Best Piano Lessons Portland Oregon (2020): Prices, Top 13 Instructors & More

The Portland Piano Lab offers customized instruction with an emphasis on building fundamental musicianship skills and liberating musical expression and creativity. They have programs available for kids, teens, and adults. The programs are subcategorized into programs for hobbyists and aspiring pro.

Some features of hobbyist program include learning style including classical, jazz, blues, ragtime, New Age, gospel or rock/pop, basic chords or advanced/jazz chords, learning to read music, learning to play lead sheets, learning to play at sight, and much more.

The aspiring pro program teaches skills such as Reading, Ear Training, Harmony/Chords, Rhythm, Scales, Theory, Keyboard Technique, Practicing Skills, Composition / Songwriting, Improvisation, and Arranging.

A limited number of scholarships are available for highly-motivated young adult students (18-30) to reduce tuition costs.

Norm Zarr is the founder of Piano Keyboard Lessons. With 25 years of experience, Norm boasts a very strong portfolio. He has been awarded 2 Platinum Records and has composed music for television, films, and written numerous songs. He also helped Actor Steve Zahn prepare for his role in the movie Management starring Jennifer Aniston.

Students as young as 4 can start learning from Norm; he has had beginning students over 80 years old, and they did great. Norm customizes his lessons according to age and skill level; children require a very different approach to learning piano than adults. In addition to reading music that kids like, he works on projects that give them a real sense of accomplishment; learning to play duets, blues improvisation, composing and recording original music, making a video, recording videos and scoring the music, learning rhythms through drumming.

Lessons for adults are done in a much realistic way. Because work, family, logistics, can all upset even the best intentions of students practicing at home, the lessons are designed with all these variables in mind.

Located in downtown Portland, Oregon, Resound NW is a music studio specializing in voice and piano lessons. Whether you've played before or are learning for the first time, your instructor will help you determine an appropriate methodology and curriculum as needed. Teaching at Resound is based on a relaxed and efficient approach to using your body to play the piano to allow you to express yourself in whatever music you love. And if you already know the basics of playing piano and now want to learn to read chord charts and to play different styles of music (jazz, pop, etc.), they can help you with that too.

The teachers at Resound are highly experienced. Daniel Buchanan (one of the teachers) is an active performer and has guided hundreds and hundreds of singers to learn to sing and play the piano.  From total beginners to professional performers, Daniel engages his student with care and encouragement, while helping each student to experience dramatic vocal transformation.

Resound students have been accepted in prestigious institutes such as Berklee College of Music, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, University of Texas, University of Oregon, and others.

Joseph Hoffman has a Master of Music from Brigham Young University. He started the Hoffman Academy Portland in 2007and since has experienced continuous growth. The academy now serves over 300 students with a faculty of 14 teachers. Mr. Hoffman’s mission is to provide students of all ages a high-quality music education in an engaging and nurturing environment that promotes a life-long love for music and music-making.

Private lessons, as well as group lessons, are available at the academy. Private lessons help to develop a proper, healthy technique while building strength, speed, and agility in the fingers. On the theory side of things, it helps understand more advanced music theory concepts, such as harmony, transposition, and composition/improvisation.

Group lessons help students quickly acquire musical skills at the piano while also building a keen understanding of music theory and music notation reading. A carefully designed curriculum includes proper playing technique and posture, note and rhythm reading, ear training, transposition, and improvisation. Each student is stationed at his/her own full-length 88-key digital piano (with weighted keys) to provide maximum playing time during the class.

The professional teachers at Vesper School of Music use a modern, creative and structured approach to learning music developed by Vesper's founder, pianist Becca Schultz.

As the child goes through different development stages, they need lessons based on the stage of development they are on. The school offers personalized instruction for each student based on their learning style, interests and ‎musical goals. Students experience lessons tailored to the way they learn as individuals. ‎Teens are at a developmental phase in which they begin to discover activities they are passionate about. Playing music as a teen is a great way to encourage positive self-expression as well as socialization with other teens. Lessons for adults are tailored to others according to other realities of life and usually given in 60-minute sessions which results in a more relaxed and in-depth lesson experience.

Between workshops, recitals, and other events throughout the year, your child will have ample opportunities to perform as well as meet other young musicians.

Sue has a Music degree from Portland State University and extensive performance and teaching experience. She was the winner of Medals of Distinction for violin performance and music theory and a Merit Award from the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music.

Sue likes to start with beginner students where children learn simple songs that teach great tone and rhythm using classical, folk, blues, rock, ragtime, bluegrass. Students learn concepts such as syncopation, rhythm, note reading, articulations, dynamics, asymmetrical time meters, and more. After that students are gradually introduced to scales, arpeggios, music theory, ear training and sight-reading.

For more serious students, an accelerated intensive course is available. This program involves an end of the year exam where the student is judged by Associated Board Examiner from London England and is graded on a point system.

Performance opportunities are also available throughout the year.

Catharina has a Bachelor of Arts from Potchefstroom University and Post Graduate teaching diploma from Rand Afrikaans University. For over 25 years, Catharina has taught music in Public Schools in South Africa and America, worked on a part-time basis as a professional musician, songwriter, worship leader and recording artist and taught beginner piano lesson for kids to late intermediate as well as adult piano lessons.

Children as young as 3.5 years old are welcomed and the lessons are taught in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Catharina strives to create a fun, relaxed atmosphere to ensure the comfort of children and adults alike with personalized teaching plans. Whether you choose to take classical piano lessons or learn to play chord piano, play piano by ear or read music, you will learn music, and you will learn how to play the piano skillfully.

Catharina has the unique ability to get the best out of her students from beginner piano lessons to advanced levels through her structure of lessons, rewards, and recitals. She also boasts some great reviews form her past students.

Elite Music Instruction has been in piano teaching business since 1996. The professionally trained and experienced staff of music teachers has helped students of various skill levels and ages achieve their musical dreams. The teachers are required to have extensive education and teaching backgrounds in music and patient, professional, fun, friendly and reliable personality.

The teachers at Elite Music Instructions are experts at teaching styles such as Rock, Blues, Jazz, Fusion, Funk, Folk, Heavy Metal, Slide Guitar, Classical, Opera, Musical Theater, Gospel, Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, Latin, Rockabilly, Country, Bluegrass, Tablature, Theory, Harmony, Ear Training, Songwriting, Arranging, and Orchestration.

At the Elite Music Instructions, lessons are customized according to the skill level and genres of music the student wants to learn. The teacher will review your lesson from the previous week in order to make sure you practiced the lesson correctly before moving on to all new material.

Keys to Life Music School has a presence in five locations in Portland. The aim is to provide lessons to students that are not only enjoyable but also make them better human beings. Beginning in 2007, Sara Kushner has grown the school from her personal home studio to a thriving community that serves nearly 200 families.

Different programs are available such as Seeds of Harmony where children ages 2-5 enjoy a lively class that consists of song sessions and games that introduce and develop the most important aspects of music, Music Camps, and Private Lessons. The private lessons are customized according to the needs of individual students.

These programs help develop the student’s music reading abilities, theory comprehension, technique, rhythm, ear training, creativity, and performance practice. To keep track of progress goals are set and the track is kept of assignments.  

School of Rock offers many programs to students of all ages and skill levels. These programs include Remote Learning, Little Wing (age 3-5), Rookies (age 6-7), Rock 101 (age 8-13), Performance (age 8-18) Adult Program (age 18+), House Band (age 13-17), and Allstar (age 17 and under).

School of Rock's piano lessons is vastly different from traditional one-on-one beginner piano lessons. At School of Rock, teachers get students to love the piano by teaching them to play popular rock songs while implementing basic concepts and skills like finger placement, scales, pedaling, key differentiation, and rhythm. Piano lessons for preschoolers, kids, teens, and adults are available.

A lot of rehearsal opportunities are available at the School of Rock. Every student at the School of Rock is placed in a band of fellow adults and then assigned specific songs as a way of learning key music concepts and skills. Adult students then take the stage to play at a live show in Las Vegas.

Montavilla Guitar Studio is focused on providing systemic education without any shortcuts and tips and tricks. They follow a thoughtfully designed and comprehensive curriculum to help students reach their musical potential through step-by-step guidance.

They also provide many performance opportunities throughout the year.

Eliason School of Music is devoted to striking a balance between having fun and learning. A lot of parents complain that their children are stuck at learning theory and others complain that all the focus was on fun, but they were not improving because important techniques were not being taught. ESM tries to correct this by teaching the theory while having fun with the lessons.

Suzuki method as well as the Faber and Faber method are taught at Eliason School of Music. The benefits of using the Suzuki method when teaching piano lessons are that students can learn songs by ear, focus on performing them correctly, and create excellent habits of play such as proper posture. Most of the piano lessons in the school are based on classical instruction, however, intermediate and advanced students may also explore other styles of music in their lessons such as Jazz or Blues or Ragtime.

The teachers at 4/4 School of Music offer a number of different piano teaching methods and styles including traditional sight-reading, playing without learning to read music, chord-based methods, improvisation, songwriting & theory. They will help you decide which is best for you based on your own personal goals. Most students at Four Four School of Music take a weekly half-hour, private lessons with the same teacher each week. One-hour piano lessons are also available but generally are only necessary for advanced level students. A lesson will start with a brief review of what you have been working on over the previous week followed by new songs, techniques, etc.

There are eleven Four Four School of Music locations in Washington, Oregon & Texas. Four Four School of Music has more than 50 active music teachers as a part of the system.