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Joyous Piano
Painless, Pleasant Piano Lessons
in your home!
Eastern Pennsylvania
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No, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to practice.
Sorry about that. 
There is no way to learn to play an instrument without practicing. Like athletics, instrumental playing is physical. Repetition is the only way that muscles learn.
So, what’s so joyous?
There are ways to include the excitement and beauty of music at every level, even the most elementary. It may be physical, but it should never be mechanical.
Even practicing can be joyous, once students have learned to focus on each repetition making the music easier, more accurate and more expressive, and be excited about their own improvement.
I teach with games that I've seen thousands of children enjoy over the years -- even challenging skills and concepts can be absorbed through fun.
Finally, lessons are joyous because I am a firm believer in kind, reward-based teaching, and enjoy the learning process so much that I still respond with enthusiasm to every incremement of improvement in students.
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Materials and Methods
Many of the materials needed will be provided by me, especially at the beginning. You will need to purchase a few books as we go along, either from me or directly from a music store. Music for study is chosen based on student preference and need. For beginners, I generally use Music Moves, supplemented with some Blues and humorous pieces, and songs the student has in their ear. I often compose pieces for my students, and help them to compose their own.
Method is custom-tailored to each student -- if a student can play at all, I start where they are and go from there. In general, for beginners, I spend some time working on the aural and physical skills involved in hearing and playing before adding the skill of reading.
To build music literacy, I prefer Music Learning Theory, which makes sure that students are thinking musically before pushing reading on them. However, if the student has begun learning literacy another way, I can support and continue that learning.
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About the teacher
After several years as a budding violinist (in the first group of American children being taught with the Suzuki method), I began piano study with jazz pianist Bernard Peiffer. I have also studied with Orlando Otey, Joseph Boudreau, Jung-Ja Kim (at the Boston Conservatory of Music) and Maria del Pico Taylor (at Temple University, with an emphasis on piano pedagogy).
My piano teaching experience began at age 16, when my high school music teacher recommended me to the parent of a child with Cerebral Palsy after local “real” teachers turned her down as a student. I have been teaching piano for 40 years, and continue to have a great interest in students with special needs.
After graduating from Temple University with a degree in Music Educaton, I taught elementary classroom music in the Massachusetts Public Schools (Andover and Lynnfield) for 20 years. I have also sung with The Tanglewood Festival Chorus and Boston Symphony Orchestra, and conducted a church choir for nine years.
Most important, I love to teach! Performing never even remotely held a candle to the enjoyment of helping someone else learn and grow -- it's just the way I'm built. Besides music, I teach people to train their dogs (www.joyousdog.com) -- I'm just addicted to teaching!
References are available.
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Scheduling and tuition:
I generally prefer to stick with the same day and time, once a week. Morning and weekend times are available, as well as afternoons and evenings. Rates are as follows:
Half-hour weekly lessons, at your home -- $30.00.
This breaks down to $25.00 for the lesson, and a $5.00 fee for coming to you. If there are two students in the same home taking lessons back-to-back, that would be $55.00; three students would be $80.00.
Hour weekly lessons, at your home -- $55.00
Group lessons, shorter lessons, or shared times for very young children in the home of a student already taking full-length lessons are possible, and can be designed to fit your needs -- please ask for details. I cannot come to a home only to teach one lesson shorter than a half-hour.
Payment for the remainder of the month is due at the conclusion of the first session. If, at that time, you have decided not to continue, only payment for the first lesson is due.
Payment in advance, for one month, is due at the first lesson of each month. As with any other program of learning, it is a tuition.
After the mid-point of each month, I email to ask students to check the calendar and plan ahead for the following month. If told at that point, I am comfortable with occasional skipped weeks for vacations, travel, and other events that you know will make lessons impossible.
But it is expected that students will have lessons most weeks out of each month. I will honor your decision about whether lessons should continue through summer vacation for children (although I do recommend them!).
Unless a student has suddenly taken ill, please give as much notice as possible of cancellations. During the course of a year, 4 cancellations of a planned lesson may be made, and will be made up without an extra charge if we can find a time within that week. Any further cancellations within a year will not be made up free of charge. Another paid session during that week can be added to make up for it, if both of our schedules allow.
I am open to flexibility in scheduling, as long as it doesn't encroach on another student's time. So, if a doctor's appointment or some other conflict would make a change useful for you for one or more lessons, just ask when we make our plan for the month..
Agreeing to use my services means you are agreeing to these terms.
If all of this fussing seems excessive to you, congratulations -- you're probably very organized, honest and responsible, and have never taught anything privately!
Sadly, many years of teaching have taught me that there are people who constantly cancel without wanting to pay, leaving me with no way to make up the lost income for that time.
More important, sparse lessons and frequent cancellations create an atmosphere of haphazardness that prevents learning and puts a lot of stress on students, especially children.
A week is already a long time for children to retain what they've learned without further guidance from a teacher. Having only 1-3 lessons most months leads to our needing to begin from square one, over and over, making kids feel like there is something wrong with them.
I've learned to make it all clear from the start, for the sake of both my pocketbook and my love of learning, and I apologize to anyone who didn't need it all laid out in such detail!
Please email for further details about anything.
Please email to schedule lessons.
Ellen Brown
practicepiano@yahoo.com
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Depending on our mutual schedules, I should be able to come to the following areas. If you don't see your town listed, please ask!
Ambler, Blue Bell, East Norriton, Flourtown, Fort Washington, Glenside, Gwynned, Lansdale, Maple Glen, Miquon, Montgomeryville, Norristown, North Wales, Oreland, Plymouth Meeting, Spring House, Worcester, Wyncote
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Links:
Need some instruction for the canine member of the family? Look here:
www.joyousdog.com
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The links below are for general information, and do not constitute a guarantee of anything on those sites.
uscity.net directory
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