Online Lessons vs. In Person Lessons: Which is Best?

So you want to learn how to play the piano, but you’re unsure about the best way to do it. Is Online a viable way to learn? It’s normal to have lots of questions when looking at a new hobby, and you want to make sure you’re not wasting your time or money. This article breaks down the pros and cons of learning how to play the piano Online vs Traditional lessons. Read on to learn more!

Online Learning	Traditional In Person
Price	Accountability
Flexible Scheduling	Feedback During Lesson
Flexible Pacing	"Catered" Lessons
Feedback 24/7
Convenience

Price

Any business that moves its services online is able to make their product more easily accessible to the general public without increasing overhead costs. This is actually the reason why online banking is outpacing brick & mortar banks in 2022! Services offered online are then able to set prices significantly cheaper than their competition. That’s savings in your pocket!

Online Learning is without a doubt the most cost efficient method to learning the piano. Most online music courses charge about $20 or $30 per month in a subscription based plan. Compare that to Traditional piano lessons which normally cost $20 to $50 per lesson.

With Traditional piano lessons typically charging for one lesson per week, you could be spending on average $80 to $200 per month for a private teacher! That’s a big commitment with a hefty price tag for someone beginning a new hobby.

Value

Of course most people begin to wonder about the value of Online Learning vs. Traditional Lessons. If Online Learning is so much cheaper, does that mean that the value is also worth less? Will I get more bang for my buck with a private instructor?

That’s a difficult question to answer as it varies teacher to teacher. However most teachers confidently agree that the value of online learning is not proportional to the cost of your lessons. How do we know that?

Probably one of the most important things you should know about learning to play an instrument is this: Your own growth is entirely dependent on the amount you practice. Read that one more time. It’s that simple.

The more you practice, the better you will become.

The content in Online Lessons will be the same as a private instructor. Whichever way you decide to learn music, a quarter note will still get the same amount of time and Middle C will still be in the same spot on the piano. Whether you choose to pay $20 or $200 for that same information is up to you.

Flexible Scheduling

Scheduling and Pacing are pretty important when learning something new. If you have a busy schedule, or your days look different every week, you may need a more flexible schedule when taking on a new class.

Traditional Lessons will schedule you one half-hour lesson per week, generally on the same day and at the same time. Normally you pay for those lessons in advance, but most music studios have strict scheduling policies. If you miss your lesson for any reason, you forfeit the money you paid with no guarantee to re-schedule.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a teacher who will reschedule your lesson, it can be a hassle and a half to line up a time that works well for both of your calendars. There are only a few available time slots on a busy teacher’s schedule, and their other students likely fill up most of their time already. So when you come in asking to reschedule a lesson, you may end up forfeiting your time that week.

This is easily another benefit to Online Learning as you get to decide when and where you will do your learning. If you want to go a week without playing, that’s no big deal! If you want to go through 3 lessons in one week, you can do them whenever you’d like!

With video lessons, you set the time for when you want to learn. No coordinating calendars and paying for lessons you had to cancel because of an impromptu night out with friends or an unplanned visit to the doctor!

Flexible Pacing

The other side of this is pacing. We said earlier that your own musical growth is entirely dependent on how much you practice. And it’s so true! If you want to learn quickly and commit to practicing a lot every day, you’re free to do that with Online Lessons. Or maybe you’re a slow-learner and music has always taken a little more effort to learn. You set the pace without feeling the pressure to improve quickly before a set date.

Traditional piano lessons don't offer that flexibility with its strict practice schedule. It’s not uncommon to have had a slow practice week and come into your piano lesson feeling unprepared. Those lessons end up being a waste of your time, your teacher’s time, and your money!

With PianoJourneys.Net, you get to schedule a booked lesson on your schedule and only when you’re ready to get feedback from a teacher. There is no wasting anyone’s time, and it puts you in control of your spending budget.

Accountability

Each New Year’s Day I make a resolution to exercise more and get in shape. And each year I convince myself I can do it on my own without anyone’s help.

Each February 1 I come to terms with the fact that I am not in shape and have not gone to the gym to exercise more like I promised myself. What to do?

Accountability partners are a great answer. Having someone there to do it with you or just check up on you from time to time can give you the motivation to follow through with your resolutions, and it’s no different when trying to learn a new instrument.

Unfortunately, learning a new instrument takes time, dedication, and practice. (Sounds a lot like going to the gym…). Having an in-person teacher can be a great way to keep you accountable and push you to learn on a schedule! This is one area where traditional piano lessons come out on top. If you’re someone who needs to be held accountable, online learning may be a challenge for you.

Of course, a big difference between going to the gym and learning to play beautiful music is that the gym is associated with sweat and sore muscles while making music is fun and relaxing. So keep that in mind, too.

PianoJourneys.Net recognizes that accountability is important, which is why booked lessons can be such a great asset to online learning. If you struggle with self-discipline, schedule a lesson with one of our teachers for next week and make a plan to be prepared for it! Best of both worlds in that situation, right?

One big asterisk for this though: you may not be looking for the pressure to learn on a schedule, and may benefit from a more relaxed learning environment as described in our last section over scheduling and pacing. If that’s you, then accountability might not be an important factor in your learning. And that’s okay!

Feedback

When playing in front of a music instructor, they will be able to give you live feedback as you’re playing. Did you play a wrong note? Don’t worry, your teacher will let you know right away. Did you use the wrong finger? Your teacher will be checking! This may seem like another win for traditional piano lessons, but let’s see what Online Learning has to offer.

The great thing about video lessons is that you have recordings of how the song should be played. You can check the video to see what fingers go where, and hear how it should sound! The human brain is great at seeing and hearing patterns and imitating them. You may not need the 24/7 supervision of a teacher to make sure you’re playing correctly!

Conversely, once your half-hour lesson with a teacher is over, you’re on your own for the rest of the week until your next lesson. No recordings. No supervision. Nobody to answer questions while you’re home practicing. But video lessons offer that level of support at all times as you can rewatch lessons as many times as you need while you practice!

We’ll call this one a tie in general. But remember that with Booked Lessons through PianoJourneys.Net, you get instant feedback from a professional musician on your playing AND you get the video lessons to reference after your lesson is over. So in comparing Traditional piano lessons to what is offered here, we think we offer better support!

Catered Lessons

A lot of Traditional piano teachers will tell you that they offer lessons catered to your interests and goals while Online Lessons are the same for everyone. There’s a little truth to this, but it may not go as far as you expect.

Let’s talk about “goals and interests” that students have. Whenever I have a new student who just signed up for Traditional piano lessons with me, I always start by asking “what got you interested in the piano?” and “What are you hoping to get out of this experience?”

I do occasionally get the answer “classical music” but overwhelmingly someone wants to just learn how to casually play some specific pop songs from their favorite TV show or video game. And that’s fine! Music from any context is valid to learn on the piano. But whether you’re looking to learn Beethoven’s Fur Elise or the opening title track to The Legend of Zelda’s Ocarina of Time, you’ll still need to learn the basics of reading music and playing the instrument. And if that’s where you are, then you really don’t need “catered lessons” while you work on mastering the basics with online video lessons. Anything else is just a Traditional lesson teacher over-promising and under-delivering your expectations when you start, all while paying ten times the price.

Convenience

It goes without saying that people pay for convenience. Don’t want to drive across town for your favorite dinner place? Pay extra to have DoorDash run it to you. Don’t want to do your own grocery shopping this week? Have them deliver it to you for an additional fee. Don’t want to drive through rush-hour traffic to get to a piano lesson on time? Have the teacher drive to you…for a hefty surcharge.

It’s true, some piano teachers offer a service where they’ll come and teach you in your own home. But it costs extra to cover their travel expenses and time. If you’re trying to save on money, then the alternative is to drive to them. Sure, your lesson may only be a half hour, but how long will it take you to drive to them and get back? Suddenly a simple piano lesson is eating half your night, and has become anything but convenient.

Online Lessons take the W in this situation. Any time you want to do a lesson, simply pull your tablet or phone out and press play. It’s that simple.

One other benefit to learning at your home is you only ever have to play on your own keyboard. In case you’re unaware, every piano feels different. Sure they may have a similar number of keys and sound identical, but nothing is more jarring than practicing all week on your own Yamaha keyboard with heavy key-action just to come to your teacher’s studio with a Kawai fast-action keyboard and have the rug pulled out from under you. The difference in how it feels can drastically affect how well you play on it, and guess what, you play better on a familiar instrument.

Of course plenty of people do this anyway and just learn to adjust, but in the realm of convenience and quicker learning, Online Lessons wins this round.

Final Thoughts

It’s easy to jump to conclusions that online piano lessons aren’t worthwhile and hold less value than a traditional piano instructor. Hopefully this article helped give you more information about the pros and cons to both sides. But ultimately, which is the better choice?

That answer is going to depend on you and what you’re hoping to get out of the experience. Which factors are most important to you? If convenience and time are major factors in your decision making, then Online may be the best fit. If you lack self-discipline, then being held accountable by another person on a schedule could add value. If you’re on a budget and finances are tight, then Online will be the best fit for you. There are a lot of variables to consider when deciding which route to take on your musical journey.

Overall, we firmly believe that Online Lessons is the superior choice for beginners as society adapts with modern technology. PianoJourneys.Net offers a variety of tools for online students to get the most of their learning experience by offering the best from Online Learning while incorporating benefits of Traditional Lessons.

Is there a place for Traditional Lessons anymore? Yes, actually! If you're an experienced pianist with years of playing already under your belt, then you may benefit from Traditional Lessons. Having someone in the room to hear the nuance of your playing becomes valuable at a high level of playing. But if you're just starting out and learning the basics, you're better off with Online Lessons.

If you’re still on the fence about Online Learning, consider becoming a member today for only $12 so you can experience it for yourself and start playing today. We hope to see you practicing soon!