Cheaper as well.

I also watched a webinar with a teacher from one of the professional music organizations I belong to. It was about digital products in the online teaching studio. She has 100 students. I almost fainted! I wondered how she could manage that many per week. However in the webinar she mentioned she has an online studio only, and it’s only group piano. No wonder she can manage that group of students. She also showed us her online platform where students can ask questions etc, but she can also tap into how they are practicing at home. Hmmm I thought.

How we teach music has changed in this day and age. A lot of it came from the Covid pandemic. Everything was closed. Teaching in general went online. Church services went online. Things we never thought could be handled online went online. All of a sudden everything was online. I was immersed in Makeup Artist courses at that time and…all of that was online as well. Haha! Had to use my neighbors to practice all kinds of different makeup applications. Haha!

I personally like one-on-one teaching especially for voice. But it’s nice to know that we can do this online if we need to, perhaps in lousy weather, tons of snowfall making travel difficult, mild illness when the student or teacher is able to perform but doesn’t feel comfortable in-person until they’re 100% well. There are circumstances in which it comes in handy. One of the downfalls I have seen unfortunately, is that progress can be slower when a lot is done online. Unless the student takes full responsibility for their practice time between lessons…is organized and keeps to a schedule. I did have a young adult student like that during the pandemic and it worked great.

A number of attitudes have changed in the area of teaching especially private tutoring in the past few years and since the Covid pandemic. I have been teaching 37 years. I have seen a lot of stuff…period. I admire and support new ways of thinking and of getting around tough situations which we had no answer for years ago…like teaching lessons in snow storms etc. Wouldn’t happen. Now we have a Plan B! I still prefer the in-person approach since there really is no comparison regarding the learning.

I just hope that people in these current times don’t start cutting more corners expecting to achieve the same expertise as “the old successful way” in previous years, in whatever they are pursuing. Learning instruments is one of those situations where in-person learning will always take the lead over online. That’s my vote for sure…but I am glad we have an alternative just in case.

Thoughts anyone?

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