Hello,
I'm looking for suggestions on piano lessons for my 6 1/2 yo in Ashland or surrounding towns. He's never played before and we do not have a piano in our home.
Thank you.
Thank you everyone! All of your suggestions were very helpful. I do believe we will be going with the Holliston School of Performing Arts - the owner was super friendly, informative, personable and passionate about the arts. I like that they have a trial period to make sure the child is truly interested and they match up personalities with instructors as best as possible. Not having a piano initially is no problem since we do have a keyboard that can be used for practice. If this is something he sticks with we can look into a used/refurbished piano. I did happen to come across Marsha Starikov on my own and had that impression of her just from a few minutes of conversation so she was scratched off right away! Thank you again - I love this site!
Kim,
If you do not have a piano in your home, how will your son practice what he's learned at a lesson?
My suggestion is to wait until you buy or lease a piano for the home, then ask at the piano store about piano lessons.
Many stores provide 6 or 8 free lessons with the purchase or lease.
I live in Ashland too and asked a friend who takes piano lessons locally, as does her daughter. Here's what she had to say:
My teacher's name is Christopher Pouliot. I would highly recommend him over Marsha Starikov (on Blue Jay.) She was quite strict and felt everyone should appreciate her rigorous plans. She was not very compromising on her techniques and thus lost us as her students because she didn't want to listen to how she came across to her students. Since May of this year, Mr. Christopher has been our teacher. He has expectations that we will practice though does not expect his students' work to be perfection. He is quite respectful of his students and wants to help them play the type of music that interests them, not just classical. Not having a piano is definitely a negative for Mrs. Starikov... I don't know about Mr. Pouliot. I also don't know how many students he wants. In any event, his number is ###-###-####.
Good luck!
Hi Kim,
I teach piano in Ashland, out of our home. 6 1/2 is a great age to start lessons, unfortunately, it would be very difficult for your son to really feel comfortable and proud about what he is learning if he has no way to practice. I strongly urge you to find a way to at least get a keyboard with weighted action (keys that give resistance just like an accoustic instrument would). He will need to practice at least 5 time per week to really get anything out of the lessons.
Best of luck with your endeavor.
C. Noel
Hi! I teach piano in the Boston area and I have created a section on my website to help parents with all the nuts and bolts of getting their children started with piano lessons. There is a section on how to find the right teacher, suggestions for how to interview prospective teachers, information on pianos and technicians as well as books and CDs that you and your child can enjoy together. http://www.anythingpiano.com/parents.html
Hope the information is helpful. If there is anything that is not there that would be helpful, please let me know. I'd be glad to help and if it seems like it could be helpful to others, I may consider adding it to the site. Good luck!!
Hi Kim,
We have used (and really like) Dean Arvidson. He lives off of Winter St. in Framingham (pretty close to Ashland). His # is: ###-###-####. He's very nice, a talented pianist, and is good with kids.
Feel free to tell him that I recommended him.
Good luck,
C. Moore
Hi Kim,
Has your son shown an interest in learning to play the piano? If he hasn't had any exposure yet but you'd like to see if he likes it, you could buy him a keyboard and let him play with that.
If you're sure you'd like him to start lessons, the only music store I know of is The Music Nook in Milford. They sell and rent plenty of instruments; I don't know about pianos. Or maybe he can go to practice there daily for a fee if you can't or don't want to have a piano in your home. They can probably recommend a great teacher too.
I'm speculating on these options; I don't know if The Music Nook offers them. But my son leased a violin through them last year and I can say that their staff is very friendly and knowledgable. Even though many of the staff are young (high-school age kids) they are enthusiastic and do know a lot. And the violin instructor is the same woman that teaches in the Milford Public School system, so she's very accomplished. It may well be the same for any piano offerings, if they have them.
Good luck!
The Holliston School for the performing Arts offers piano lessons and friends of mine a quite happy.
http://www.hollistonschoolfortheperformingarts.com/music.php
You do have to figure out how he'll practise what he learns. I would call the school and ask what they would suggest.
H.
