Piano Lessons

Amy, a classical pianist, always wished she could sit down at the piano and play her favorite songs by ear. Amy spent years studying ear-training at the collegiate level. She could sight-sing melodies and transcribe rhythms. But harmonic progressions remained out of reach.

She began to think this couldn't be taught. But then, she joined popMATICS. Amy started studying in the context of real songs. She began to hear chord colors and bass lines. Each song Amy learned was helping her learn the next.

Amy is finally on a path toward achieving her goal of sitting down at the piano and playing any song that comes to mind, without relying on sheet music. And she is enjoying the process more than ever before. Amy recently told us, "I wish they would teach harmonic ear-training like this in college! Each step in approaching this goal is more clear, exciting, and rewarding than what I experienced in college.”

Amie was taking classical lessons to improve her skills as a piano teacher. She came to piano teaching as a second career, and was dedicated to mastering her new profession.

But eventually, Amie realized that the lessons weren’t making her a better teacher. She heard about popMATICS and decided to try it.

Suddenly, she was learning creative new ways to engage her students. She recently told us, 

“Tony has done more to transform my teaching than anything else I’ve ever found. The activities are immediately applicable to my students. I now have a reputation for working with students who were about to quit lessons. I keep them at the piano.

I also love how the program works.  It is exceptionally rare to find opportunities to watch someone teach in real time, with real kids and real songs, at all levels."

If you have a classical background like Amie, maybe you aren’t comfortable with pop music, chord charts, and improvising. Especially at a level where you can teach them with confidence. 

Even the best books and resources won’t transform your teaching. You need to learn these skills yourself first. Our program is designed to teach them to you.

Alex was a 10-year-old student who loved music.

But Alex didn’t love to practice music. 
He had zero motivation to play the boring music in his lesson book.

One day, at the end of one of Alex’s lessons, I asked him what he wanted to learn.

His eyes lit up, and the next week, he burst into the studio and presented an album by The Doors. Together, we learned "Light My Fire."

Suddenly, Alex couldn’t stop playing at home.

Not long after, Alex’s dad shared this with me: "Thanks, man! My band rehearsed last night, and Alex played The Doors with us. My buddies couldn't believe it!"

When I turned to Alex, he looked up with a bright smile and handed me two more albums. This time, it was Elvis and The Beatles. 

This experience is why I created popMATICS . . . 

Every student should be able to play real songs from Day 1.