Empowering Piano Lessons at Home

How I Became an Online Piano Instructor

Hello! Nice to meet you!

I'm Kim. That's Mrs. Kim if you're a student! :-)

How did I end up with a website helping all kinds of beginners with piano lessons at home?

Funny you should ask!

I fell in love with music as a young girl, allowed to play the flute of a family friend who came to visit. I was completely enchanted with the instrument and when the time came for 5th grade band - I was ready!

I played flute all through school, adding in some (self-taught) piano over the years, and also adding french horn to my repertoire during my senior year, which I played in marching band and our second concert band - I was first-chair flute in our symphonic band. It was no surprise to anyone when I started university as a music education mor.

But something surprising happened. I discovered I didn't want to be a band director, which was my ambition since middle school. I also knew I didn't have the chops to be a performance major. I knew I loved music, but there didn't seem to be a good fit for me.

I finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. Discouraged, I spent 10 years in administrative jobs, believing my 'music days' were behind me, except to play a flute solo at church once in a while.

A surprising opportunity opened up for me after my husband and I relocated to Washington's Olympic Peninsula. People started to find out I was a musician, and I got offered the opportunity to teach beginning piano and flute at a local piano store. I jumped at the chance, even though I felt out of the loop.

It didn't take long for me to realize being a private piano instructor was a great fit for me. I loved the one-on-one relationships with students and their parents, and celebrating discoveries and successes with my students.

I spent a few years teaching with the piano store, then I made a huge leap and opened my own teaching studio. What a joy to own my own business and be an entrepreneur as well as a teacher.

In 2007, my husband and I made the difficult decision to move back across the country to the Boston area. What did this mean for me? Sadly, I packed up my studio, and said goodbye to my Washington students. That last week of lessons, and saying goodbye, was probably one of the hardest weeks of my life. My students become part of my family!

During those many hours of driving across the country, I thought about teaching, encouraging others to learn, and about my passion -- adults who want to play piano. Beginners, and those who believe they're not talented or smart enough to learn. I'm truly passionate in my belief that everyone is musical! I want to shout it from the rooftops!!

So, in the midst of sadness at shutting down my studio, I realized that I already had an amazing opportunity to get the word out, and encourage more people to learn piano. My website (which by that time was starting to become a successful web business of it's own)! Aha!

Happily, you-can-play-piano.com, which I originally started to promote my local teaching studio, has become my passion. I love helping people with piano lessons at home. What's amazing is that I now get emails from piano students all over the world, young and old. I get emails from parents. I get emails from other piano teachers!

In a way, I'm still a piano instructor. Just not in person! Consider me your online piano teacher! ;-) I couldn't be happier to pour my time into writing and sharing what I know here. Look for lots of new tutorials, reviews, and articles in 2010!

Here I am with my current "full time job" - my sweet daughter!

Why did I tell you all of this? Simple.

I've come back to music after many years away. I have a glimpse of what it feels like for adult beginners who desperately want to be musicians, but it's been years since their fingers touched a keyboard.

And that's how I know for sure that YOU can play piano! And I'm here for you whenever you need a helping hand.

How did I do this whole website thing, anyway? I'm no internet whiz.

Despite that, I've got a successful site - which earns me money every month - with top 10 rankings on Google for many of my pages. This wasn't my first try at being online! Read more about my online story and how I built a successful web business.

I love sharing what I do with the world!

If you have a hobby, a passion, or a local business, you can do the very same thing I did.

What do you love?

Whatever it is, you can take your passion online. It's so much fun to share what you love with people everywhere, who are searching for exactly the knowledge that you have!

You can do it!

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