$5 is VERY CHEAP!!!
Opps! I was starting to type my message and I must have hit the wrong button and it went ahead and posted it. I wasn't finished.
$5 is too cheap. You should charge at least $10-15 a lesson. I know around here lessons are around $15-$30/wk for 1/2 hr. I've know I've heard that in some areas (w/ very prominent piano teachers) lessons can be up to $50/lesson.
I've never paid for formal lessons, I mostly taught myself. When I was a kid, I taught myself to play keyboards for several yrs. I started out w/ a Casio ROM keyboard and alphabet stickers. I also had ROM cartridges and songbooks that came w/ the cartridges. The songbooks are similiar to the Hal Leonard EZ Play Today Series, which is in lead sheet format. It just has the melody line (treble clef), and letters on the notes. By the time I got to high school, I already knew how to play w/ my RH but not the left, so I went ahead and took a beginner piano class in school (which was FREE). We used book 1 of the Bastien Older Beginner Course. I wanted to take a 2nd yr, but my school was so small and there wasn't enough students interested to take a 2nd yr class, so I worked on the 2nd book on my own. I became very good at reading easy piano music or sheet music to a song that I know.
I played for several yrs but got away from it. 3 yrs ago, I got back into playing. I have an aunt (her son, my cousin, is a Pastor of a small country church), that asked me over 3 yrs ago if I was still playing. I told her no. She said that my cousin (another cousin, her niece), who took several yrs of lessons and had played for her church, wasn't playing anymore. She said that she really believed that I had my late granny's gift (anointing) to play the piano (She played many yrs for her church but I never got to hear her play, she had to give it up when she got old). That stuck w/ me and the Lord kept reminding of it. I thought about it but I thought I'd never get to the level I wanted (ie be able to play advanced stuff like shouting music and preacher chords).
It was in Nov. of that yr that I was in my room one day and I noticed my old keyboard in a corner. I forgot that I had one w/ full size keys. I did have a piano too, but I had too much stuff to get to it, which is one reason I got away from it, plus not being home much during the day, and thinking I'd never get past playing easy piano stuff. I decided to get my keyboard out and go thru my old piano books and practice and learn some songs for Christmas. To my surprise, I was able to play a lot of the songs the first time thru, esp. the very easy piano sheet music.
After the holidays, I ran into someone and I told them I was trying to learn to play the piano again. They said it's easy, you just learn your chords, I thought "yeah right, playing by chords is just for guitar players". I also went to a concert of a man I knew yrs ago that was one of the best piano players in my area. He could play Great Balls Of Fire as good as Jerry Lee Lewis. I found out that he doesn't play by sheet music but completely by ear. He taught himself to play. I also saw a commercial on TV for an ISP, and they showed someone looking up guitar lessons on the internet. I decided to look online to see if I could find some sheetmusic/books that could teach me how to play gospel music (ie upbeat praise and shouting music). I found Jermaine's site and LGM. To my surprise, you can teach yourself to play by ear and to improvise. I learned a lot from Jermaine's free lessons and newsletters and after a few months was able to get the book. Like I said, it's helped me more than anything. It helped me to learn all my chords and music theory (even a lot of stuff I didn't learn in choir class). After that, I knew I had to get all his other products as well, which are the only lessons I've ever had to pay for, which by the hr are a whole lot cheaper than a teacher.
Also, right after I found his site, I also bought a couple of worship fake books and a chord book and was able to put into practice what I was learning from Jermaine, harmonizing melodies w/ chords in RH and bass notes in the LH. That helped me a lot too. I got a really good chord book called "Progressive Keyboard Chords". It comes w/ a CD and it gives you all kinds of chords, sample chord progressions, the Circle Of Fifths, chord formulas, and some music theory. I used that book a lot when I first started (esp before I got Jermaine's book) but after I got Jermaine's book, I was able to get a complete understanding of all the music theory I needed. I was able to quickly "know" ALL my basic chords by several shortcuts (ie numbers and intervals) and to play songs in different keys.
Also, joining the praise team over a yr ago, has helped me more than anything to put into practice what I've learned from Jermaine. I knew how to play by fakebooks but not the first thing about playing by chord charts. My leader (lead keys) really didn't give me any pointers, except to play piano on the fast songs and to hold down strings or piano/strings w/ the chords on the slow songs. On the fast songs, I just played the chords to the rhythm he's playing them to and use my inversions to make it easier to play progressions. I realized that we're just playing chords to the rhythm and it sounded good as a band. Being on a modern/contemporary worship team, I found it easier to play by chords, even easier than playing by fake books, plus learning the songs a lot faster (even by memory).
Now, I realise that anyone can learn and it's true, if you know your chords, you can play. If you know your chords and music theory you can learn. So, if I was teaching lessons, I'd make sure that students learn their music theory and chords, esp. the building blocks, how you progress from notes to scales, scales to forming chords, and to chord progresions. Also make sure they learn the number system and the Circle of Fifths.
Also, check out this excellent chart on SisterT's site. I copied it into a Word doc (to fit it on one pg) and I have it in the very front page of my binder I use for church:
http://www.earnestandroline.com/Music/Lessons/scalesfingering.htmlAlso, this great Circle Of Fifths chart. I found it on photobucket, but it's the same as the one in one of my piano books (I think the Progressive Keyboard Chords book):
http://zone.hearandplay.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=3354Sorry to be so long. That's how I learned. Maybe my testimony can help you decide how to teach others to learn.
God bless!
Tammy
