Summer Piano Deal: 6-Lesson Trial for Loudoun County, VA

Back by popular demand, our 6-lesson summer trial is back!  Are you hesitant to commit to a long term of lessons but want to see if piano is for you?  Purchase 6 summer lessons for the price of 5, scheduled around your vacations and availability.  And the best part?  You don't have to drive.  I come to you!

Areas serviced:  Purcellville, Hamilton, Round Hill, Leesburg, Ashburn, Lovettsville, Point of Rocks (Tuesdays only).  

To register, fill out the form at http://www.piano2go.com/sign-up

Summer Piano Lesson Deal/ Piano Camp/ Summer Music Camp by Piano 2 Go:  Serving Loudoun County, Virginia (VA)  

Fuel Costs and Lost Time: How Much Are You Really Paying for Those Lessons?

The Real Cost of Music Lessons at a Studio

So you found great, inexpensive lessons at a studio twenty minutes away.  This teacher is charging $12 less a month than the teacher in your own town.  So it begs the question...are you really saving that much after your driving costs?

Frugal Folks Want to Know!

I did a little investigating to see how much it would cost me to drive to the neighboring town of Lovettsville, where my son used to take drum lessons.  His instructor was reasonable...about $3 per lesson under the going rate for half-hour lessons in my area.  Using Gas Buddy, I went online to calculate the cost of this trip each week.  Gas Buddy is great because it factors in the make, model, and year of your car to determine your vehicle's mpg.  Gas Buddy knows the average price per gallon in your area, so you don't have to figure that out.

At the current gas price average of $2.29 per gallon, I was paying $2.82 per week to drive out there and back...not much, but it adds up to $11.28 per month.  That was just my fuel cost, not including oil, insurance, and wear-and-tear on my car.  Here is the breakdown:

Source:  www.piano2go.com. $30 is an example of a low-priced half-hour lesson.  Fuel cost based on $2.30 per gallon.

What About Lost Time?

Each day I had to drive to Lovettsville for drum lessons, I was in the car for 40 minutes and sitting outside the lesson in my car for another 30 minutes.  That's 70 minutes of time I couldn't be very productive.   I was losing time to make dinner, catch up household duties, and complete work tasks for my small business.  As the old adage goes, time is money!  Sometimes I found myself stopping on the way home for food or snacks, too...only adding to the lesson bill!  

So don't assume the costs of studio lessons are all you're dealing with.  Commuting to music lessons two or three towns away through harrowing rush-hour traffic has a lot of hidden costs!

Jazz Piano "Therapy" for Adult Students

One of the student types I've attracted over the years is the adult student looking to explore jazz and improvisation.  Perhaps their childhood teacher knew nothing about it.  One time I was teaching a woman who just couldn't get the sight-reading thing mastered.  Every lesson had been a struggle in the past.  But she truly loved music.  A former dancer, she suffered from miserable back pain and life troubles in general.  Simply put, she was unhappy.  I knew these lessons were possibly self-therapy for her.  But the traditional approach wasn't working.  As I find with many students, reading two staves of music is a burdensome chore that stifles their natural musical ability.  So I switched my approach with this student.

One day I asked her to improvise with the C pentatonic scale while I played a swing beat on my keyboard and improvised a 7th chord accompaniment.  I will never forget how transformative this experience was.  The sullen face she usually wore was replaced with a radiant smile.  Her typically rigid body began to bounce freely to the music.  She clearly felt the rhythm of the music, and her improvisations were good!  At the end of the exercise, she was talking rapidly and excitedly:

"That was so much fun, Jennifer!  Oh my!  Oh my!  I've never had so much fun in my whole life!  I've never done anything like this.  Do you think we can do more of this?  I love it!"

She went on raving about the experience for the rest of the lesson.  It was as if I'd given her a magic potion.  She couldn't sit still and couldn't stop talking.  Joy had replaced despondency and I pondered over this transformation for several days.  What was it about that experience that gave her more fun that she had ever had?

I think it was the freedom she found in improvisation.  She could play the notes of her heart.  Her fingers didn't need to get it right, or be mistake-free.  She didn't feel the judgment of a teacher; she didn't feel wrongness and inadequacy, only joy in expression.  She just needed to be herself and let her heart dance to the music.

The man in this article claims that jazz piano lessons cured his mental illness:  http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2013-04/how-learning-play-jazz-piano-kept-me-sane.

I would encourage everyone considering adult piano lessons (especially jazz) to read this.  I have no doubt that music study was what cured his illness.

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If you're interested in exploring jazz piano as an adult beginner or a returning adult student with classical training, I specialize in making jazz easy and joyful.  And I also teach popular, classic rock, and movie themes from a jazz approach.  Call 571-439-0136, or visit www.musicbyjennifer.net for more information.