Have you ever said, “I want to learn piano,” but can’t dedicate the time to signing up for classes on someone else’s schedule? There are many reasons to prefer learning piano at home rather than signing up for a class, such as not wanting to spend time or money on driving or being more accustomed to learning in private. If you are among those seeking a simple way to learn piano at home, there are two options: hire an in-person teacher or take an online piano course (which is a trending way of learning).

For those asking, “Is it possible to learn piano online,” following are the pros and cons of each approach:

In-person

Pros

By taking lessons with an in-person instructor, you will receive real-time responses, which means the teacher will give immediate feedback on what you are doing, answer your questions right away and correct your mistakes.

Understanding how to perform techniques is more straightforward when watching the instructor’s performance.

Cons

The price is high. Hiring a teacher for piano lessons will cost you anywhere between $30 and $70 an hour, depending on your location and your desired level of expertise. Assuming that you usually take one hour of lessons per week, this is equivalent to an expense of $2,400 to $12,000 per year. Put simply, it’s not too far a reach to say that private piano lessons are only for wealthy people.

Lack of flexibility. Piano teachers rarely work weekends and, obviously, few say “Yes” to a student only able to learn after 10 p.m. Even if you choose to give up a lunch break each week or rearrange your schedule to accommodate classes, there are no guarantees the teacher is also available at that time – you are not the only student!

You don’t get to choose the music.

Online Courses

Pros

With Internet lessons, you can learn anytime, anywhere you want – literally. Weekdays or weekend, early morning or midnight, living room or bedroom – you decide. Click here for more. 

Focus on specific parts of exercises and replay the video as needed. If you can’t understand something, just play the part over and over until you have a firm grasp of it. This feature makes taking an online course the easy way to learn piano. 

On the other hand, you can ask the teacher for clarification or an answer, but after the third time of receiving an explanation, it would be a little … awkward to ask for the fourth time. Besides, the idea of requesting the instructor to repeat the previous lesson is expensive, while you can replay online lessons as many times as you want.

Cons

There is no physical interaction or real-time feedback. An in-person instructor can physically adjust you if needed, answer questions promptly, point out mistakes immediately, and so on.

You might be distracted by emails, social media, etc. It’s hard to resist the urge.

The easy way for learning piano is the way that works best for you. It’s not about choosing online piano lessons vs in person. It’s about choosing the right way for your situation and budget.

If you are a pianist who can only spend time learning at the end of the day or have a limited budget, taking an online course is the number one option for learning how to play the piano. If you are the type of student that can only learn successfully with physical interaction, then hiring a teacher is, probably, what you should do. No matter which option you choose, you can always change if deciding the other alternative is better.

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