Piano & music lessons

Piano lessons, by ear.

Carltabie Studio: faith-based piano lessons built on listening and hymn playing, not exams or competitions. An established teaching practice, running for years.

How it works

Students learn to hear a hymn before they learn to read it: singing the melody, finding it by ear, then building the chords and accompaniment underneath. Notation is introduced gradually, as support, never as the starting point.

✓Listening before playing
✓Playing melodies and accompaniments by ear
✓Hymns and sacred music
✓Patience, focus, and steady progress

Option 1 · Recurring

Monthly live lessons

$100 USD / month

Any level. Pay month by month and keep a steady rhythm with your teacher.

Book monthly lessons
✓4 live Zoom or Google Meet lessons
✓8 guided, supervised practice sessions
✓Ongoing lesson preparation and structured feedback
✓A fixed weekly time slot reserved for the student

Option 2 · One-time

Buy a whole level

Prefer to own the full course? Pay once for a complete level and work through it at your pace.

Beginner

Coming soon

$49.99 USD · one-time

Keys: C, F, G

·Listening before playing
·Singing melodies before keyboard work
·Simple hymn melodies
·Basic harmonic awareness
·Steady rhythm and calm tone

Students internalise sound and develop confidence without dependence on notation.

Tell me when it’s ready

Intermediate

Coming soon

$89.99 USD · one-time

Keys: D, A, Bb, Eb

·Left-hand coordination
·Chord patterns and accompaniment
·Transposition
·Awareness of harmonic movement

Students begin to understand musical structure and support melody thoughtfully.

Tell me when it’s ready

Advanced

Coming soon

$149.99 USD · one-time

Keys: E, B, Ab, Db, F♯/Gb

·Fluency across keys
·Voicing and balance
·Discernment in texture and style
·Playing for congregational contexts

Students develop musical restraint, clarity, and responsibility in service settings.

Tell me when it’s ready

Beginner repertoire · Key of C

Six hymns make up the Beginner repertoire in the key of C, re-taught in F and G as students progress:

🎵 Jesus Loves Me, This I Know🎵 Sweet Hour of Prayer🎵 When He Cometh🎵 The Great Physician🎵 When Peace Like a River🎵 I Surrender All

Downloads

Handbook & studio policy

BL Piano — Beginner Level HandbookKeyboard basics, solfège, the C major scale and chords, and sheet music for the Beginner hymn repertoire in the key of C.Download ↓
Carltabie Studio — Policy & CurriculumStudio philosophy, tuition and lesson format, and the full Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced curriculum.Download ↓

This studio works especially well for families who value discipline over entertainment, formation over competition, and steady, faith-centred progress over fast-tracked results. It may not be the best fit for students mainly seeking piano exams, competitions, or rapid performance-based advancement.