Enjoy a more flexible and affordable piano teaching career with Tools for Teaching Piano Online, a comprehensive resource for piano teachers. Learn a technology-based system designed to enable you to build a successful online piano teaching business. Develop new skills through easy-to-follow instructional videos based on the popular book Tools for Teaching Piano . Have the resources you need, including online lessons, lesson plans, and over 150 PDF files that cover everything from marketing yourself as a teacher to how to organize your studio space.
Tools for Teaching Piano Online provides the right tools for piano teachers at any level to start their own online business. Included in this package are webinars, blog posts, interviews, and information that will help you gain all the knowledge you need to get started.
Skoove
Skoove is the up and coming challenger of online piano learning apps.
Skoove’s lessons are suited for players of all skill levels. You can learn using your phone, tablet (iOS only), or your computer using the microphone or a MIDI cable. An Android version is set to launch by early 2021. But if you’ve got a laptop you can still have the same experience. As a bonus, if you don’t have a piano to play you can learn using keyboard keys on your computer until you get a piano or keyboard.
Skoove does a nice job of introducing beginners to the piano, starting with middle C. Skoove is really geared towards beginners as the app doesn’t just show you the notes and an animated keyboard, it shows you an actual piano player playing along from above. Using video lessons is a great teaching style for visual learners to see when to play the notes as they develop their own internal sense of timing.
Beginners will also appreciate the way Skoove provides feedback. You’re not just learning in a vacuum, as you would with YouTube or other online piano apps. Skoove listens and reacts in a very personalized way to how you’re playing. This feedback can be crucial to developing a true understanding of how to play the piano.
What’s nice is that Skoove pairs each piano lesson with a familiar song that isn’t classical music. The early beginner lessons, for example, matches learning the finger numbers on the right hand with popular songs like Lean on Me, by Bill Withers. To learn note lengths, you jam to Queen’s We Will Rock You. That modern touch (which includes everyone from Bill Withers to The Beatles) is nice in a world where every other app wants to start you with Ode to Joy.
Skoove offers you the opportunity to play along with a band at the end of a set of lessons. However, they don’t just throw you into it. First, they demonstrate the song. Then you practice it. Then you play with the band. This simple progression eliminates that surprise of having to suddenly adapt to playing a song at full speed. Something budding online pianists will appreciate.
- Free lessons available? Yes.
- Free trial? Yes, one week with CC.
- Song selection: It’s a great balance of modern and classic songs.
- Lowest plan: $89.99/year or $7.49/month.
- Highest plan: $19.99/month.
- Power feature: Songs you recognize and love.
Simply piano
Simply piano is available for both iOS and Android devices as an app that contains everything you need to learn piano. It works by using the microphone to listen to the notes that you are playing or by connecting to the device via a MIDI cable. For most users, or anyone serious about using the app, the MIDI cable is the best option, as the microphone can be less reliable at accurate note detection.
Simply Piano allows you to select the level that you’re at as a piano player (“beginner”, “took some lessons as a kid”, or “know how to play, but want to get better”) and you can access content specifically designed to help you at that level.
At the beginner level, things are nice and simple. You get an overview of the first notes you’ll need to learn (middle C, D, E) and it progresses nicely up through to F and G. It feels very much like a game.
Once you have completed the lessons, you get to the Singer Duet feature. This is an excellent feature that helps you get used to playing with other musicians using backing tracks.
- Free lessons available? Yes.
- Free trial? Yes, one week with CC.
- Song selection: A mix of modern and classic.
- Lowest plan: $119.99/year or $9.99/month.
- Highest plan: $59.99/3 months or $19.99/month.
- Power feature: Singer Duet is a nice feature to help players work on timing but it takes a bit of getting used to.
Yousician
Yousician is one of the more well-known music learning apps. They have run a strong campaign targeting anyone who searches for music tutorials on YouTube. If you’ve been googling for online piano lessons, chances are you’ve seen them.
Yousician is available for Android or iOS tablet or phone. They also give you the option of logging in through a computer using either the mic or a MIDI cable. Similar to the other apps, you can select what level you’re at as a piano player. One nice feature that they offer is Workouts. These let you focus on certain skills that you feel are either important or need work.
In some ways Yousician feels a bit like playing Guitar Hero in the way it runs you through the lessons and teaches you how to “hit notes” in an engaging way, making it fun for beginners.
- Free lessons available? Yes.
- Free trial? Yes, one week with CC.
- Song selection: A wide range, from classical to modern, and everything in between.
- Lowest plan: $199.99/year or $16.99/month.
- Highest plan: $39.99/month.
- Power feature: Workouts.
Onlinepianist
OnlinePianist is less of an online piano lesson app and more of a way to learn songs online. OnlinePianist offers a platform for song tutorials you can use once you know how to play the piano basics. It can be used on iOS and Android devices, as well as a computer with a mic.
The program provides a dashboard that allows you to control settings like tempo. It gives you the ability to break the song down by individual hands, so you can first learn what the left hand is doing, then the right, and combine them in the end.
OnlinePianist has an excellent selection of songs to choose from, ranging from popular artists like Taylor Swift to anime theme songs. It is nice that you get the same selection of your favorite songs on the free tier as you do on the paid plans. However, the paid plan gives you access to songs across all your devices and you never lose access to the songs.
The key takeaway? Great for learning new songs if you already have the fundamentals.
- Free lessons available? Yes, with ads.
- Free trial? Yes, one week with CC.
- Song selection: Everything from popular hits to cartoon theme songs.
- Lowest plan: $59.88/year or $4.99/month.
- Highest plan: $39.96/3 months or $9.99/month.
- Power feature: A great selection of songs to learn — once you know how to play.
Playground sessions
Playground Sessions is a powerhouse of a piano app that was put together by legendary music producer Quincy Jones and features lessons by notable pianists like Harry Connick Jr. Like other platforms, you can use it with your computer, as well as on an iPad.
Playground Sessions provides a 30-day free trial, with a credit card. This gives you the ability to explore in-depth before committing.
Most classes in Playground Sessions are provided by instructor David Sides who walks you through each piano lesson before you try things for yourself. Video lessons are a nice touch compared to other alternatives, which rely on the app itself to walk you through the content. The beginner section includes an impressive 84 lessons, so plenty to choose from when you start.
- Free lessons available? No.
- Free trial? 30 day trial with a CC.
- Song selection: Runs the gamut from Christian gospel to rock music.
- Lowest plan: $59.88/year or $4.99/month.
- Highest plan: $39.96/3 months or $9.99/month.
- Power feature: Lessons taught with a well-known instructor.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a dedicated student of music or an absolute beginner, you’ll need practice and teaching materials to make it to the next level. The Tools for Teaching Piano Online package offers everything you need to get your piano education underway — and more!