In-Home & Online Piano Lessons
CARLSBAD . ENCINITAS . RANCHO SANTA FE . DEL MAR
SOLANA BEACH . SAN MARCOS
In-Home Piano Lessons
Are you ready to ignite your passion for music and unleash your inner musician?
Piano lessons are a great way to develop your musical skills, improve your focus and concentration, boost your self-confidence, and reduce stress. Piano students will achieve a pleasing sound much sooner than Saxophone or Guitar Students, due to the finger-friendly layout of the Piano. Students as young as 3 years old can learn to play the Piano.
In-Home Piano lessons allow students to learn in a comfortable low-stress environment on the Piano they use every day. Parents love In-Home Piano lessons also! Say goodbye to traffic, gas prices, and waiting rooms with the convenience of Piano Lessons in your home. Numerous studies available show children who play an instrument, score higher on both standard and spatial cognitive development tests alike. There are also findings that show that students who play Piano, in particular, scored higher in math, especially on problems dealing with ratios and fractions.
Don’t wait any longer, invest in yourself and sign up now to start your musical journey!
Piano Lessons Curriculum
- Piano Students make faster progress then Violin or Guitar students. While the Piano is large and complex, notes are made by simply pressing the correct key. Students very quickly learn to play simple melodies with their right hand.
- Sight Reading and Piano playing are learned together from the start. If you are interested in learning to read Stave Music, Piano is a great choice.
- The piano has some well-known method books for students to work through with their instructor. Most students will choose a method book that suits their interests, your instructor will supplement the method book with Fine Tune Academy Worksheets and Sheet Music for specific songs.
- Early Piano lessons are spent learning fun, simple songs designed to build strength and introduce Musical Concepts.
- While all students will learn the essentials of technique and theory they are free to choose a musical direction that suits their taste. All students are encouraged to develop their own style and repertoire.
- We offer many opportunities for our students to meet and play together including Shows, Workshops and Field Trips.
- Early Piano lessons are spent learning fun, simple songs designed to build strength and introduce Musical Concepts.
- While all students will learn the essentials of technique and theory they are free to choose a musical direction that suits their taste. All students are encouraged to develop their own style and repertoire.
- We offer many opportunities for our students to meet and play together including Shows, Workshops and Field Trips.
Piano Accessories
Most of these items are in the $10-$60 range. Stool, Stand, Sheet Music, Music Stand, Metronome, Batteries, Sustain Pedal, Case/Cover, Concert Tickets.
Many people choose from either the Faber “Piano Adventures” Series or an Alfred’s “All in one Course”. There are many choices, your Fine Tune Instructor can guide you based on your musical taste. The Fine Tune Academy “Worksheets” use a combination of pictures & color coding to help students understand the material easily.
Piano – The King Of Instruments
No other instrument has spanned so many decades or so many genres. As respected in the Concert Hall as it is at a Rock Concert, Piano has a wealth of history and music. Its broad range and flexibility make the Piano especially popular with Composers and Singers. Sheet music for Piano is easily available in every genre. Almost every song written has a version available for Piano.
Piano requires physical and mental dexterity, great for growing minds and keeping mature minds sharp. Sitting down to play the piano for even a few moments on a busy day can help the mind refocus. Music itself can reduce anxiety and stress.
Piano Students learn to read music early on. Because of the Pianos range, Pianist’s learn to read both Bass and Treble Clef. Piano allows you to “See” music theory in the way the Piano Keys are arranged. This makes Piano Lessons a great start for any musician.
For Younger Students
The smaller, lighter keys on some Electronic Keyboards can be a help to smaller hands. Some models have keys that light up to accelerate the learning process.
Benefits of Learning Piano
RANGE
- A single piano has the ability to play 88 different pitches. Thats 7 and 1/4 Octaves!
- Other popular instruments have a much smaller range of notes available.
- Guitar 4 Octaves
- Violin almost 4 Octaves
- Saxophone 21/2 Octaves
- Compare that to the human voice…
- Maria Carey 5 Octaves
- Paul McCartney 4 1/2 Octaves
- Justin Beiber 3 Octaves
FLEXIBILITY
- A Pianist can also play up to 10 notes at a time.
- Having so many notes available to both hands allows Piano to play both Melody and Harmony at the same time.
- Pianos are able to play their own accompaniment. Perfect for Solo Performance and Composition.
- No other instrument comes close to this kind of flexibility.
- Human Voice 1 Note at a time
- Guitar 6 Notes at a time
- Saxophone 1 Note at a time.
Electric Piano’s, Keyboards, Digital Piano’s, Synth’s, Midi Controllers
- Electric Piano’s and Synthesizer’s open the door to many creative possibilities including sounding like other instruments, note bending, sequencing, and recording.
- Piano keyboards are the perfect interface for entering real-time notes or midi information into a Computer/DAW.
Piano Buyers Guide
The piano is such a popular instrument that there are many choices for every budget. As you pay more money you get higher build quality and more features.
Most people start with a Digital Keyboard of some sort. Either a Digital Piano or a Synthesizer.
THE KEYS
If you intend on learning traditional Piano, it recommended that you get something with 88 Keys that has a “Weighted Action”
The Weighted-Action makes the keys feel heavy, more like a real Piano.
Many Keyboards offer “Hammer Action” or “Semi Weighted Action”. If you rarely plan on playing a real Piano and you like the feel of a particular keyboard you should go with what feels comfortable. Different brands have a different feel in the Keys.
THE SOUNDS
Digital Pianos all use microchips to produce their sound. Manufacturers put their newest and best technology’s in their flagship models.
A $200 Yamaha Digital Piano set on “GRAND PIANO” will sound less good than a $2000 Yamaha Digital Piano set on “GRAND PIANO”. The more expensive model has a better processor allowing more depth and character in the sound.
USB keyboards do not have any sounds built in. USB Keyboards are used to control software on a computer. Garageband is a common home recording software, you can access thousands of sounds to play and record with your USB Keyboard.
NEW
- Melodica $40
- USB Keyboards start at $50
- Beginners Digital Pianos Start at $150
- New Upright Pianos start at approximately $5000.
- New Baby Grand Piano’s start at approximately $10,000
- A beautiful Concert Grand Piano can easily cost $50,000+.
The longer body of “Grand” Pianos allows for longer strings and a larger soundboard. Due to the laws of physics, longer strings sound richer and less harsh than shorter strings. Even relatively new students can feel and hear the silky awesomeness of a Grand Piano. Unfortunately, the size and complexity of Grand Pianos make them cost as much as a car.
USED
- Used upright pianos in playable condition start at approximately $700.
- There are many used Digital Pianos available for $50+
Pianos can be very expensive to fix. If you are buying used from a private seller we recommend having a Piano expert take a look at the Piano before you buy it. Your Local Piano Tuner it a good choice, they normally conduct a pre-purchase inspection for less than $100. We can recommend a couple of great local Piano Tuners, drop us a line at the contact page. Check for loose or non-functional keys, scratchy volume knobs, electrical gremlins, and water/fall damage. Make sure it comes with a power supply and check that the battery compartment is not corroded.
RENT
- Digital Pianos Rent for $35+/month.
- A Baby Grand Piano rents for $150+/month.
- Renting allows you to learn on a quality instrument without a large upfront expense.
- Rental companies will also upgrade your Piano or let you try a different one as your playing progresses.
- You do not have to pay for a rental Piano to be tuned, fixed or moved.
Other Expenses:
- Piano movers
- Pianos are really terrible to move. You should expect to hire a professional company to move a Piano from one address to another or even one floor to another. A standard across town move of a Baby Grand Piano will cost $300. It’s money well spent.
- Piano Tuners
- Pianos will stay in tune pretty well for months or even years. It’s recommended that you have them tuned at least twice per year as the season’s change. The change in temperature and humidity affects the shape and size of the Strings and the Piano, resulting in tuning issues. To have a professional Piano tuner come to your house and do a general inspection and tuning costs about $130.
- The famous Honky Tonk Piano sound comes from slightly neglected out of tune Pianos in the old American Wild West.
- Buyers insurance
- For both Real Pianos and Digital Pianos, some kind of insurance is recommended. Your homeowner’s insurance may cover some things. A $20,000 Grand Piano may need an additional premium.
- While real Pianos are often fixable, Digital Pianos/Synths’s/Workstations and USB keyboards are famous for becoming paperweights if they break after their 1-year manufacturer’s warranty. Check what warranty comes with the item, consider buying an extended warranty from the retailer.
Piano History
- The word “Piano” means “Soft” in Italian. The original name for the instrument was ‘Piano et Forte” translation “Soft and Loud”. The name was a reference to the Pianos touch sensitive keys.
- The Piano is often referred to as a Percussion instrument because the strings are struck with hammers. It is really a hybrid Stringed/Percussion instrument. Musicologists refer to Piano as a “Keyed Zither.”
- A standard Piano has 88 keys.
- Piano Keys were made from Elephant Tusks up until the 1950’s. Today, instead of “Tickling the Ivory’s” we mostly tickle plastic.
- The Average Piano has 230 strings.
- The Average Piano has over 7500 parts.
- The Worlds largest Piano was build by a team working for Polish businessman Daniel Czapiewski.
The giant Piano called “Stolëmowi Klawér”, weighs nearly 2 tons. It is 8 feet wide, 20 feet long and 6 feet tall! - Most Pianos have 88 keys, Stolëmowi Klawér has 156 keys.
The Keys
The idea of using a keyboard to play music been around for over 2000 years. The Greeks had devised key operated Organs in the 3rd Century B.C. The word Organ comes from the Greek word for Tool.
The Main Keyboard of the Halberstadt Organ
By 1361 there were massive church organs like the one in Halberstadt, Germany. The air was supplied by a team of men working massive bellows. You can see the early stages of a Piano “Keyboard” or “Manual”.
A Portative Organ Circa 1500
Having to pay people to operate the Bellows made practice expensive. Many Organ players would practice on a Portative Organ. The player would pump the Bellows with their left hand while playing the keyboard with their right hand.
THE STRINGS
While the Piano does have keys like an Organ it does not use air blown through pipes to make the sound, it uses strings.
Before recorded history, early humans discovered that by stretching a string between sticks you could make all kinds of useful thing like a Catapult, a Bow, a Drying rack, a Bed, a Firestarter and a Music Maker.
Early humans made string from many kinds of natural materials including Plant Fiber, Horse Hair, Intestines, Silk, Linen, and Rawhide.
When you fire an Arrow theBow string makes a cool sound. At some point, early humans saw the potential for a stringed instrument by adding a resonance box to amplify the sound of the taught Bowstring.
Early Stringed instruments were probably very similar to the African Bow Harp or the Greek Lyre.
The first metal strings that we know about were made in Germany in 1351 well before the Harpsichord, they were probably used on a popular Harp like instrument called a Zither.
THE KEYED ZITHER
Many people experimented with ways to use an Organ style keyboard to play the strings of a Zither.
Clavichord – Invented around 1400
Like a Piano the Clavichord would hit the strings will little hammers.
The keys did allow for some touch sensitivity, no matter how hard you
hit the keys Clavichords where not loud enough for performance.
Harpsichord – Invented around 1430
Unlike Piano, Harpsichord’s Pluck the Strings with the Quills of Bird Feathers. The volume of a Harpsichord does not change, hitting the keys harder or softer has no effect on the volume of the note.
Both Clavichords and Harpsichords were generally too quiet to be used for performance. Trumpets and Violins were much louder. They also lacked touch sensitivity, hitting the key harder or softer had little or no effect on the volume of the note.
Despite their lack of volume a popular German Composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, wrote Concertos for Harpsichord in the early 1700’s
THE MODERN PIANO
Bartolomeo Cristofori was a master Harpsichord builder, he saw his design for the Piano as the solution to the volume and dynamics issues. What made his design special was the “Action” or mechanism he devised for the strings to be struck by a hammer with a force relative to the force applied to the key.
A Bartolomeo Cristofori Piano Circa 1720
The name was originally “un cimbalo di cipresso di piano e forte” which translates to “a keyboard of cypress with soft and loud”. Over time this name became shortened to “PianoForte” and ultimately just “Piano”. With this history, you can see why a Piano is classified a “Keyed Zither”. Because the strings are struck with a hammer, the Piano is also considered a “Stringed Percussion” instrument.
A Stodart Grand Piano Made in London, 1795
ELECTRIC PIANOS
Electric Pianos began being developed at around 1930, the same time as the Electric Guitar. A true electric Piano has moving parts that hit small tuned pieces of metal. The sound from these pieces of metal is amplified electrically producing a Piano like sound. In the Mid 50s two company’s were making the electric piano popular. Wurlizer and Fender.
Wurlitzer
1973 Fender Rhodes Electric Piano (Click to Listen)
The Fender company produced the Electric Piano design of Harold Rhodes and became known as the Fender Rhodes. The Fender Rhodes sound is synonymous with the 1970’s.
Hits like Elton Johns “Daniel” from 1973 and Billy Joel’s “Just the way you are” from 1977 are signature Fender Rhodes songs.
Another inventor working in the new field of electric powered instruments was Laurens Hammond. Using Tone wheel technology taken from Morse Code equipment Hammond developed an Organ like sound. He started selling his Hammond Organs in 1935. Though originally intended to be a lower cost alternative to church organs, the Hammond B3 became popular with Bands of the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Leslie speaker system spun two Speaker cones around at high speed to create a Tremelo effect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deB_u-to-IE
The Hammond B-3 Organ with a Leslie Speaker Cabinet
(Click Image to Listen)
SYNTHESIZERS
Synthesizers differ from Electric pianos in that they do not amplify any physical sound. The noise you hear is generated completely by electronics. The first Synthesizers were built by electronic’s enthusiasts like Doctor Robert Moog in the 1960s.
A 1977 “Mini Moog” like the one use on Donna Summers “I feel Love” (Click to Listen)
By the 1980s Synthesizers were mass produced by many manufactures. One of the most popular “Synth’s” of the 1980s was the Yamaha DX7.
A Yamaha DX-7 was used on the Doogie Howser Theme Music in 1989
These days almost all Piano style instruments that you plug in are like Synthesizers, they use computer chips to generate sounds controlled by pressing the Piano style keys. When people are talking about an Electric Piano they are usually referring to a Synth with 88 Weighted keys, traditional styling and mostly preset Piano sounds. A “Workstation” is a do everything Synth that can be connected to other computers and instruments Via Midi or USB. Workstations can emulate thousands of sounds including Drums and Animal noises!.
Alesis Recital 88-Key Digital Piano
Roland PK 61-key Music Workstation
OTHER KEYED INSTRUMENTS
The keyed “Accordion” was invented in Russia in the 1820s. It shares its Ancestry with the Piano through the Portative Organ.
A fun way to get familiar with the Piano keyboard is with a Melodica invented in the 1950s.
A Breath Powered 37 Key Melodica
Popular Piano/Keyboard Players
- Chris Martin
- Billy Joel
- Sergei Rachmaninov
- Sarah Bareilles
- Lady Gaga
- John Paul Jones
- Ray Charles
- Ben Folds
- Ludwig Van Beethoven
- Bruce Hornsby
- Ray Manzarek
- Daniil Trifonov
- Frédéric Chopin
- Stevie Wonder
- Elton John
- Franz Liszt
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