Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Hoffman. Kids love his creativity and humor. Adults appreciate his clarity and step-by-step style. Everyone loves the feeling of success as they learn to play real songs from the first lesson.
The Hoffman Method offers the most complete foundation in music you can find online. With the Hoffman Method, you’ll become an empowered musician who can play, read, and understand music. We designed Hoffman Academy with real families in mind: families on a budget, with a busy schedule, and who want the very best opportunities for their kids.
At Hoffman Academy, we are passionate about bringing quality music education to EVERYONE who wants it. That’s why our basic plan is FREE and our Premium plan is less than $20/month.
How to start learning piano with Hoffman Academy
- Learn a new song or concept with one of our hundreds of FREE video lessons.
- Master each new song and skill using our curated list of practice tasks. (Premium)
- Print sheet music and worksheets, and stream play-along audio. (Premium or purchase separately from our store)
- Earn points and train your skills using our interactive learning games. (Premium)
You can try out your first lesson with materials and guided practice sessions for free!
How to learn piano with video lessons
Learning to play the piano with video lessons is different from the traditional way of learning with a private instructor. In private music lessons, students typically spend from 30 minutes to an hour once a week at a scheduled time with their teacher. At the lesson, students will usually play the finger exercises and songs they’ve been working on and get feedback on their performance. Teachers may also spend time on a variety of music skills such as sight reading, ear training, or music theory during the lesson. Students are often given practice instructions, and then it is up to them to continue practicing throughout the week until their next lesson.
By contrast, when learning with video lessons, piano students have a lot more flexibility. Most piano video lessons are shorter than a private lesson, and can be viewed any time. No need to cancel or reschedule when you can’t make it! While a video lesson can’t watch your playing and give you feedback, you can watch and listen to an expert teacher play and then compare your own performance to theirs. Piano students who learn to play by example and self-correct can quickly become independent learners, responsible for making sure they’re performing their best.
A good curriculum of piano video lessons will include a full range of musical skills, carefully paced throughout the lessons. Since all the material is pre-recorded, no topic is rushed, overlooked, or left out. Also, with video lessons, students don’t need to wait an entire week to learn more. They can watch a new lesson as soon as they’re ready.
What is the best way to learn with piano video lessons? Here are some tips to make the most out of your learning experience:
- Set up the device for viewing the lesson where you can watch while seated at the piano
- Keep your sheet music and a pencil handy so you can make notes as you watch
- Pause the video often to practice the skills that are being demonstrated
- Choose a regular time to either practice or watch a new video lesson every day
Discover how to learn to play the piano with guided practice
For students with a Hoffman Academy Premium membership, each piano video lesson comes with guided practice instructions. These instructions provide specific practice tasks that help students know what to do as they prepare for their next video lesson. By following these practice instructions, students will experience the perfect balance of learning new songs, reviewing old songs, strengthening their playing with finger power exercises, and developing music skills.
After watching a lesson, students can click on the “Next Activity” button on the lower right and they’ll be sent to the practice session.
Practice sessions can also be found listed underneath each lesson on the unit pages.
In the practice session, students will be given tasks to do, such as playing the song 3x with their right hand while singing along.
The practice sessions take the guesswork out of piano practice. They help break up the task of learning a new song into small, manageable steps. Students can re-watch lessons and go through the accompanying practice session as many times as they need to before moving on to the next lesson.
Learning piano smarter with supplemental materials
Hoffman Academy provides a wide array of music learning materials to make piano lessons more effective and fun.
- Hoffman Method Books for each unit provide sheet music and learning activities to go hand-in-hand with our video lessons.
- Valuable learning aids like the Heartbeat Mat kinesthetically reinforce basic music skills.
- Themed music theory packets motivate students to practice music writing and reading.
- Online games make it fun to learn the musical alphabet, read rhythms and notes, and sharpen listening skills.
- Printable games and activities, like Music Bingo and our Rocketship Matching Game, add variety to music learning.
- Keep the music information you need to know at your fingertips with our series of guides including “The Ultimate Piano Chord Chart,” “Grand Staff Guide,” and “Major Scales Guide.”
- Set goals and track your learning progress with our “Practice Trackers,” and the “Piano Practice Chart.
- Remember to look, sound, and feel your best at the piano with our “Piano Posture Checklist” and “Piano Posture Reference Sheet.”
- Use our professionally recorded listening tracks to help students internalize the music they’re learning.
- Motivate music practice, memorization, improvisation, and review with play-along practice tracks.
- Sheet music for hundreds of additional songs, beautifully arranged and categorized by skill level, give piano students even more music to explore on their own.
All of these materials are included with a Hoffman Academy Premium membership, and can also be purchased separately from our online store. You can learn more and sign up for Premium here on our website.
We hope you enjoy learning piano with Hoffman Academy!