Classics By Ear – Student Reviews

“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.”

“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!”

“I’m quite impressed how an online course can be actually better than a presenting course. I didn’t expect much of this, but I’m 100% satisfied and do believe is one of the best courses out there. At least is working really well for me.
Also, my aunt is taking another course from this teacher and she’s enjoying a lot.
Thank you”

“I thoroughly enjoyed this course.
I had heard Satie’s Gymnopédies before, but not the Gnossiènes, and didn’t really know what to expect. I initially found the musical scores a little overwhelming and intimidating when I first downloaded and looked at them, and doubted that I would be able to play them without a LOT of effort.
Although I am not a complete beginner anymore and have been playing the piano for about a year now, Satie’s pieces are not exactly easy!
But Robin has structured this course extremely well, breaking down each of the three pieces into logical sections. I loved learning these pieces in such a manageable, step-by-step way.
Although I have finished the course now, I realise that I will need to put in a lot more practice to feel really comfortable with the left hand jumps and chords and the strange-sounding right hand melodies, and to be able to bring it all together in a moving, expressive way – and to do so consistently, without errors.
Robin, thank you so much for guiding us through these beautiful pieces. I hope you’ll offer more courses like this in the future.”

“I want to thank you for this course!
I started to learn as a novice using old 61-keys synth with squeaking plastic keys. In three months I started thinking on buying a good piano and in eight months I recorded my performance using my own perfect instrument which I love so much and which, I believe, will help me to learn my favorite pieces. You can listen to me playing the “Trois Gnossiennes” if you want  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPva4d9vNa1lgZhDRSjbekaWYfTz8Jueh

I am an amator and do not take real music lessons with a teacher. Robin’s course helped me not only to learn to play three beautiful pieces but also pointed out many important things which you need to pay attention and this helps me to proceed with my studying as an amator.
I havent got rid of performance fear completely (do you think it is possible?), – even when just recording (alone) I perform worse then without recording. However some of Robin’s practics helps to be prepared to perform even when nervous from the beginning to the end with reasonable amount of mistakes.”

“Fantastic course. I can read sheet music – but followed the instructions and learned the piece much quicker than if I was just reading alone. Also learned how to pick out particulars in different performances I listened to that I would like to add to my own interpretation. The videos, audio and pdfs are excellent. Really great experience!!!”

“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!”