I'm so glad you're here. Whether you've just sat down at a piano for the very first time, or you're returning after years away, this space was made for you. My name is MS, and I've spent the past 18 years teaching piano to people of all ages and experience levels. Over that time I've seen the same thing again and again: adults who want to play, but who've been held back by intimidating methods, busy lives, or simply not knowing where to start. This community exists to change that. No judgment here. That's the whole point. 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 👇 𝟭. 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 (above, or in the Classroom). It's short, I promise. It'll show you exactly how this space works. 𝟮. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺. Everything is numbered, just follow the numbers. By number 2 you'll be playing Stand By Me with a full band behind you. One hand, about twenty minutes. 𝟯. 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. A sentence is enough. "I got through the verse without stopping" is a win. No video needed, and nobody here is comparing. 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 and I'll tell you what to learn next. 🎹 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 Every song in this community comes in three stages. Same song, three rungs. 🪜 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗚 𝟭 — 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵. You play the melody. I play the accompaniment. You can't get lost, because you can hear where you are the whole way through. 🪜 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗚 𝟮 — 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻. Same song, my melody taken out. This is where you hear yourself. 🪜 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗚 𝟯 — 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀. The full version. This is where the song is going. Start at whichever rung feels right. Most people start at the first one. Nobody is behind. 👀 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘀. You don't have to track the blocks falling if that gives you a headache. Just watch the keys light up. Same video, two ways to use it. 🎼 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰, my scores have both hands written out. Skip straight to them if you like. You don't need the falling keys at all. They're a door, not a requirement.

Recorded this morning.. Just letting the harmony soothe me a little. Full thing lands in the classroom tomorrow~ And if you've been waiting for a slow one... You know.. to play to someone you love.. this is your song. 🤠 Guess what it is? 🎹

One of my students closed his eyes while he was playing, and told me he had more fun in that one run through than in weeks of trying to get everything correct. He did not suddenly get good. He just stopped watching himself. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁 Four steps you can run on any song, from your first week at the piano. 1. Take a piece of it, not the whole song 2. Feel the beats you do not play, and keep the pulse outside your hands 3. Close your eyes on something you already know 4. Ask whether it felt alive, not whether it was clean I also play a bit of Peace Piece by Bill Evans in there. Not as a piece for you to learn yet, but because of what it does while you listen to it. 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆 Step 3 is the one people find hardest, and not because it is difficult. It is because playing with your eyes closed means you cannot mark yourself as you go. That feels unstable for about a week. Then it feels like playing. If you try it this week, come back and tell me what happened. Even if it fell apart. Especially if it fell apart. 😊 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 The falling keys video for Peace Piece is in the Practice Room now if you want to see exactly what that left hand is doing. 🎹 https://www.skool.com/musicate-academy/classroom/f8e8689a?md=2b3da09da5b0408890d5370fab35e570

A few of you have asked some version of "which video do I start with?" so let me make it clear. Going forward, every song in this community comes in three stages. Same song. Three rungs. 🪜 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗚 𝟭 — 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵. You play the melody. I play the accompaniment. The video's objective is to help you stay on course with the timing and you will be able to hear where you are the whole way through. 🪜 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗚 𝟮 — 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻. Same song, my melody taken out. This is where you hear yourself. 🪜 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗚 𝟯 — 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀. The full version. This is where the song is going. Start at whichever rung feels right. Most people start at the first one. Nobody is behind. Aura Lee has all three in the Practice Room now, including the both hands version that went up on YouTube this morning. 👀 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘀. You don't have to track the blocks falling if that gives you a headache. Just watch the keys light up. Same video, two ways to use it. 🎼 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰, my score has both hands written out. Skip straight to it if you like. You don't need the falling keys at all. 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨. 💪🏻 The second one is what The Studio is for. ✨ I've updated the Start Here post with all of this, so it's always there when you need it.

📹 There is a video on my phone I keep going back to. One of my students is next to me at the piano. His head is going. His shoulders are going. His whole body is moving, and from the side he looks exactly like Gru from Despicable Me. 😆 That is the first thing I notice every time, and it makes me laugh out loud. 😂 But that is not why I saved it. He is not tensing up and counting. He is not thinking about the beat. He is not waiting to feel ready. He is inside the music, moving with it, playing his half while I play mine. That is the one thing I have never been able to teach with words. Notes are learnable. Anyone can learn notes. Timing and pulse are the hard part, and for adults they are the hardest part by a long way. Not because adults are slower. Because of how we practise. We practise alone. In a quiet room. We stop when something goes wrong, fix it, start again. We slow down for the tricky bar and speed up for the easy one without noticing. Nobody hears it but us, so nothing pulls us back into time. Then the day comes to play along with a backing track, or with another person, and it falls apart. The notes were fine. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺. So I stopped treating playing with something as the reward at the end. I made it the first step. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘄𝗼. Right hand with the accompaniment underneath you, from day one. Not because it is easier. It is harder in one way, because the music keeps moving whether you are ready or not. But something else happens when there is a pulse under your hands. You stop stopping. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱. And it is more fun. That part matters more than people give it credit for. 😃 Nobody keeps doing something that feels like a test. He has no idea he is doing the hardest thing in music. He just likes playing with someone. 🎵 That is the whole idea. If you have been drilling a song on your own and it still feels stiff, try it the other way this week. Put the accompaniment on and play the right hand. 🎹