Classics By Ear – Student Reviews

Students are LOVING the Classics By Ear courses!
Now ANYONE can play their favourite classical pieces.

Pianoforall Classics By Ear Reviews

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Erik Satie →  |  Bach Preludes →  |  Moonlight Sonata →

Erik Satie

SIMPLY AWESOME

“Just completed this course.
I don’t think anybody make the lessons easier than this lecturer. Simply awesome and I think it’s a kind of psychological approach from the lecturer.
If you learn to play classical piano, please go dive into this right away!
”

Tariq H.
Bach Preludes

PACKED WITH USEFUL INFORMATION

“The instructor makes it so easy to play and remember the notes. You just have to put in the time to practice. This course is packed with useful information for how to go from sheet music to playing the prelude.”

Ali Ammari
Erik Satie

I LOVED THIS COURSE

“I loved this course and the way the three musical pieces were divided into small easily digestible sections. You could quickly get a sense of achievement. The instructor’s calm voice, explanations and encouragements worked well for me too. I learned to play the pieces much faster than I expected for a beginner!”

Marie-France R.
Moonlight Sonata

TRULY INSPIRATIONAL

“It is a truly inspirational course for me. I am making progress !!! Just in time I have found the words of encouragement and support. So important to have those. Great teacher. I am really grateful for the clear and easy to follow visual instructions that I needed most as I am studying without a tutor by my side.”

Sergio
Moonlight Sonata

SO EASY TO FOLLOW

“I’ve always wanted to learn this piece of beautiful music when I first it when I was young. This course is so easy to follow and with a lot of practise and determination I can now play it through memory. The ability to just sit down at a piano and play this give me so much pleasure. I’m so grateful to you for sharing this. Thank you”

Peter Corrigan
Moonlight Sonata

AMAZING PROGRAM

“Do I recommend this course? YES, highly. I sort of learned to play the piano as a child, if you know what I mean, and there were times when I tried to teach myself to play Moonlight Sonata. I never got past the first 2-3 lines. Decades later, here I am playing Moonlight Sonata in its entirety, all thanks to this wonderful course. I’d like to say it’s a miracle, but in reality, it was a combination of patience and practice on my part AND the use of Robin Hall’s amazing program.

The course is divided into lessons that present this complex (imho) piece of music in manageable sections. Robin offers a very thorough review of each section along with suggestions on how to remember the fingering, which is very helpful. It takes time to learn this piece of music. I practiced every day and only moved on to the next lesson when I felt comfortable with what I had learned so far. I feel that one of the most important things is to allow yourself to enjoy the process of learning each section and to not solely focus on the goal. In this way, you’ll have fun and you’ll keep progressing! Then, before you know it, one day, you too will be playing Moonlight Sonata all on your own.”

Tracey D
Erik Satie

IT FEELS AMAZING

“Great course. I learned to play the first Gnossienne from start to finish in less than a week by watching this course and I have only been learning classical piano for a couple of months.

It feels amazing to be able to play along with some of the classic Satie recordings and feel that not only do I get the notes right, but I’m also starting to add expression to my playing. Looking forward to future courses applying the same method!”

Jaakko H.
Moonlight Sonata

AMAZING TEACHER

“This is my second course from this amazing teacher. I’m a 62 year old novice, but these courses have made me a better player than I ever expected to be. Thank you.”

Ken Koehler
Erik Satie

AN EXCELLENT COURSE

“This is an excellent course. I’ve finished Gnossienne #1 and am working on #2. Not sure if I will do #3 as I am a bit sated on Satie. But the techniques taught enable you to learn the pieces step by step until you perfect it to whatever standard you wish. For me, my playing of #1 is still a bit mechanical, but I can play it without looking at the music and really enjoy being able to. I don’t like to sound like the old guy but I’m 68 and have never played piano (or keyboard in my case) before.

NB I would recommend a piano if you have access. Electronic keyboards don’t do the piece justice. Although I’m a bit over Satie I hope there will some new pieces by different composers in the future. I would definitely want to do those. Highly Recommended.”

Derek B.
Erik Satie

THIS SYSTEM IS SO SATISFYING

“After literally one week of 20 minutes per day I could play the first piece without sheet music- this system is so satisfying and really works.!! Doesn’t mean I can improvise jazz yet but it’s totally got me enthusiastic to play and learn more. 5* from me…”

Tristan C.
Moonlight Sonata

THIS COURSE HAS HELPED ME TO FILL IN THE GAPS

“I love your soothing, calming voice. This course has helped me to fill in the gaps. Thank you for breaking it all down in bite size pieces.”

Jasmin Jinn
Erik Satie

I’M MAKING MORE PROGRESS THAN EVER BEFORE – I’M 87

“Because of its flexibility of use. You can match your own ability and time available that you have. Which means you are in complete control of your own progress. It has never been patronising. In order to gain from the course you do have to be disciplined to carry out regular study. I’ve found all the courses I’ve tried very well paced and logically presented with very clear instruction.

If anything I’ve signed up for more courses than I have time to concentrate on but I find I can drop in and out of your courses and easily pick them up where I left off and so far not been bored by any. They are in fact all related to my interest in becoming better educated about jazz piano.

I have been involved with music most of my life and I feel I’m making more progress than ever before.
One thing my be of interest l’m 87 years old.”

John B
Bach Preludes

A GREAT MATCH FOR ME

“This is definitely a great match for me. I have been slowly working my way through Robin’s basic piano course which in itself has been an amazing tool for me to learn piano. I can’t wait to get into these two new courses. Thank you Robin for making these courses So user friendly. I sure appreciate your teaching style!”

Janice Bell
Bach Preludes

VERY ENGAGING AND MOTIVATING

“Very engaging and motivating, inspirational and encouraging. Robin’s tuition – as with his broader course PIANO FOR ALL (which I also own and have gained much from) – is again superb! Quite simply piano tuition worth its weight in gold, but very modestly priced – a massive “bang for your buck”! Buy it and try it for yourself and you won’t be disappointed, I promise you; indeed you’ll be chomping at the bit to have a go and progress to the next level of your musical journey, discovery, and competence.

Thanks, Robin, keep up the good work – and keep bringing us more superb piano/music lessons in the near future, sir! :-)”

Chris Harvey
Erik Satie

YOU’LL BE PLAYING THIS PIECE IN A FEW WEEKS

“Awesome course. Helpful even if you have never played the piano but would take some time to get used to it.
For those who have been playing for 1 or 2 months, don’t be afraid to tackle a proper piece. Just put in an 15 min on top of your normal practice and you’ll be playing the haunting piece in a few weeks.
Playing a piece like this is highly motivating and keeps you going through the simpler pieces that you might be learning”

Alvin L.
Moonlight Sonata

INSPIRATIONAL

“I would buy any course by robin hall. This and others i have bought are great and inspirational”

Scarlet Buckle
Erik Satie

TAUGHT ME HOW TO CONQUER ANY PIECE OF MUSIC

“I am completely amazed by this course. Not only did I learn to play the three beautiful Gnossiennes, which took me roughly 4 weeks to master each of them technically, but even better: on the way, this course taught me by example how to conquer any piece of music: by separating hands, figuring out the fingering, dividing the piece into smaller parts, practicing all of this slowly over and over and over again, to put it back together in the end.

At times I didn’t believe I’d ever be able to play the next section, but Robin explained clearly how to practice all the difficult parts. And the method works. I’m still working on adding more expression to some parts, but I play the Gnossiennes so easily now that I can actually listen to myself playing and enjoy the experience. Thank you Robin, I’ve enjoyed this course so much!”

Alexander W.
Bach Preludes

THIS CLASS HAS BEEN A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

“For someone who tried to learn piano as a child, this class has been a breath of fresh air, as well as a confidence booster. I already had a basic understanding of reading music and playing but had not tried to play the piano for decades. The step-by-step structure of this class and viewing each step as a pattern of notes/finger movements was brilliant for me.

Then, the addition of a final lesson that brought expression into the piece rounded out my experience perfectly. I so enjoyed this class! I would love to see more piano classes like this from Robin that focus on learning individual compositions. Maybe some Vivaldi or The Beatles? 🙂 Thank you for a great class!”

Tracey D
Bach Preludes

IT’S ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT

“Don’t hesitate to buy this course its absolutely brilliant. Robin is a great teacher and very thorough. I am a novice player and it has taken me just over a week to learn this piece – so far I am stoked to see how quick this was to learn.”

Dean Oleary
Erik Satie

IT’S CHANGED THE WAY I LOOK AT MUSIC

“I am incredibly happy with this course it’s changed the way I look at Music. I was completely overwhelmed with the Satie sheet music, 4flats! Now when I approach a piece I’m looking for patterns, for how the whole thing is structured. I listen more and better as well because I understand more. Thank you!”

Luke R.
Erik Satie

SUCH A BRILLIANT COURSE

“I’ve mostly completed the first Gnossienne. This is such a brilliant course that is well-organized, very thorough and detailed. I used to learn to play piano but I really like this new way of learning. I’m looking forward to other courses like this one. Thank you Robin for making these great lessons.”

Nguyen D.
Moonlight Sonata

THE RESULTS HAVE BEEN ABOVE MY EXPECTATIONS

“I never thought I would be able to play this piece, or anything as complex as this. But the way Robin Hall takes you literally by the hand and guides you step by step, it’s just amazing, I mean it works, all it takes is persistence and the results will come.
Of course, this is a complex and fairly difficult piece, it is not for novices but with Robin Halls’ guidance, someone with a few years experience, (let’s say, someone like me who has competed most of Robin Halls “Piano For All” course) can give it a go and with practice, the results will come.
Also, a suggestion: if you try this score/course and you find it difficult, do Robin Halls’ Bach Preludes course first or even his Satie course, both courses follow the same method with well written scores, keyboard diagrams and step by step guidance, and Bach’s Prelude No. 1 in C major (BWV 846) and Satie’s Gnossienne No 1 are much simpler than the Moonlight Sonata Mov 1, this is what I did and as I said, the results have been above my expectations…”

George Theotokis
Moonlight Sonata

ANOTHER EXCELLENT COURSE

“This was the most challenging piano piece I have learned so far. I have wanted to learn how to play this for a long time, and honestly wondered whether it was beyond my ability. Robin’s course, which broke it down into small manageable, logical chunks, showed me that it was indeed possible for me to learn this – with perseverance and lots and lots of repetition and practice! Thank you so much, Robin, for another excellent course.”

Bach Preludes

YOU HAVE MADE THIS SO EASY

“You have made this so easy to play with the wonderful visuals and Instructions which I printed out to have at hand. At 74 years of age, I finally found a beautiful tune to be able to play because of you’re program. Brilliant. I’m almost up to the speed that you play at till working on that and the various volumes required to make this piece sound properly. I have purchased you”re other programs so I have much to do and much to look forward to. Fills my early mornings, my late nights. Robin, You have some very powerful and Brilliant teaching power. Thank You, Ginter”

Ginter Schatz