Most people think of the piano as a solo instrument, and for good reason. The piano is one of the only instruments that is able to accompany itself. This is why Franz Schubert said "The piano is like having the entire orchestra at your fingertips." And as one who has played this marvelous instrument for over 25 years, I can attest to the truth of that statement. But even to this day, I can remember back when I hated the piano because I would go to recitals and hear the older, more experienced students play Beethoven, Chopin, and Mozart; or a really awesome jazz piece; or one of may favorite Disney Songs, and I wanted that. I would tell my teacher my desire, and my teacher would say if I kept practicing, ONE DAY, I could play those songs as well. But when it was my turn to play at the recital, I would get up on stage, sit behind that behemoth of an instrument and play Chug-Chug Choo-Choo from my lesson book. I know everyone has to start at the beginning, but I wanted to play better, cooler, awesomer music, and I didn't want to wait.

What turned me on to the idea of starting group piano classes was when I had the opportunity to conduct orchestras in college. I would read the conductor score and notice that all these individual instruments were simply playing one note at a time, but the music was awesome. (I want to make sure I am understood. I am not saying playing these other instruments are easy. Every instrument has its own unique challenges, but from the viewpoint of a professional pianist, the idea of only one note at a time is simple.) So why don't we do this with pianists? The most common answer I found was, "The Piano is a SOLO instrument." THIS WAS THE MOST COMMON ANSWER THAT I WAS GIVEN BY OTHER PIANO TEACHERS!!!! So we teach the piano as a solo instrument, because it's a solo instrument, and this is why we teach it as a solo instrument!?!?!?! Can you say, circular reasoning. Other teachers were offended at the idea of teaching the piano as a solo instrument, because it was somehow beneath the dignity of the instrument itself. Talk about self righteous. I assumed that there was some technical, logistical, or musical reason that teachers didn't do this. And to be fair, some teachers said they "Didn't have room for multiple pianos", or they "Were against using electric keyboards" or "There isn't enough music for multiple pianos", and these are more valid concerns. But I was confident I could overcome those challenges. So I did. I accepted the challenge, and it was awesome. Students loved learning together, playing together, and challenging each other. My students were actually excited to come to class and I was excited to teach them.