Piano Lessons

I’m now teaching the piano 20 years.

A lot has changed in that time, but my core teaching philosophy hasn’t.

In 2005 all I knew was that I wanted to teach the piano in the way the guitar was taught. Enable people to work out melodies, play the chords to the songs they liked, and further down the line maybe figure out those licks or solos that would make them stand out. Make it fun, make it relevant, make it exciting.

Since then I have refined these aims and designed a structured curriculum with a workbook and online videos. There are 8 levels, designed to take students from beginner level to the stage where they can be independent of any teacher or sheet music. And we don’t skimp on the basics. The programme comes with the following…

  • Notes, chord charts and videos for more than 200 songs chosen by students.

  • Access to my online tuition platform.

  • Ear training puzzles and challenges.

  • Group workshops and end-of-term concerts.

  • Scale and chord technique exercises.

It works. Some former students are now working as professional musicians, others have gone on to further study, and many more I won’t hear about until I meet them on the street and they tell me they are happily playing away for themselves and perhaps their families at home.

I am lucky to have a brilliant team - Annette, Scarlett, Niamh, Shauna, Luke, Bridget, Sorcha, Paddy, Joy, Katelyn, Thomas, Odhrán, Bethany and Laura - working with me to deliver this programme to students. We are now enrolling students (age 7+) for the autumn 2024 term of our popular after-school classes in Strandhill, Rathcormac, Boyle and Dublin. Both afternoon and evening slots available.

Please email pianowithkieran@gmail.com (or pwkdublin@gmail.com for Dublin lessons) if you or someone you know may be interested. Maybe this is the year!

Testimonials

“The ‘learning by ear’ classes bring a whole new dimension to learning the piano. This new way of looking at music has been a revelation to me having only ever attended traditional piano classes as a child.

Annette’s innate ability and absolute passion for music combined with her gentle teaching methodology makes for a piano lesson that you can actually look forward to. If you want to revolutionise how you think about piano lessons and music and start playing music you enjoy, almost immediately, without years and years of scales and theory, then I cannot recommend this school of music highly enough!”

- Regina Ward

Despite being classically trained, I have always preferred learning songs that I can sing along to while accompanying myself. However this was limited to my basic understanding of chords until I began lessons with Kieran Quinn. These lessons differed so drastically from what I was used to as they directly focused on me, the songs I wanted to learn and the skills I would need to learn them. In this day and age, I can’t recommend enough learning to play by ear, and learning to accompany oneself and others, and that is exactly what lessons with Kieran Quinn gave me. 

- Orla Devlin

While there are several factors as to why lessons with Kieran are so great, my favourite is the accessibility to songs that suit your style. Each lesson, I learned to expand my ability through a song I could enjoy and wanted to play for myself as much as for an audience. I also loved exploring the website and different genres of music with multiple levels of playing. 

Kieran’s style of teaching helped me to challenge my skills without worrying about tests or failing, etc. 

Also - it’s just really fun to watch Kieran listen to a brand new song and then play it on the piano two minutes later!

-Annie Buick

“Both girls love going to their piano lessons, it’s one of their favourite things to do! They are always so enthusiastic and excited on their way out to them and always come out buzzing. They love Annette, absolutely love Annette.

They’ve covered so much in such a short space of time and they always come home with something new learned. There’s definitely a passion in them with these lessons compared to other after school activities. Kieran and Annette are amazing with them and have a very personal approach to their teaching. The girls are made to feel very special with the attention they receive.

They’ve definitely gained a strong appreciation for playing the piano. The best thing is that they practise without being asked. We would highly recommend these classes to anyone considering sending their child to music lessons, and the girls would too!”

- Daithi & Sharon, Parents of Abigail (9) and Alannah (7) - piano students