Do you want to streamline your piccolo training? Having a piccolo teacher can be very useful to beginners and players with experience.
Before you choose the first teacher you find, consider if they’re the right instructor for you. Read on to learn about how to choose a piccolo teacher.
Experience
One of the most important things to consider when looking for a piccolo teacher is their experience. Ideally, they would have some experience playing the piccolo at least in a collegiate setting.
If they just started the piccolo, that’s great. But they may not be able to guide you very far in your piccolo playing journey. Not all flute teachers make good flute teachers, even if they’re a great flute teacher.
The teacher doesn’t need to be a piccolo specialist. But they should have command over the instrument. And they need to have the right experience to use their skills in piccolo lessons.
Education
Along with someone’s experience, consider their education. Don’t be afraid to ask if they played piccolo during their training. Think about how much they played the instrument and if they played it in ensembles or on a recital.
You can also ask about their teacher and degree program. A good piccolo teacher doesn’t have to study with a great piccolo teacher. But it can definitely help to have lessons on the piccolo before teaching it.
There’s also the masters program in piccolo from Peabody. Now, that’s one program, so not many people will have that degree. So consider how much piccolo the teacher did during school to decide if they might be the right teacher for you.
Personality
You should also consider aspects aside from a teacher’s piccolo playing. Regardless of the instrument, someone could be a great player. But if you don’t gel with them, they won’t work for you.
Consider if you want a teacher who will work well with you and your playing. Some teachers may force you to follow their exact style of playing.
Others are more flexible, and that can be nice. Either way, you need to like your teacher as a person, and they need to like you. That way, you can both enjoy lessons.
Method
Another factor to help you choose a piccolo teacher is to figure out their teaching method. While there aren’t a ton of piccolo method books, there are some. There are also flute books that work for the piccolo.
Consider if the teacher uses a method that will work for you. This applies to the books they use. But it also applies to how they teach, such as through visual, auditory, or kinesthetic means.
Think about how you learn the best. Then, you can make sure to choose a piccolo teacher that will teach you the way you learn. And they will be able to work with your individual needs.
Schedule
Of course, you also have to have time for lessons. Consider if the piccolo teacher has availability when you want to study with them. If you’re taking lessons with someone in another time zone, account for that.
When it comes to local lessons, consider where the teacher lives. Then, you can figure out how long it will take to get to and from each lesson.
Nothing else matters if a piccolo teacher doesn’t have any openings when you have free time to take lessons. You can move things around, but you don’t want to give up sleep or family time just for lessons.
Length
Piccolo lessons can be as short as thirty minutes or longer than an hour. Longer lessons can be great for getting more work done with your teacher.
However, they require you to be able to play your piccolo for longer. And if you just started, you may not have that endurance. Now, you can get around that by taking lessons with someone who teaches piccolo and flute.
You can split up your lesson time between the two instruments. If you don’t want to do that, it’d be better to start with shorter lessons. As you improve, you can lengthen the lessons.
Frequency
Traditionally, private music lessons happened once a week. But you can have lessons more or less often than that. Consider your goals with the piccolo and how fast you want to improve.
If you want to get really good at the piccolo, you should take a lesson once a week. However, people are busy, both teachers and students. You may not have time to study with someone weekly.
In that case, you can take lessons every other week. You’ll have more time to practice between lessons, and you can make the most of each lesson you have.
Location
I briefly touched on this, but the location of lessons can also help you find the right piccolo teacher. If you want to study in person, that can really limit the pool of teachers you can choose from.
Studying online opens you up to every piccolo teacher who offers online lessons. Of course, there’s the possible exception of teachers on the opposite side of the world.
But if you want to study online, you need to have good internet access. That way, your lessons won’t be laggy, and you’ll have a consistent connection.
Cost
While it’s not the most important factor, your budget can help you decide on the right piccolo teacher. Consider how much you can spend on lessons each month or year.
Then, you can combine that with things like lesson length and frequency. If you have a smaller budget, you can find a newer teacher or a teacher who is still in music school themselves.
You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on piccolo lessons. But you do have to understand what you’re comfortable spending. That way, you won’t go into debt.
How Will You Choose a Piccolo Teacher?
Choosing a piccolo teacher can be very subjective. The right teacher for me may not be the right teacher for you. Fortunately, there are plenty of teachers out there.
If you’re interested in taking piccolo lessons, contact me. I’d love to help you find the right teacher, whether that’s me or someone else.