FREE Online Piano Lessons? Yes Indeed, You and Your Kids Will LOVE Them! (product review)

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received these products, free of charge, from Free Piano Lessons 4 Kids for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about them.

Oh yeah, you just heard the grown from the kids who said, "MOM, I don't want to take boring piano lessons!", didn't you?

Well Hoffman Academy (formerly known as FreePiano Lessons4Kids) is anything BUT boring! And because it is internet based, you can literally take it anywhere with you and learn on the go! You aren't tied down to a piano, a time period, or place. You can download a virtual piano and off you go. This appeals to kids greatly by the way!

The online lessons allow you to progress at your own speed as well. Want to repeat a lesson? No problem! Want to just do 6 weeks of lessons? No problem. The best part is that they are FREE. Think of it as a trial program. You can see how well your kids pick it up, if they like it, and if it something that should be continued with lessons with an actual instructor (aka the PAID lessons!). The program is something I was very interested in, as Miss Grace wants to learn to play the piano, and they do have a program through her school, but it requires all year attendance. So I was looking for an at home learning experience to see if she could stick to it through the Summer.

This program has 55 video lessons in all. And as most kids do best with about 2-3 lessons per week(or every other day), I figured this would be an excellent activity for over the Summer as well. The lessons are quite short, each just 5-15 minutes. So when you add in the additional materials, you're looking at a 30 minute interval, max, for learning. As we are working on reading and keeping up with math and writing skills over the Summer as well, this means only an hour of the day is taken up with lessons. Not too bad! To keep her motivated, I think I am going to use their suggested reward system: seven consecutive days of practicing earns 10 points. 20 accumulated points earns a candy bar. 50 points earns a trip to get ice cream or a snow ball. 100 points earns some bigger item. Though I may vary the points some.

Joseph Hoffman, the pianist/instructor, has a definite way with kids, check out a sample lesson below:

On days that you do not watch a new lesson, it is recommended to spend a few minutes at the piano reviewing what was learned in the prior lesson. Then as you progress through the lessons, it is helpful to regularly review past material, playing old songs, etc. The goal of the lesson plan is to not only teach your child to play the piano, but also to learn:

Correct playing technique, posture and hand position

How to read and write notes on the grand staff (treble clef and bass clef)

How to read, write, and perform rhythms

How to listen to music and to dictate melodies

How to improvise and compose your own songs

The basics of music theory, including chords, and key signatures

Pretty amazing for a free program, right?

But what is more amazing to me is when Miss Grace informed me that she could 'do the lessons' herself, without my help! Which she actually can! All we had to do is pull up a lesson on the tablet, put the tablet on the piano, and she took herself through the lesson, paying very close attention! She gets the fulfillment of having done it 'herself', and I can see how this self-motivation is already paying off in other areas. I do stay behind her on the sofa and available for help, but she loves doing her own lesson and then showing me how to do the song! How easy was the first lesson? Check it out (just click on the link):

Loopster.com - VIDEO0043.mp4
(Sorry- still working on how to edit and load video into Blogger!)

you can see the JOY on her face when she turns around and did it HERSELF.

She has even been having to show everybody at church what she has learned! Even though we have an upright piano at home, she adores playing on the church upright.I think it has more to do with showing off than which piano it is! LOL

All the video lessons are free for anyone to watch, but the supplemental materials, for lessons 1-41, which can be downloaded and printed from home, are not. While these materials are not required for the lessons to work, children will get the most out of the lessons when they use them, as it brings home the lessons. Miss Grace has found them easy and enjoyable as well.

They also have an mp3 album you can download, which provides students with an audio example of all the music they will be learning, so they can become familiar with it, enabling the musical learning to go even faster. This was a great idea, as some of the songs Miss Grace has not heard before, and when I played them before the lessons, it really helped her, as she tends to be able to pick out tunes easily.

If you subscribe to their newsletter you also get Free Downloads, Practice Tips and Updates , and a FREE parent guide!

You can also buy all the lessons (1-45) on a DVD set, if you want to have them handy, and not require a internet connection!

We have progressed through 4 lessons already and Miss Grace LOVES this program, so I know we will be able to get her to complete the entire lesson plan during the Summer! I am very impressed with the program, and have to admit it has helped me too! So it's not JUST for kids!