Friday, January 09, 2009

Our Workshops Promise a Lot

But Can They Deliver?

Dear Friend of the Piano:

As you may know, what makes us different from other
piano teaching businesses and web sites is that we base
our teaching system on a three and a half hour
mini-seminar or workshop. That makes us more than
different. It makes us unique.

When I first launched the workshops in January, 1983, I
was told by nearly everyone that learning to play piano
in half a day couldn't be done. (Hey, I just did the
math. That means we're starting our 27th year.)

Now, some 200,000 students later, we're still going
strong. I personally have taught the classes at over 50
colleges in nine states. And I have trained quite a few
piano teachers to present the workshops in most of the
rest of the states.

What do you learn in the Instant Piano Workshop?
This is what I tell my students at the beginning of
class.

"By the time we are done this evening you will be able
to take the sheet music to any song, in any style, and
in any key, and play it with both hands."

Even beginners? Even beginners.

Of course NOBODY believes it. But by the time we're
done, that evening, they become believers.

Perhaps, there's a workshop to be given near you, and
you can see for yourself. You can look at my schedule
by going here.

http://pianofun.com/schedule/Laughlin.html

And you can look at other workshop leaders schedules by
going here. Click on your area of the country.

http://pianofun.com/seminars.html

And if you are a complete beginner, download a little
prep pamphlet by going here. It should only take you
about half an hour to learn these basics, if you don't
know them already.

http://pianofun.com/downloads/notes.pdf

Basic facts about the workshops.

Cost: Set by the colleges or agency that sponsors them.
About 50 bucks.

Materials: Another $25 for basic book and CD ($5 off
retail price).

Length: 3 1/2 hours

Audience: Adults 16 and over. Average age, about 50.

Fun Level: Extremely high

Payoff: Any song, any style, any key with both hands.

Income potential of professional piano player: About
$40/night.

Hope to see you.

Robert

P.S. If you've already taken the Instant Piano
workshop, consider enrolling in How to Play Piano by
Ear.

12 Comments:

At 9:19 AM, Blogger dcs60 said...

Sure would be nice if these courses/seminars could be offered in Ontario Canada.....

Any chance of this happening in the future?

 
At 11:04 AM, Blogger Newsam said...

I used to travel to Toronto twice a year to do classes. Unfortunately, that vaporized. I'm hoping we can at least get one of our workshop leaders into the Buffalo area.

Best to keep looking at our schedule page.

 
At 9:09 AM, Blogger Dottie said...

I am a workshop leader and would like to tell you about a student, Ed. Ed was 54 with no previous piano experience when he came to the workshop. He learned his songs by playing it without music! Three years later he can play 40 songs (no music). Last May he began playing the grand piano in the atrium of a local hospital. He now plays 2 hours a day. He is a wonderful piano player. The Instant Workshop opened up a whole new world of piano for him.

 
At 4:24 AM, Blogger Mark said...

Good News. Teaching basics in short period would be give more encouragement for the beginners. Keep going..

 
At 6:12 PM, Blogger lennyh said...

Robert, I have your Chord Piano book/audio that I received at a Scott Houston seminar. It is a fine product. For years I've used similar products/courses to help improve my piano playing. Although my playing has certainly improved, it is still poor. I feel the vast majority of these courses -- although worthwhile -- dramatically over promise and under deliver. Even after all these years, I cannot -- as you suggest is achievable in your 3 1/2 hour course -- play any tune in any style with two hands -- certainly if you consider playing to be something that folks would wish to listen to.

I very much welcome any comments you may have in this regard.

Lenny

 
At 10:31 PM, Blogger NetBizSavvy said...

Great blog!

 
At 2:08 AM, Blogger Muso said...

Good to see success in short time and wonder how long it took to develop this amazing duet I found at http://myamazingpeople.com/en/1035/amazing-piano-playing/

 
At 1:13 AM, Blogger mitchdcba said...

i am visually impaired and wanting to play piano. i know i will have to learn to play by ear. thats ok because i think i have a pretty good ear. do you have any tips or suggestions for me? thank you so much for your time!

studying piano

 
At 2:32 PM, Blogger Newsam said...

Fortunately there are a lot of piano programs available on video and CD.

Ours our mostly CD, because that is in my opinion the best way to learn music.
Learn it like a language. I advise my students not to rely on vision too much.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

Robert

 

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