“EB taught me many years ago, and beyond being just an amazing person, he truly inspired me to continue on a journey even long after we stopped practicing together. Many aspects of my musical growth can be traced back to something he said to me in one of my lessons, even if it didn't fully hit me until a decade later.”
FULL VERSION:
I’ve studied with world-class educators and performers in classical, jazz and contemporary music, earning a degree in jazz piano performance. I’ve taught piano for over 25 years and been a pro musician the entire time. Along the way, I’ve distilled the techniques, theory and applications I’ve learned and used down to a simple, flexible and powerful core method of instruction. There’s no fluff or frills. Learn what you need to create the music you love. Period.
I taught in-person primarily until COVID, with a little bit of online instruction before that for people who were open to it. When COVID hit, I switched to completely online. And when others started going back to teaching in-person…
I stayed Online-only.
WHY?? Here’s the thing: I discovered that, if the instructor knows what they’re doing, has the right tools and tech, and uses a system like mine, online instruction is far superior to in-person.
How is that possible? Easy.
- Instant recordings of any part of the lesson plan emailed to you after the lesson
- Instant delivery of any new charts, exercises, worksheets, app-exclusive content, etc that you can use immediately during the lesson
- NO CAR TIME!!
- No getting up/down/spin/leaning to see what’s going on! You see everything I’m doing on the piano clearly and concisely and can record it for later review, all while I can see everything you're playing AT THE SAME TIME
- No cancellations from Snow Days
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Numerous resources I can screen share with a student that would normally be impossible in-person
And these are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
Are there things that in-person is better for than online? YEP. Exactly ONE thing in my method.
And now, everything I teach can be done better online than in-person.
“BUT EB, with all of the online instruction we’ve had to endure over the last couple of years, I'm really concerned that my kiddo is burnt out on it and just won’t take to it the way they would with an in-person instructor. What do you think?”
This is, easily, the fear every single parent I chat with about online instruction has before signing up. Here’s what I tell them:
- That’s why I do a free consult for every new student. At the end, if you feel like it’s something that won’t work, no harm, no foul, and go find something that will. A lifetime of creating music is something you do NOT want to miss out on.
- Most online instruction over the last few years… with all due respect to our hardworking teachers, let’s face it, has been not the greatest. And I get why, and I cast zero stones. I can’t even begin to imagine trying to grind through the gears our educational system has due to the pandemic to navigate a way forward. It got messy.
I’m not them. I’d actually been teaching online since 2008 in addition to in-person. In addition to teaching online, I perform online 4-5x a week. Simply put, I’m extremely well-versed in communicating online with students and audiences compared to the average classroom educator. - A fellow teacher asked me the other day if I felt there were certain students who did better online than in-person and vice versa. My answer was simple: the students who did well in-person did just as well online, some even better. This led to the follow-up, “What makes a good student?”
- A student who wants to learn. I love piano! Teach me about piano all day. I’d love to learn guitar! Don’t waste your time trying to teach me the tuba. I’ll last a lesson… maybe. Or golf. UGH. Tennis? That’d be way cool.
- A family system who supports, encourages and reinforces the process of learning. Kids who have caregivers who print the lesson out and help the student by reminding them three times a week to practice? Those are the kids that do the best. Crazy, I know, right??? 😊
BOTTOM LINE - I am serious about bringing the best quality education I can to each and every student. If I believed in-person was the better method for instruction, I would’ve returned to it the first chance I got, or at the very least, developed a hybrid approach.
I didn’t. Online’s better. Let me prove it to you. Sign up for a free consult today. -EB