Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Beginner looking for on line teacher.

I just started a thread in the Adult Beginners Forum and one of the suggestions was to post here for a recommendation of an online teacher using Skype.

I'm in a small town in Alaska and there are no FTF ones available to me.

I've been developing dreadful habits for about two years now and have slogged through Alfred and gotten stalled with Piano handbook. I watched and liked Furmancyk and have used various other DVD/You Tube options but feel like I'm stuck.

Appreciate any suggestions,

Kaz

This sounds interesting! There are other teachers here who do use Skype for lessons; I'm wondering what their input is when it comes to the physical demands of playing piano.

(I'm always willing to try something new.)

Minaku. If you go to my thread on Adult Beginners: "When a teacher is out of the question" you'll get my story: When a teacher is out of the question. No matter how much I would have preferred to have a FTF teacher I simply can't so it was either teach myself or not play. I taught myself and am now stuck/stalled and looking for ways to get to the next level and/or go back and try to correct everything I've done wrong up to this point.

Basically the story is I'm a geezer in a small town in Alaska with NO teachers available.

Right, I get that; I wanted to know from the piano teacher's perspective what it's like to Skype lessons. There are some who frequent Piano World.

I've heard from one already: http://gretchenspianos.wordpress.com/piano-lessons-and-vocal-coaching/

i sseriously seriously recomment this guy.. he is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Lypur

many of his 'courses' are free. one can subscribe as well for a minimal amount. he is engaging, accurate and able to convey logically, what one needs to know.

"Andrew Furmanczyk's Youtube Music Academy, How to Play Piano I'm just a regular guy, who enjoys helping people out. I've been playing piano and studying music since I was 5 years old, and I am currently a Piano Teacher in real life, I have about 30 students in my studio. I wanted to make this series to help people who want to learn piano, but can't afford or don't have access to a teacher. I'm a pretty easy going guy, so hopefully you'll be entertained!

Happy Practising! "

After moving to Illinois from Maryland, I've continued teaching several of my students in Maryland on Skype... only adults and teenagers though. I like it for the most part. The only complaint I have is that the sound and picture quality can be distracting sometimes, usually because of technical issues with the student's internet connection or computer. All of the student's have said that they have no trouble seeing and hearing me though, so I think they just need updated equipment. That said, I like the convenience, and when everything is working properly I don't miss anything not being "there" with the student. I can see their hands good enough to watch for technique/fingering issues, and I have no trouble hearing what's not working even if I can't see the keys as clearly as in person... generally my ears are good enough to know what's being played without seeing anyway. One other small issue is playing with the students, because of the delay. I often play with students to help them with timing, so I just have to play steady and let them follow along, but it's hard to tell if they're getting it since I hear what they are playing come back considerably late. But it still seems to work ok. After a few repetitions I have the student play alone so I can hear if they are getting it or not. So all in all, I'd prefer to have students in my studio, but I like doing lessons on Skype better than driving to the student's homes.

I have had students move away and I am still teaching them by Skype. We love it and each one looks forward to their lessons each week. There ARE some "issues" with delay but we all understand that it is a "problem" and we have learned to deal. I have been teaching for over 30 years and just recently took it out of my house. I love being in the large studio.