I'm reflecting on 4 years of being a piano coach online, how I NEVER wanted to be a piano teacher and what I’ve learned about today's piano students (that shocked me!).
Reflecting on 4 years of Piano Picnic has made me face facts - I would not be a piano teacher at all if I hadn't started this business!
Why didn't you want to be a piano teacher?
Despite my parents suggesting it as a career path, I never wanted to be a piano teacher. I wanted to be a musician the most - I wanted a career in music publishing but also didn’t think that would really happen given that New Zealand isn’t known for it’s printed music publishing houses!
But I went and did a music degree anyway and discovered that music publishing was probably my best bet – which I did for 10 years.
What is it that made you change your mind?
When I moved back to New Zealand after living in London for 7 years, I’d had enough of working in office buildings and I was tired of still contributing to the same traditional piano methods & sheet music (and dare I say, classical snobbery!) that had been prevalent for so long.
I thought that the best job for me would be helping other people to find joy in playing the piano creatively and wondered if there was anyone out there who would even want to learn what I had to teach!
Now I’m excited every day that I get to coach pianists into their creativity and had to admit to my parents that they were right!
what has surprised you along the way?
Piano students today WANT creativity, vibrancy, exploration, adventure & the online landscape of readily available basic training only makes them more shrewd for seeking out training that SUITS THEM.
I’m shocked and impressed that piano students today know what they want to learn and are sick of settling for tired teaching methods that don’t align with their preferences or learning style.
The pianists that find Piano Picnic do so because they are hungry for creative skills and they want creative training to suit that.
How has it changed you?
Here’s a list of things I do now with confidence that I couldn’t before:
Talk live on camera, create video courses from scratch, graphic design, social media, online marketing, email campaigns, website design, copywriting, customer service, accounts!
AND more than all of that, I’ve become better at the piano and more confident as a teacher as I go along.
I’ve also made a ton of incredible friends both with the wonderful students I get to serve and interact with and the industry peers who’ve supported me from the get go.
Thank you for coming on this journey because Piano Picnic wouldn’t be the same without you!
Find out about how you can join the Creative Pianist membership today!
Learning something new isn’t easy and even with an enthusiastic and encouraging teacher like myself, you still need to foster a decent amount of inner-motivation in order to put in the effort required to achieve your piano goals.
Are you enjoying what you’re playing? Are you getting that *𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖈* feeling that we all chase in our musical journey? Here’s how to purposefully find that feeling for yourself.
This is a much-requested topic from students who know how to play chords and scales, but struggle to sound confident and convincing. Discover the secrets to sounding cool, calm & collected gathered from 25+ years of performing experience!
What is meditative piano? Learn what it is, where it came from, what it sounds like and why it’s the perfect way to begin improvising on piano!
Discover how yoga can benefit your body as a pianist & performer through prep, maintenance and recovery routines.
Playing rhythms is particularly difficult for pianists because we often play different rhythms in each hand! These exercises will help ANY musician (not just pianists) to feel rhythm internally and play as ONE cohesive rhythm, but with two limbs. [suitable for beginners and non-music readers!]
When you first decided to learn piano you probably didn't imagine you'd need to learn rhythmic skills, but once you get into creative playing that's exactly what you need to develop! So why is it so difficult to get our hands playing different things?
Revealing the benefits & steps to sticking with learning your scales to get your creative piano skills to the next level!
Feeling lost in the jungle of piano learning? This one is for you. In this free training I answer that I get asked all the time from beginner, intermediate & advanced pianists.
Discover the correct technique for playing scales with minimum strain and maximum warmup & exercise value!
Just the word 'scales' conjures up memories of dry, boring, regimented exercises - on this journey toward becoming a creative pianist, you might have imagined we'd be leaving scales in the dust, right? In this article you'll discover how creative pianists can use scales to their advantage!
Learn how to play the main riff from the classic 80s rock song ‘Africa’ by Toto on the piano in just a few minutes!
If you're in the market for a digital piano, these terms will definitely come up - what's the difference between weighted keys, semi-weighted keys, hammer action & graded hammer action? And which one is more desirable?
The one mantra that has FOUR different meanings that you can repeat to yourself whenever you lack the motivation to practise at the piano.
There comes a point in any creative pianists life where they want to go BEYOND the basic triads and explore the satisfying texture of a CRUNCHY CHORD! But where do you start? Here.
Learn how to play the main riff from the Mandalorian theme tune on piano! Carefully arranged for solo piano (from the original orchestral work) by Ruth Power of Piano Picnic. This casual tutorial will get you showing-off for all your Star-Wars obsessed friends!
Learn what makes the Piano Picnic style of learning different to the rest. If you haven’t done a course with me yet, this is the perfect introduction to what to expect, who’s suited to my courses, and the ethos behind my unique teaching style!
Want to start playing the blues on the piano just for fun? This irresistibly fun & quick-fire tutorial will get you jamming the blues immediately!
Today I’m going to show you my favourite finger exercise - it’s starts very simply and gets progressively more difficult each time you go up a level.
Free stuff! We love it! I’m something of a serial bargain hunter myself, but some things are just not a good idea to get for free: tattoos, candy from strangers and… learning piano.
I'm reflecting on 4 years of being a piano coach online, how I NEVER wanted to be a piano teacher and what I’ve learned about today's piano students (that shocked me!).
Learning piano is fun! It’s also challenging and rewarding, a form of expression and at times a source of frustration. But what we gain from learning piano goes far beyond the direct results we notice in the moment…
If you've been disappointed with traditional piano methods you're not alone. Here's why I believe the traditional methods of the past no longer fit today's amateur pianists.
In these strange times, many of us may be feeling like we have more time but less motivation to play the piano. Here are 5 tips to help you continue to progress even when you don’t feel like it.
Playing one thing and singing another, whether melodically or rhythmically different was such a challenge while I was learning piano! My only approach was to learn the piano piece so well that I didn’t have to spare it a thought, allowing me to focus all my attention on trying to sing properly. But there are other ways to improve at accompanying yourself singing…
Everyone knows they need to practice in order to improve their piano-playing ability, but a vast majority of piano students don’t quite know what to do, for how long they need to do it, and exactly what good it does!
In this post you’ll discover the science behind practice: how our brain responds to ‘quality repetition’ and how you can get the most out of your time.
Especially for the digital pianists, we start by looking at what the digital piano is made of, it’s many functions and what the buttons mean. Then you’ll discover exactly what you need to plug in and where.
Getting an acoustic piano from one place to another is something better left to the professionals. But for the brave ones determined to DIY this blog will show you what to expect.
The easy decision to make is the one to get yourself a piano. It’s kind of hard to learn without it, right? The difficult decision is which type of piano to get and after that, which brand? Then after that, which model? It can seem like a complicated test you have to pass to enter the piano world, but you need not feel confused any longer. This guide will make it crystal clear.
With so many pianists starting their journey in childhood, it can feel like as adult beginners that we’ve missed the boat already. Is learning something new best left to the young? I talk to one of my students, Mike Clarke–a retired engineer in Australia–about his experience.