Teaching both online and onsite piano lessons is an interesting challenge! For many years I was adamant about teaching only onsite piano lessons, but in the past year I’ve converted to ‘the other side’.
Simply put, online and onsite piano lessons are very different. But both offer great opportunities for learning piano!
Here, I’ll outline the pros and cons of each. That way, you can decide for yourself whether online or onsite piano lessons are for you.
The set up for an online piano lesson seems daunting at first, but it’s actually super simple. Students need:
That’s it!
Often, lessons are taught over Zoom, Skype or other video conferencing software. There are also new platforms like JamKazam and Rock Out Loud who creating specific tools for video music lessons.
For my online lessons, I currently use Zoom because it’s simple and familiar for most people to use. It’s not the greatest for lag or sound quality, but it is dead easy for anyone to get on a Zoom lesson. For me, easy is best!
1-on-1 piano lessons can be done online in the comfort of you own home. This is perfect for any student who can’t travel to lessons, or live regionally or far away from the piano studio. For parents, it saves the stress of arranging transport for kids. It’s also great for busy adults who might find travel a barrier to attending weekly lessons.
No matter how the device is set up, it’s quite hard to look at a screen and play at the same time. Therefore, I find this forces both teacher and student to listen harder to each other during the lesson. Over time, this develops awesome aural skills! This makes online lessons a great mode to learn improvisation and playing without sheet music.
Sure, you or your kids can talk purely with Bitmojis. But complex activities such as music lessons truly teach online communication skills. Online piano lessons offer a unique space for activities like recording and performing, which are harder skills than many realise!
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Slow internet days are ‘pull-out-your-hair’ levels of annoying. While I have found a few workarounds, and luckily for me, bad connections are few and far in-between. Still, a slow internet connection disrupts a music lesson in a tedious way.
Even with an overhead camera, it’s a bit hard to see anyone’s hands during a piano lesson. This is for a number of reasons, for example video-call quality, camera angle, camera quality, lag time, screen refresh rates, screen size, internet speed, video compression, video platform, and so on. However, this does force students to use their ears more. Admittedly this was hard at first, but I found that students adapted after a few weeks!
Without a teacher in the room to focus attention, students need to be independent learners for online piano lessons. Unfortunately, this makes 1-on-1 online lessons quite hard for very young students (4-5 years old). For this age group, I recommend onsite lessons.
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Most teachers have students attend onsite at a music studio, although a few offer face-to-face lessons in your home. Personally, I prefer lessons at a music studio so all students can play on a nice piano. Also, it’s nice to get out of the house!
Playing music with other people is super fun! The energy that comes from jamming with another person in the room is truly hard to replicate online. Mainly, the audio and visual limitations of online video calls make it hard for even seasoned musicians to play as a band or group. However, there are exciting live-streaming platforms developing that may make this easier in the future!
Onsite piano lessons provide a mixed learning environment. As a teacher, I can draw stuff, I can demonstrate it, I can sing it, I can wave my arms around, I can point to things, and I could do all of those things at once. Also, my students can do all of those things with me too. This multi-sensory engagement is the reason why I recommend onsite lessons for very young students (4-6 years old), rather than online.
For a first piano lesson, students don’t need anything except themselves. Over the years, I’ve had absolute beginners who were keen to play but unsure about the expense of buying an instrument. It was easy for them to gauge their own interest after the first piano lesson, and I could advise them on the best gear to get for their budget.
Not all students can travel to music studios for lessons. Plus, if you live regionally, your nearest piano studio could be ages away!
Online is a great way to go if weekly travel to lessons is not feasible. I recommend sticking to regular weekly lessons (online or onsite), as a predictable routine is better for progress than an ever-changing schedule.
The weekly juggling act of pickups and drop-offs is real. If this is a stressor for you, it’s worth considering online piano lessons.
In the ‘after’ times of 2020, our new “covid-norm” does pose some odd challenges to onsite piano lessons. There are extra requirements like hand sanitising and cleaning, and other logistics such as attendance limits on parents/guardians in the room.
Ready to try a piano lesson?
Honestly, both are great! So much so, I now offer online and onsite piano lessons because I see educational value in both. The benefits of either music teaching modes far outweigh any of the challenges they pose.
For students, I was amazed by how well players (both kids and adults) could adapt from onsite to online lessons, and vice versa. This makes me confident that both online and onsite piano lessons are awesome! The key really, is to just do it!
About the author
Michelle is a music teacher and writer who aspires to make music fun and accessible for anyone who wants to play. She’s been playing and teaching piano to kids and adults for over a decade. Michelle’s music writing has been published in The Music, EARMILK, and Cat Brain Land, and she is very fond of cheeseburgers.
Burger Chords is all about fun and contemporary piano lessons. Lessons are taught online and in-studio, with the aim to make music accessible for anyone who wants to give it a go! If you’re interested in piano but unsure where to start, you can begin right here. Find tips to play, ideas for contemporary music practice, or enroll for lessons. Let’s get started!
