Most people don’t realize that the piano is the most popular instrument in America. In fact, according to the Big Site of Amazing Facts, the piano is played by about 21 million Americans. That’s a big number considering it means that more pianos are played than all other instruments combined! So, if you live in or around the Louisville, Kentucky area and are interested in taking piano lessons, you will have a plethora of teachers to choose from.
First, you must decide if you’re interested in the Traditional or Suzuki method of teaching. Here are just a few of the locations/schools/institutes which teach piano and the teaching methods they offer:
Name: Notable Beginnings – Teaches Traditional Method
Ages: Beginning at age 5, Adult beginners welcome.
Lessons: Individual weekly 30 or 60 minute lessons. No group lessons.
Tuition/Cost: $90 per month for weekly 30-minutes lessons, $180 per month for weekly 60-minute lessons. There is a flat rate for both 30 and 60 minute lessons with no pro-rating for lessons missed by the student.
There is a $30 registration fee per student ($40 maximum per family).
Special Notes: Lessons given August through May. June and July on separate schedule (summer tuition is collected in full at the beginning of summer). Notable Beginnings works with students who may have started with another teacher/school and found it didn’t work out. If you are under age 14, you must be supervised by an adult at all times (meaning the adult has to stay throughout the lesson).
Name: University of Louisville School of Music, Community Music Program (CMP) – Teaches BOTH Suzuki and Traditional Method Piano
Ages: Suzuki requires child to be at least 3 years and up
Lessons: Private and Group (group offered only through the one week summer workshop).
Tuition/Cost: Tuition for Suzuki Piano is as follows for a 16 week semester: 15 minute lesson is $200; 30 minutes is $464; 45 minute lesson is $696; and 60 minute lessons are $928. There is also a $20 registration fee.
Special Notes: The University of Louisville School of Music Community Music Program is for all ages and part of their goal is to provide the highest quality teaching and be a primary source for non-collegiate music education for the people of Kentuckiana.
Additionally, the School of Music offers a one week summer workshop which is founded on the teaching techniques of the late Dr. Haruko Kataoka, who was a world-wide authority on the Suzuki Method and found of Piano Basics. During the week long workshop the day follows this agenda: four hours of classes per day with one piano class and three enrichment classes. For piano, classes will have 3 students each while enrichment classes have 12 per class. The piano lesson itself last for 60 minutes (beginning on the hour) and enrichment classes are fifty minutes in length. They run from five minutes past the hour to five minutes before the next hour. All classes take place starting at 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. If your child is between ages 3-6 with no previous training in piano, they may enroll in the Pre-Twinkle course. Each day, students and their parents will have an introductory piano class plus one enrichment class.
Tuition/Cost: Weekly lessons for 16 weeks. Traditional 16 week semester cost: 30 minutes $400; 45 minutes $576; and 60 minutes $768. If you have a third child who enrolls your cost is 80% of tuition (private lessons only). There is a $20 Registration Fee at the beginning of a 16 week session.
Special Notes: The University of Louisville School of Music Community Music Program is for all ages and part of their goal is to provide the highest quality teaching and be a primary source for non-collegiate music education for the people of Kentuckiana.
Name: Louisville Academy of Music – Teaches Traditional Method
Location: 2740 Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky 40206 (Crescent Hill Neighborhood next to Public Library)
Tuition/Cost: $18 per lesson. (Lessons are either 30 or 60 minutes long and offered weekly.) One time registration fee of $3.
Special Notes: The Louisville Academy of Music opened in 1954 and since then has trained over 10,000 students. They do not follow a semester schedule, so your lessons can start when you’re ready. They have 8 studios, a recital hall and a library with over 8000 books and 16,000 recordings. The Academy is directed by Robert B. French, M.M.
Name: Suzuki Piano of Louisville – Teaches Suzuki Method – Instructor Bruce Boiney
Tuition/Cost: There are 40 weeks of lessons starting in mid-August and lasting through mid-July. Tuition is as follows:
Level One: up to 30 minutes of lesson time each week $1200 (paid in 6 installments of $200). Please note you may divide into two shorter lessons each week for beginners.
Level Two: up to 45 minutes of lesson time each week is $1740 (six installments of $290).
Level Three: up to 60 minutes of lesson time each week is $2280 (six installments of $380).
Please note that tuition rates are all inclusive meaning that in addition to the weekly lesson and computer lab, registration, group classes, recitals, assignment notebooks, forms photocopies and graduation awards are figured into the costs for each level.
Special Notes: Bruce Boiney is only one of approximately 12 pianists in the United States who has received the Suzuki Method Teaching Certificate (1992). He trained with the late Dr. Haruko Kataoka (leading authority on Suzuki Method) for more than two years of pedagogy training. Mr. Boiney also directs the University of Louisville Suzuki Piano Summer Institute and other various workshops in the US.
