How Oclef Lessons Differ from Traditional Lessons
I’m sitting at the desk in my house on a cold December morning. To my right is my electric Korg keyboard and in front of me sits my desk and computer. It’s a very different setup than when I started teaching back in 2004. In the early days of teaching, I sat next to my students at my parents’ Baldwin upright piano as the student played. Today, I teach between 25-30 students daily from my home office, about to enter my 4th year as an Oclef instructor. Over these past four years, I’ve thought long and hard about the differences and benefits of teaching the Oclef way.
Some main key differences between “traditional” lessons and Oclef lessons lie in some very interesting areas. First, you enjoy the convenience of online lessons. Second, daily lessons help me correct any issues before they become habits. Third, with the shorter, more focused daily 1:1 lessons, students actually progress faster. Finally, by incorporating the Certificate of Merit exam, our students maintain their music education in a way both parent and student can measure.
Lessons Anywhere
The convenience of online cannot be overstated. A common issue with most extracurricular activities is travel. You have to get into the car, drive through traffic, find parking and make it inside the building before your class starts. Not to mention, when you go out of town, you can’t pack your soccer coach in your carry on.
With our fully online curriculum, you can take lessons from your house, your cousins house, your hotel, or from the back seat of your car. And students do! As all of the sheet music is consolidated in the Oclef Pro website, there is no need to carry books to and from lessons, or keep track of your lesson book each week. While students can and often do print out their sheet music, the ease and convenience of having all their music readily available is an invaluable asset.
Early Correction
Practice doesn't make perfect. I know, you’ve probably heard that from at least one teacher. It’s simply not true. Well, not fully. Let me explain. My wonderful high school piano teacher, Ms. Lannia, used to tell me, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”
Practice requires a huge amount of concentration and effort. It is almost impossible for a student to catch all of their mistakes. As a qualified and experienced teacher, I can look out for the little mistakes: proper posture, missed notes, a key change, all things that are easy for even the most experienced pianist to either miss or forget. This allows the student to focus on actually learning rather than spending the whole time trying to catch mistakes or fix technique.
Accelerated Learning
Guidance makes learning easier. It also leads our students to learn faster. On average, my students learn pieces or go through books up to five times faster than when I taught weekly lessons. It was one of the most surprising elements of the Oclef method for me when I first started teaching here.
Early lessons look very different. Before, I spent weeks, if not months, teaching students the basics of rhythm, finger numbers, right hand versus left hand, and so on. While these are simple concepts, they require repeated reinforcement to fully stick with the student. Shorter, daily lessons allow me to reinforce these concepts easily, leading the student to understanding them sooner and better. Another key difference is the focus on intervallic reading first. This means looking at how the notes are moving in relation to each other rather than focusing solely on where the note is on the staff. The focus on intervallic reading strengthens a student’s ability to read sheet music.
Moving Toward a Goal
At Oclef, we prioritize working toward goals. One goal is the yearly CM or “Certificate of Music” exam. This exam tests a student on four main categories: repertoire (the pieces they play), theory, sight reading and technique (scales and arpeggios).
Each year, the difficulty increases, as does the time commitment. These exams help students, parents, and teachers work together to help the student progress over time. Piano is an intensive instrument, requiring hours of practice and great attention to detail. By including parents into the learning process, it also gives the student more stability and strengthens community bonds.
Recitals are also a big part of learning at Oclef. We have regular in-person recitals and other performance opportunities. In-person performances allow students to build up confidence and problem-solving skills. While performing, students make spur-of-the-moment decisions. “My finger slipped, how do I recover?” or “I completely skipped that one part. Where can I jump to in my piece to cover that?” Additionally, they learn to navigate performance anxiety.
Many performers face performance anxiety. In an interview I conducted in 2024 with Dr. Judson Brewer, he revealed the key to working through performance anxiety. “[Being curious] helps us move from this closed down, contracted state of anxiety to this opened up state of curiosity.” He explains, “worry tends to make us more anxious [and] because curiosity feels better than worry, our brain is going to pick that bigger, better offer…Here, the bigger, better offer is curiosity.” Performing allows students to practice and hone the skill of curiosity in a safe, supportive environment.
Conclusion
Music lessons look much different today than they have in the past. Oclef lessons take that a step further by allowing students to take their lessons anywhere. Daily lessons allow for early correction and shorter, more frequent lessons allow students to learn at an accelerated pace. Goals such as recitals and CM help students stick to and maintain their studies over a longer period of time by allowing them to showcase their skills and build confidence and community.