Am I qualified enough to teach piano?

You are not looking to set yourself up as a professional piano teacher, just to try teaching a relative. Why not give it a shot and see how it goes?

Anyone with experiences in teaching someone for some extra cash at home??

The video clearly demonstrates that it isn’t your competence as a musician which is at issue, and should NOT concern you one bit. Whether or not you are a good teacher is something for you and your niece to discover together. Personally, I believe if you are able to impart your passion and love of playing, it will more than compensate for the tedium involved with all the necsessary hours of grinding and repetitive scales and exercises. Your niece will learn to be a musician, and you will learn to teach.

I can barely play the radio, but my husband is a musician and occasionally teaches lessons.

He started on piano at 7, but the guitar is his instrument (he picked that up at 12). He can sorta read music, but not well enough to cold-read.

When others approach him for lessons, he makes certain to learn exactly what it is they are looking to learn, and is honest about what he can teach them. You want to learn to read tabs? play bar chords? Figure out how to play Pantera songs by ear? Got you. Want to be the next Andres Segovia? Well, so does he, and he hasn’t pulled that off yet. Sorry.

Learning to play a piano should be an enjoyable experience. Part of being a good teacher is to convey your enjoyment of music and playing music on the piano. One thing that I think you should do is to introduce some pop tunes for your niece to be be able to play. I don’t know how to play the piano, but it seems to me that after no more than a few weeks of instruction, a student should know enough to play some simple show tunes, folk music and rock songs.

I’ve done the same with guitar before. One thing is for sure – teaching someone the piano will improve your skills as a pianist. You have the experience, you have the know-how.. yeah.. give it a shot.. I don’t see a negative side.

Thanks, everyone! This helps me a lot. A lot of piano teachers online were telling me I need to have formal training… I was like, “Umm even just to teach my niece or just beginners??” LOL!

I think you just need to have the confidence you can do this. You obvious have the knowledge and skill. There is a TON of online advice for what you are seeking to do! Just have fun and make it fun!

@LostInParadise I agree! As I got a bit bored with piano I requested pop songs to keep my interested. She would consider that my “treat” at the end of lesson. She seems to be a fast learner, I have plenty of sheets and online resources for her to choose.

Don’t believe it (formal training). And even if they’re right, you and your niece will benefit from the experience.

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate the advice.

Your niece will probably want to quit taking lessons before you do. If she stays with it, beyond the beginner lessons, then an advanced piano teacher wouldn’t be hard to find if you still feel you couldn’t teach those. The best way to really become proficient at a skill is to teach it to someone else.

@Littlemisslinny I have a feeling she’ll learn all I know and get bored before continuing on to more advance stuff that hardly most people play. Lol it seems to me, from experience, most people venture off on their own once they know the basics…that’s how it was for me really.

When I retired I bought a gloss mahogany grand piano. Then, I started taking piano lessons. It was a dream come true for me. When you teach someone to play, you may be helping them to make their dream come true. You have a wonderful skill that many people aspire to, but some cannot play for various reasons. Share those skills and be very proud of yourself. Won’t it be wonderful later in life when your niece says, “My uncle taught me to play.”

One of my first jobs out of the Navy was teaching piano. I had never taken lessons on piano, but I had formal lessons on accordion, and had successfully transferred those skills to organ.

Using the “Alfred” method is a good idea, as each lesson will build on previous materials.

Also, with beginner lessons, there should be a required amount of practice time, to help develop the discipline of regular practice. I would suggest 15 minutes per day to start.

@Littlemisslinny thanks! P.s I’m an auntie not uncle lol

Thanks everyone. So far so good on piano. She just needs to get in habit of practicing but she’s a fast learner.