Starting Piano Lessons at the SE22 Piano School 2018/2019

Nb. This is an Archive Post containing out of date information.

We are delighted that you are considering starting piano lessons at the SE22 Piano School. We have a fantastic team of teachers that offer you a weekly lesson plus lots of amazing performance opportunities, recitals and school trips. Before you start lessons, please read through this information to decide if we are the right piano school for you.

Our Philosophy: We are the premier private piano teaching studio in South London and we seek to collaborate with pianists to help them develop a passion for music on their lifelong journey of learning the piano. We are looking for dedicated, enthusiastic pianists that want to learn because they are intrigued and inspired by the piano. Graded exams are optional and we do not teach a rigid curriculum where our students only study graded exam pieces and nothing else. We teach the solid foundation of good piano technique, playing with expression and sensitivity and finding the music that resonates with you. We can also assist with Music Scholarship preparation.

Quick Links: Fees | Terms & Conditions | Vacancies

1. • Do you have enough time to practise?
     Learning piano requires enough time to practise, ideally every day, but at least three times a week when starting. There will often be one page of theory homework too. If you are very, very busy with lots of extra-curricular activities, you may find it hard to fit enough time to practise. Without a regular schedule for practising, it will be difficult to make progress as the piano requires lots of time and patience. If it was easy, everyone would be able to do it! Students that wish to start graded exams must be able to demonstrate and effective practising schedule before the teacher will consider starting the exam system. Exams are optional and there is no requirement to follow this system.
2. • Do you have an instrument?
     In order to practise, you will need a piano! Here is our recommended starter digital piano pack. You can view our other options for Digital Pianos for Beginners.

• Can you commit to a minimum of a full academic year of lessons?
  After the half-term trial, all students are enrolled for the remainder of the academic year. Learning for an academic year allows you to participate in all the great events and performance opportunities that we offer to our students. It also gives you the chance to start working towards some graded exams if you’d like to do that. In line with other private schools in the area, one term’s written notice is required to terminate lessons. If you know that you will be moving house soon or that you are travelling a long way to get to lessons and you are looking around for a teacher nearer to your home, then we advise looking for a more convenient short-term option. We are only able to enrol students that are able to commit to lessons over the full academic year. You may choose to discontinue lessons after the half-term trial without any notice period, but if you would like to continue, you will register for the remainder of the academic year. You may also find it more convenient to learn at school so please investigate that option before engaging one of our tutors. We use the Incorporated Society of Musicians to enforce the notice period on our behalf.
• Please pay your bill on time!
  With nearly 100 students on the register, we require all students to take note of the half-termly payment dates and set up a bank transfer so that the payment arrives on time (5pm on the day of the deadline). As I’m sure you can appreciate, chasing late payments takes up a considerable amount of time and causes a delay to our bookkeeping process so have a look at the timetable below and ensure you meet the payment deadlines. Late payment of your invoice after the 2nd occurrence may result in forfeiture of your lesson time. Repeated late payment of bills may result in termination of lessons. Please be mindful that we have a waiting list for prime time slots and will not continue to hold a space open for students that cause excessive admin to the school. We use the Incorporated Society of Musicians to collect late payments.
• Terms and Conditions for Piano Lessons
  We give you a copy of the terms and conditions and a timetable when you first enquire by email about starting lessons. You then return a signed copy to your teacher at the first lesson and keep one copy for your records. This is your agreement with the SE22 Piano School Ltd. We ask you to read it carefully before signing and returning to us. The document is located here: [View Registration Form
  
• Are you available at the same time each week?
  Your weekly lesson time is your dedicated slot in a very busy teaching timetable at our music studio. If you cannot attend, we are unable to swap, reschedule or refund your lesson so please ensure you only pick a time that is convenient for you on a regular basis. Our teachers only teach on specific days of the week and their students come one after the other so there are no spare slots in their schedule to fit in other students. Some of the teachers travel a long way across London to give you the lesson so they cannot incur additional travel time and expense coming on a day that they are not scheduled to teach any other students. Additionally, the amount of admin caused when lesson reschedules are requested caused an unnecessary burden on the Head Teacher and emails requesting a swap will be referred to the following link: [More Information]

Books for Young Beginners
Please order these books online and bring to your first lesson. Also bring an A5 notebook for your teacher to write down your weekly homework.

Recommended digital pianos for beginner to advanced pianists

Nb: New timetable released in September 2018.