5 advantages to skype piano lessons

In this article I will share with you the top five benefits to taking piano lessons by skype compared to traditional lessons.  These are:-

1. Convenience and Comfort
2. Save yourself Time
3. Increased Student Motivation
4. Enhanced Learning
5. Save Yourself Money

Benefit #1 Convenience and Comfort

Taking skype lessons from the comfort of your own home is extremely convenient in so many ways. Below I list 10 benefits that relate directly to comfort and convenience.
First, as you’re already sitting at home on your own piano before your teacher calls you, you will have had the opportunity to warm up your fingers to get the blood flowing. So you can do scales and other technical exercises to warm up your fingers immediately before your teacher calls you on Skype.
A big advantage of participating online is that you can play from the comfort of your own home and most importantly from the comfort of your own piano. There is nothing more disconcerting than playing for the first time on an unfamiliar piano!  

Second, if you are an adventure seeker and living the life of a nomad, or simply travelling for work or are a student and move towns frequently, then Skype will make it possible for you to take piano lessons without the hassle of having to search for a new piano teacher in each town that you relocate to.

Third, if you live in a remote area where there are no piano teachers in your locality then skype lessons will give you the opportunity to take piano lesssons without having a make a long distance drive each week.

Fourth, one of favourite benefits for skype lessons is that you no longer need to go out in bad weather, snow, fog, storms, gails or heavy rain.

Fifth, if you are and your partner work different shifts and your schedules overlap so that there are times when neither you nor your partner is available to cover childcare at home in order to drive to the piano lesson, then a lesson by Skype from home becomes such a convenience.

Sixth, if you have multiple children and one of them is sick and needs to stay at home then a Skype piano lesson will mean you can stay at home and carry on with your lesson without having to miss your lesson. It saves you from having to cancel the lesson or to have to employ a nanny or other family member to stay home with your sick child. Naturally if your child is sick you will want to stay home yourself to keep an eye on them.

Seventh, if you (or your child) is tired or hungry, then you will not have the chore of having to drive to lessons when you are not feeling quite up for it, and instead you can stay at home, get something to eat before the lesson, and preserve your energy by staying indoors instead of having to go out and drive across town. In Skype lessons students will have had the opportunity to get something to eat or drink not having rushed straight to lessons from school or nursery. So they won’t be distracted by hunger pangs and will be better able to focus.

Eighth, if you or your child develops ill health or a chronic health issue that prevents them from leaving the house due to needing to stay in a controlled environment, then Skype lessons will allow you (or your child) to continue with piano lessons instead of having to give it up.

Ninth, if you have friends or family visiting from out of town then you do not need to get stressed wondering what you will do with them while you pop out for the piano lesson. Instead, you can stay at home for your skype lesson while your guests get on with their own thing in another part of the house, and the minute your lesson is over you’ll be free to carry on hosting them. Also, if your child has a cousin or friend come to stay from out of town, they will not need to wait quietly during the lesson. Instead they can get on with their own activity in another room and then as soon as the lesson is over they can continue with their play.

Tenth, as piano lessons generally take place just after school has finished, by taking skype lessons, you won’t need to get caught up in the stress of school runs or suffer the frustration of sitting in peak traffic. 

Eleventh, because you are sitting at home at your own piano, your teacher is able to see the height of your piano bench. This allows your teacher to check your position at the piano and suggest corrections to ensure that you are sitting with the correct posture. Practising good posture goes hand in hand with technique and is an important factor to ensure you maintain good health while playing the piano and do not develop bad habits that could later on lead to tension and pain.  

Benefit #2 Time Savings

With online piano lessons you will save yourself considerable time compared to the traditional in person lesson. And time as we know is a rare and precious commodity. To say that time is in short supply is an understatement! Below I list six benefits that relate directly to you saving time.

First, you do not need to waste your precious time sat in a car travelling to your lesson. By taking skype lessons this will cut down the total driving time required per week which adds up particularly when sitting in long queues and heavy traffic. 

Second, if you have multiple children you won’t have the added stress of juggling travelling to piano lessons with all of the other activities you have scheduled throughout the week for your other children. Taking a piano lesson by skype will cut out one trip for the week and will make your travelling and planning that much easier. 

Third, by taking skype lessons you will not need to waste your time sitting in the lobby waiting for the other student before yours to finish their lesson.

Fourth, by taking skype lessons it will save time for your other children, as they will not be required to sit waiting quietly during the lesson as they would do in a traditional lesson. Instead they could be at home in another room getting on with their own homework therefore saving them time.

Fifth, if your child is taking skype piano lessons then (after the initial month when you would be required to sit in the same room during your child’s lesson), you could be in another room in the house, supervising your other children’s homework, getting dinner ready in the kitchen etcetera.

Sixth, because we have two pianos, yours at your home, and mine at my home, we are both sitting on a piano each. This ultimately means that we will save some time during the lesson, as you would not be required to stand up and move along the piano when your teacher sits down to play to demonstrate parts. Over time this all adds up, and ultimately will result in us being able to cover more material within the lesson time.

Benefit #3 Increased Student MotivationThrough skype and online resources the student is often more motivated. 

First, to successfully study distance learning, the student needs to be self motivated and independent as they proactively login to the membership site to access the training videos they watch before lessons. 

​Second, after the lesson has finished, because the student is already sitting at their piano it just may help them to stay and practise. This will help to motivate the student to do their practise. By fitting more practise in, the student will see faster progress and this noticeable improvement will result in student satisfaction and the motivation to keep going.

Third, because skype lessons are privately recorded and the link is emailed to the parent, the whole family, whether it is the parent, aunt, nana or family friends can follow the progress of the child and share in the learning process. This process provides transparency and allows the parents to assess whether they believe their money spent on lessons is worthwhile and well spent. By allowing the family to get more involved they can better show an appreciation in the efforts of the student. The family can help the student to practise playing in front of other people by inviting friends and family over to their house for impromptu concerts and the compliments and support of loved ones will help to build up the student’s confidence and motivation to keep playing.

Fourth, as students of our Music School, you will also benefit from coming together on a global scale to perform in our informal and friendly bi-annual student concerts. You and your family members are invited to attend our concerts held in Derby UK and Rotorua NZ in person or online. If you are attending online you will be projected onto our large projection screen so that you appear lifesize as you perform your piece of music to our audience via Skype. Learning to play the piano in a group is both fun and very educational! The perfect opportunity for you to excel at learning how to play the piano.

Benefit #4 Enhanced Learning

In a Skype piano lesson, it’s a lot easier to be able to become better at playing the piano in a shorter time frame than it is in a standard traditional piano lesson for many reasons. You benefit from enhanced learning allowing increased retention and speedier progress within the same time period.
Skype piano lessons coupled with the music resources on Letts Music School’s student membership site encompasses a wider range of learning styles, auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Students benefit from the one to one tuition tailored to them over Skype, and lessons are recorded for review during the week. With traditional lessons it is all too easy to forget what the teacher had shown you in the previous lesson. Forgetfulness is no longer an issue when you have the video recording of the Skype lesson at hand.

It is easier to focus and improve upon your technique when learning with skype lessons. Instead of having to stand up from the piano when your teacher demonstrates something to you where you may not see it from the angle you’ve now been able to watch it clearly over Skype and you can straight away copy what your teacher has just shown you.

Students are encouraged to video themselves as they practise during the week and upload it to a private youtube account to send the link to the teacher 24 hours before the next lesson. This way the teacher can review the progress to ensure they cover any corrections that need to be made during the next lesson. This helps to speed up the progress of the student and makes better use of lesson time so that more content is covered in the lesson time.

Students get complimentary access to our membership site so in addition to personal tuition they also get free access to all of our online courses, and lesson handouts, lesson video recordings, MP3 audio downloads and pre-recorded course videos.

All this means that the students can progress at a faster speed than they would have done with traditional lessons.

Benefit #5 Financial Benefits
By taking skype lessons you will save money on the cost of fuel travelling to and from lessons, and over the years this will mount up to a considerable saving.
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