The first months of private lessons are fundamentals, at about $200 a month. One lesson’s price buys that whole foundation here, yours for good. Find out if piano sticks before you commit. Real sheet music, not a piano roll, and it grades itself so you always know they’re getting somewhere.
“Speaking as a piano teacher: I built the exact first months of real lessons into a course your learner will want to replay. Start here, find out if it sticks, and when they’re ready for a teacher, write me. I’ll help you find the right one. I built it because it didn’t exist.”
JOHN DAVID MAYBURY · FOUNDER · PIANO TEACHER FIRST
No colored bars, no piano-roll tricks. You read real notes on a real grand staff, and the split second you play, you know: right note, right time. Points and combos are earned by reading music, which is why learners replay lessons without being told to. Every lesson opens with “Today I can…” and ends with a score, so you always know it’s working, and so does the parent watching from across the room.
Illustration of the course in action. Want the real thing? Play a demo lesson →
Here is the math nobody says out loud: the first months of lessons are fundamentals. Naming notes, reading the staff, counting rhythms, hand position. That runs $200 a month with a private teacher. One lesson’s price buys the whole foundation here, forever: find out if your kid loves it before you commit to lessons, and if they shelve it at 9 and come back at 13, it is still theirs. And when they finish the basics and are serious, write me. I will personally help you find the right teacher for your child.
Lesson 1 assumes nothing. It starts with how the piano works, and every lesson opens with “Today I can…” and ends with a score, so learners always know they’re getting somewhere.
Sign up as a teacher instead: give each child their own name on your roster, assign lessons, and see exactly who practiced and who didn’t, without hovering at the piano. You don’t need to be a professional. The grading is done for you.
Every lesson is playable on the computer keyboard from day one, and you really are learning to read music. When it clicks, plug any USB MIDI keyboard straight in, no drivers and no setup, and every note is read exactly, chords included. Apps that only listen through the microphone can't reliably tell the notes of a chord apart; a plugged-in keyboard sends the true notes, so it grades what you actually played.
Grand staff, both clefs, rhythm reading, intervals, chords, and composing your own four-measure piece by the end. The same fundamentals a teacher would charge months for.
Some apps fund themselves by studying children’s data. This one refuses. Your child never makes an account, never enters an email, and there is no chat and no social anything. The data that doesn’t exist can’t be collected, sold, or leaked.
Do it in this order and you can't lose. Start on the computer keyboard, free. Every lesson plays on the keys you already have, and you (or your child) are really learning to read music. It's the cheapest possible way to find out if the interest sticks: like a month of lessons for the price of nothing, before you spend a cent on gear. When it clicks, add a keyboard. A beginner USB MIDI keyboard is one of the most affordable ways into any instrument, often less than a single month of private lessons, and it never expires. Plug it straight into a Chromebook or laptop, no drivers and no setup, and every note reads exactly, chords and all. That's the part the apps that only listen through a microphone can't do.
Any class-compliant USB MIDI keyboard works, and a 49-key is plenty to start. The exact keyboards worth buying, with links, are waiting inside once you're a member. And it only gets better from here: a major upgrade is already on the way, and members get every update at no extra cost. Getting in now is the cheapest this ever is.
Try everything risk-free for 3 days: add a card, nothing is charged today, and if you like it you simply keep playing. On day 4 you're charged once for your founder seat: $47 for the first 25, then $72. Yours for good, never a subscription, and canceling before day 4 is one click on your dashboard. This price exists only while founder seats do: when they are gone, it becomes $247 a year at public launch, and founders are grandfathered at $0, forever.
After you buy, you’ll get an email invite to our private community for founding members. Learning for yourself makes you a founder exactly like everyone else in there. It isn’t sold separately and it isn’t open to the public. You’re invited by hand.
Fair warning and a promise in one sentence: this is early, so you’ll find rough edges, and that’s exactly why you’re in there.
Invites are sent manually, so give it a little time rather than an instant link. Some gear links in the community are affiliate links, and I say so every time.
Teaching a classroom or private studio? See teacher pricing →