The Complete Piano Path-Level 1 (for advancing beginners)

The deadline to join the course is December 29th, 2022. After that, the course will be closed until  mid-2023.

One of the biggest challenges piano students have is lack of focus.  Piano playing can seem like a never-ending project.

I wanted to keep this course focused and treat it like a classroom.  Think of it like a couple of semesters at college. Classes begin and then registration is closed. There is a start and finish.

You’ll have weekly lessons and assignments with clear objectives. Keeping things closed allows students to bond and follow a consistent rhythm.

Imagine how distracting it would be if you were in class and a new student kept showing up every day. 🙂

Life happens.  You can get sick, busy, and distracted. It’s understandable.

Even if you miss a week, you’ll still have access to all the lessons and my feedback. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t practice one week’s piece much – get back on the bandwagon when you can, and you can always go back to these pieces once the course is finished, or on easier weeks.

I will aim to give feedback to as many people as I can during our weekly live feedback sessions, which run for around 1 hour, but realistically I might not be able to review your specific submission every week (especially in the first month or two). 

In the current group, I typically give feedback to 10-15 people each week, often all of the submissions I receive.

It will depend on the number of students submitting and who has not received any feedback in a while.

But I promise you will still benefit from the feedback session even if I don’t review your specific submission.

A lot of students have similar challenges.  So you might get your questions answered even if you don’t get direct feedback.

You’ll get value out of hearing my feedback for other people, since everyone is working on the same pieces and lesson concepts together.

I’ve designed this course for the advancing beginner. If you’ve been playing for a year, you’ll likely be ready to join CPP-1.

Have a look at the course checklist and sample piece from Lesson 9 provided above to determine if this course would be a good fit for you.

You should note that I aim to challenge you and expect consistent practice in order to keep up with the group.

That’s a tough one to tell.  You can look at the lesson checklist I created and see how strongly you feel you understand these concepts.

I would also suggest you gauge how easy you find the Piano Adventures 3a Lesson book – my assignments tend to be slightly more difficult than method book material.

Have a look at the Lesson 9 piece – if you could learn this well in a week or less, the course might be too easy for you.

Worst case is you sign up and realize the course is too easy (or hard) for you. In that case, you can ask for a full refund within 14 days.

This is still a beginner-stage course – intermediate piano playing doesn’t begin until Level 3. If you’re an intermediate student, this course might not be for you (unless you’re looking to review the beginner stage to fill in gaps in your knowledge).

If you’re investing in piano lessons, it’s also important to invest in materials to use when you’re playing piano! I provide the bulk of materials (pieces, sight reading, technique and lessons) free, but observing copyright is important to me. Without at least a couple of recommended books, you won’t be able to participate in each weekly lesson (though you’ll still be able to follow along with the lesson videos)

In the Level 1 class, some pieces I teach are contemporary and must be purchased for the lesson. I provide sheet music for classical music and all technique and sight-reading exercises. I have a clear and detailed book list for the course, and you can get by with a minimum of 2 books to go along with this class, though I’d recommend 3-4. Several options are available as digital downloads, though one important book I love teaching from currently only exists in hard copy format.