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After watching a ton of piano tutorials/teachers on YouTube I stumbled across pianocareer and after a few videos I thought this was by far the best I have seen . So I decided to join yesterday , still waiting for my details before I can access the membership area and let you guys know.

imustlearn, can you give us an update on your experience using PianoCareerAcademy.com? I'm thinking of signing up myself. I had 2 years of basic lessons a few years ago from a teacher who mostly taught children (I'm a senior.) She taught me the basics, and I've been looking for someone (or something) to teach me advanced concepts.

I did the 30 day free trial of PianoMarvel, and was just about to subscribe when I found PianoCareerAcademy. The latter seems to be on a different level altogether. I think all that PianoMarvel is going to teach me is playing the right notes at the right time. That's certainly important, and something I need to work on; but what Ilinca says about expression and touch strikes a chord with me. From the little I've watched of her videos she is demonstrating the types of things I want to know: arm and wrist movement rather than just finger movement (I knew there was a fundamental reason why even if I get the notes and timing right I still sound nothing like a real pianist making music!)

Now I'm starting to think that "playing the right notes at the right time" is something I pretty much KNOW how to do by now (I just need more practice DOING it) so I really don't need to be taught that. What I need to be taught is expression and touch; which seems to be what Ilinca is teaching.

So, I'm very interested to hear your opinion, imustlearn (or anyone else who has subscribed).

Thanks in advance!

As a 'fairly objective observer', I would just like to state that I think her Piano Career Acadamy website is utter gold.
About myself. I am a former conductor. I live in the US and I have conducted the Detroit, Oregon, Houston, symphonies, and was at various times a cover conductor for the National Symphony And Boston symphony.
My training was as a pianist.
Two of my primary teachers, Nina Lelchuk,and Alexander Edelman were pure Russian School. Edelman was A classmate of Vladimir Howowitz, and Nina was a Flier student. While she is not a household name, she is one of the greatest living pianists on this planet.
And no.. while there is not one clear path to being Russian School( even Neuhaus, Flier, Oborin etc.. all taught differently), there IS a central
thread in what is the Russian Piano Method,
I have watched quite a few of Ilinca's videos ( I am not a member).. and they are superb and spot on.
I am a curious case, as I have been away from the piano a very long time and I am slowly finding my way back to it. I myself have desperately looking for a piano teacher at this point in my life. (I am also desperately looking to hit the lottery to buy a Fazioli Grand.. lol. )
But in COMPLETE seriousness ..If I could take direct lessons with this lady, I would be doing it in a heartbeat..
And for me,that says a lot...Because at this moment, the only teacher that I want to have some lessons with is Adele Marcus..and yes.. I know that would be a little tough ...

David

I did subscribe a year ago, and have just renewed for a second year. Ilinca is the real deal. Her video tutorials are informative, and her replies to members' questions are thorough, and she goes the extra mile (or ten!)

I have been mostly going through her "beginners' course" this past year. The first few lessons I breezed through, but have slowed way down around lesson 40, and so am now only about half way through the course. The nice thing about this is that you can go at your own pace, and replay the lessons (or parts of the lessons) over and over. At this point I typically spend at least two weeks on one of her lessons (she usually has 2-3 pieces to learn per lesson.)

If anyone is considering this, or comparing it to other online teachers, I would say they can't go wrong with Ilinca. She has a large quantity of high-quality tutorials, and is always adding more content. She is an inspirational teacher and a pleasure to learn from.

I also subscribed this past year to Piano Marvel, and found it somewhat helpful to a beginner as an adjunct to Piano Carer Academy, and I will probably be renewing it as well (also being only half through their course.) But if I had to choose just one, it would definitely be Ilinca's Piano Career Academy.

Well, from what I've read what she is teaching is pretty solid and therefore much better than the absolutely inept teaching by many of the hacks I know about who know next to nothing about teaching and next to nothing about playing the piano.

But this is comparing second-rate (or 10th rate) private lessons to very good online instruction.

Ideal would probably be using her and a few other really good online teachers as supplements to a first-rate private teacher - which apparently she actually encourages.

I was thinking the same thing. Why waste your time with an online tutorial, when you can just go out and find a really good teacher for one-on-one?

The online garbage will never be as good as the in-person lessons. Past the second year, online garbage will simply not get you where you want to go. Just like group classes in community college.

The key is finding quality tuition, whether it be online or face to face. There's plenty of in-class garbage out there as well as online.

It's not easy. You have to remember that the average teacher is "average", and in my mind average is not very good if you have some talent or are highly motivated.

Many people have never had a great teacher. I didn't get one until I was around 19, and until you have a great teacher, you have no idea what you are missing.

I'm not going to say "online garbage" because that's a blanket statement. For sure this is real garbage online, but there are some excellent videos by some good people showing things that are important that, unfortunately, are usually not taught.

That said - and repeating - if you have a first-rate teacher, nothing in the world will replace the things you will learn with that teacher, one on one.

While we are throwing insults around, here's one of mine. I'm sick to death of famous pianists giving master classes who don't have a clue how to teach. That's one of my a pet peeves.

I explored it a couple of years ago as far as I could without paying the $50 or so for a month (we're in $CAD here). There are a few videos on Youtube. If these are overviews outlining what will be taught in individual lessons then ok. But if they are actual lessons, then each time I'm left with lots of impressions about lots of things, a teacher who appears clever, but wondering when do we start working on anything so that I can make one of those things mine - then the next - then the next. What I saw on-line was nothing one could work with.

In what I saw on-line (the freely available things), if someone already had a fair background in music and piano, then it would be a refresher with new insights. Is the actual material within the course itself different than what is freely visible on Youtube?

You cannot "just" find a really good teacher, and if you are an adult the deck is stacked against you even more since many will refuse to take you for the fact of not being a child. Even children are not guaranteed a good teacher, and if the parent is a non-musician, how can they discern? Some of us got lucky with our private teachers, but some of those teachers are located in a different region or country making it on-line again. Quality is quality wherever you can find it. And conditions are seldom ideal.

This year I joined ArtistWorks for violin, in a course done by a teacher and artist with superb technique and who knows how to teach it. I should add that I had 4 - 5 years of regular private one-hour lessons every week of the year, and did not touch the instrument for about a decade after that. In AW students submit their homework if they want, for fellow students to also see, along with the teacher's video feedback. You start seeing some patterns.

Among them, (common), is the student with a private teacher. The private teacher zips them through the pieces in the book - whether ABRSM, RCM, method book, or pieces - maybe tells them how this or that should sound. At the same time that same student is learning - on-line - how to play; developing their playing skills; learning basic theory to be applied to their playing - which they then apply to what has been assigned by their private teacher. Obviously there is something wrong with the picture, but this is common. I have my own ideas about which side the quality lies in these scenarios.

It is easy to surf the Net and pick out a dozen so called "tutorials" that have an overhead view of somebody playing a piece at slow-mo, possibly with stiff weird hands, the keys lighting up, and calling it "teaching". Yes, there is on-line garbage. But have you actually investigated thoroughly what exists? I have seen excellent teaching units, carefully thought out, and I have seen one or two people's quality of playing grow through their work through this.

Yes, the excellent one-on-one teacher is preferable. He or she cannot always be found locally.

She has different types of tutorials. The Beginners' Course (80 some lessons and counting) starts with the very basics and builds step-by-step using Russian piano exercise books.

I had gone through the Alfred Adult Learning books with a one-on-one teacher years ago, and must say that personally I am getting more out of the online course.

I would have to see it.
One thing you can tell me, however, is whether those few on-line ones we can see on Youtube - are these actual lessons - do they resemble actual lessons? Or are they overviews / introductions to course content rather than being lessons?

I've watched the first one, which I found very funny...But I agree doing all those exercises must be good to play piano! Then I chose one randomly (emphasizing the melody) and have to say that she has very good communicative skills despite the accent and a very pleasant voice, which is a plus already.

I'm more of a reader myself but can understand that many people find her a very good teacher to listen to and learn from.

The short video with exercises here. There is another that lasts more than 11 minutes.

I like those videos of exercises!

From what I've seen of hers on Youtube, they are just overviews or introductions. I don't see any of the actual lessons from the beginner's course or scale course on Youtube.

If you are talking about this particular "course" then no, it can't possibly work very well for a beginner. Her presentation of how to solve various common problems is not even the best available online. From what I could tell what she is presenting is pretty good, but she's all over the place, very wordy. I'm saying I could do better or even as well IN THAT FORMAT, but I wouldn't want to.

She also has a tendency to play bits and pieces of things, not to play anything all the way through, the idea being (I guess) that if you pay money you will get to "the rest of the story".

OK, but the problem is that I would never recommend to someone to pay for the full deal when is see nothing that convinces me, as a teacher, that she knows how to teach in depth.

I could not find one video that is public that really impressed me, either about her playing or about her presentation.

There are other people I WOULD recommend to students as solid sources, based on their videos.

So basically the idea is that she "really does teach well, but you have to pay money to find out".

I remain unconvinced.

Try this at home if you want to seriously hurt yourself

Doesn't get more stupid than this. The idea is to make a fast movement without being totally warmed up that is DANGEROUS if you don't know what your doing.

Let's see how popular this would be if she were 70 and overweight. The idea is that if you look like a gym bunny, you will play way better.

It's a crock.

Then you had a lousy teacher.

There are no "Russian piano exercise books". This is just a way to hype the public. Her way of playing puts a premium on relaxation in the body, supple wrists, a bunch of things like that.

When you see her zip up and down the keyboard with a chromatic scale, both hands, there is zero extra movement in her hands, wrists, shoulders, elbows and so on. I have no argument with what she is doing, but it's 100% standard. On the last note she does the usual "pretty movement of the upper body thing", which is totally extraneous and has nothing to do with the rest of what she does.

I'm not trying to convince anyone. I'm just letting people know that I have tried it for a year and have found it convenient and helpful enough to renew for another year. For me it is a good value for the money, and I find that I'm motivated to continue practicing. I feel comfortable recommending the course to other beginners like me who may not have found a good one-on-one arrangement for whatever reason.

I'm just supplying the type of feedback I was looking for a year ago when I was trying to decide whether to subscribe.