Flex Lessons/Studio Membership

What Flex Lessons Is

Real Piano Lessons. On-Demand.

A blend of traditional methods and online convenience

Flex Lessons was built from the ground-up to move students efficiently through the beginner phase and into higher levels of piano repertoire. With Flex Lessons, you will never be stuck as a "forever beginner".

Meet Your Instructor

Hi! I'm Joseph.

I created Flex Lessons to bring classical piano education into the 21st century.

I am a classically-trained pianist and organist who has been teaching exclusively online since 2018. With over a decade of piano teaching experience, I am passionate about teaching adult piano students and believe it is never too late to get started.

You can read more about me here

Who This Is For

Have Other Piano Methods Failed You?

Do you want to have confidence in your music playing abilities? Do you long to play masterpieces by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and other famous composers?

Do you struggle with gaps in your piano knowledge? Are your pieces taking too long to learn? Are you having trouble with sight reading or rhythm?

Are traditional, one-on-one lessons costing too much? Have modern piano apps left you disappointed?

Flex Lessons offers a real, classical piano education for the modern student.

Want to learn the music of the masters?

A Modern Classical Approach

The main focus of the Flex Lessons curriculum is to help you become a classically trained pianist.

Here's what you can expect from this program:

  • Learn how to create a daily practice routine that can be sustained in the long term

  • Develop strong reading skills to speed up the learning of new pieces

  • Memorize scales, arpeggios, and other important exercises in all keys

  • Become familiar with music from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic stylistic periods

  • Reach the late intermediate level and begin to study works such as Bach Inventions and the easier music of Chopin.

Once you reach these milestones, you'll be ready to study early-advanced repertoire and enjoy the vast wealth of historical music.

Divide & Conquer Your Practice!

The Flex Lessons Curriculum

This isn't just a course. It's a full curriculum that includes all of the essentials for your piano study!

Practice is divided across three major categories:

Piano Essentials helps you develop your reading skills, knowledge of scales, and piano technique.

Piano Repertoire provides you with a smooth progression of classically focused piano literature.

Piano Studies enhances your musicianship through a series of specialized studies for the piano.

Self-Paced, Not Self-Isolated

Get Feedback on Your Piano Playing

To become proficient as a musician, you must have a way to receive feedback. After all, you don't know what you don't know! With Flex Lessons, there are two ways to get this critical information regularly:

Included for All Members

Submit a video recording

All members can request feedback from me by sharing examples of their work to a private discussions section inside each course.

There is no extra cost for this invaluable feature!

Purchased As Needed

Book a Zoom piano lesson

Need some extra help? As a member, you can purchase piano lessons with me via Zoom as needed to supplement your study.

There is no implied commitment for Zoom lessons!

How Much You'll Save

More Affordable Than Traditional Lessons

Typical in-person piano lessons often start at $60 per hour and add up to thousands of dollars over the course of a year. Also, weekly or biweekly commitment is usually required.

Flex Lessons students can study at their own pace while saving thousands of dollars on lessons. The focused curriculum and well-organized courses ensure students always know the next steps.

For the cost of one lesson per month or less, you can get on-demand access to your courses and feedback from your instructor.

Join Flex Lessons!

Want to learn how to read music, build your technique, and choose piano repertoire? You likely need piano lessons, but traditional lessons are often expensive, inefficient, and inflexible...until now.

Welcome to Flex Lessons, an innovative and affordable alternative to traditional piano lessons.

For a limited time, both plans are discounted 20% from the usual price of $40/60!

  • $32/mo

Beginner Plan (Levels 1-3)

  • Includes 7 additional products

This program streamlines the beginner phase of piano and provides the necessary instruction to reach the early intermediate level. This plan includes support for 30 pieces of repertoire along with scales, arpeggios, theory, sight reading, and the study of exercises from Mikrokosmos Volume 1.

  • $48/mo

Intermediate Plan (Levels 4-7)

  • Includes 8 additional products

This program starts at the early intermediate level and will ultimately prepare students for advanced study. This plan includes support for 40 pieces of repertoire along with several types of key-based exercises, theory, sight reading, and exercises from Czerny Op. 599. PLEASE NOTE: This plan is currently in early access with new content being added regularly.

Member Testimonials

Check out what Flex Lessons members have to say!

Austin M.

“INCREDIBLE community, phenomenal practice regimen, and always very detailed feedback. Not even an exaggeration, Flex Lessons is my favorite part of the day.”

Mark H.

“Motivated and qualified teacher with sincere desire to help students progress using best pedagogy and online tools means much quicker improvement with less time required and more fun and satisfaction.”

Daniel N.

“There’s no better online lessons for classical piano! Progressive learning, instant feedback and awesome community.”

Frequently asked questions

Here are the most commonly asked questions about Flex Lessons and related topics. If you don't see your question, feel free to use the chat feature.

How does this program work?

Flex Lessons is a service where I provide piano lessons asynchronously.

Here's how it works:

  • Students follow a curriculum which is divided into levels. Each level is associated with a set of courses.

  • Each course contains a series of prerecorded lessons that all focus on a specific category of practice (such as repertoire or technique).

  • Students refer to courses as needed to develop their skills, systematically checking off items as they go until each course is complete.

  • Throughout this process, students can upload recordings to a private discussion area for my review. I will offer feedback, encourage students to move on, or request additional recordings.

  • If a student needs extra help, they can schedule private Zoom lessons with me as needed. These lessons are paid for separately.

This program is essentially a series of video tutorials, piano method, piano curriculum, and private community in one! It's also my way of teaching and instructing many more students (at less cost per student) compared to a typical 1 on 1 situation.

You can learn how to use the program by clicking here.

Which plan is right for me?

The Flex Lessons Studio Membership is divided into different tiers based on skill level.

If you have some piano experience already, you can download my Piano Repertoire Placement Guide to get a rough idea of where your abilities are.

  • If you find the Level 1-3 material most comfortable, you should join the Beginner Plan.

  • If you prefer the Level 4-7 material, you should join the Intermediate Plan.

  • If you can handle Level 8-10 material, you are above the current scope of the Studio Membership and should consider private lessons.

Do you have a syllabus for this program?

Yes! Visit the page below to view a list of all included courses and topics covered within this program.

https://www.flexlessons.com/syllabus

What happened to the old plans?

The previous Studio Essentials and Studio Premium plans have been retired. You can read more about this by clicking here.

How do the courses differ from other piano tutorials on YouTube?

Students will likely find many aspects of these courses to be superior to something like YouTube. The most obvious difference is consistency, organization, and of course, direct access to a teacher.

By using a course platform to deliver content, the subjects discussed can be very granular yet easy to reference quickly. There is no need to scroll through an hour long video to find what you need. Additionally, these courses are intended to help you place yourself using a rating system, and offer consistent instruction regardless of piece difficulty. Also, there are no ads. 

Another important distinguishing feature of these courses is that they look and sound beautiful and are designed to be as helpful as possible to the student. Everything was recorded using high quality cameras and stereo microphones. Many lessons feature an overview camera view which shows a clean and well-lit view of the keyboard. There is also a consistent quality throughout the program.

As a member, am I required to upload recordings?

You are not required to submit recordings. However, you really should consider uploading to take full advantage of my program. You are unlikely to advance past a certain point without regular feedback from a teacher.

When I view student recordings, I check for note and rhythm accuracy and musical fluency. I am also looking out for bad habits (such as playing with a rigid wrist). I can help keep you on track and maximize your chance of advancing.

If you don't want to upload recordings, you can always schedule a Zoom lesson with me and get feedback privately.

Who can view student recordings?

Recordings are uploaded to a private discussion section inside each course. These recordings are viewable by me as well as the other members. However, recordings are not publicly accessible.

There are many advantages to using the course discussions area to upload recordings:

  • Videos and other media can be directly uploaded. There is no need for video hosting.

  • Students benefit significantly from viewing each others recordings (along with my feedback).

  • Students often encourage one another and help each other out.

  • I will respond to students in video format when I feel it is necessary.

  • Sometimes I may go back and forth several times with a student while they are working on a piece. The design of the course discussions feature makes this possible.

It's also worth mentioning that students can also delete their recordings as they wish.

Do these courses offer any advantage over piano lessons?

Yes. These courses provide you access to the same sort of instruction and demonstration that you would find in a typical piano lesson at a fraction of the cost. You can access each video whenever needed, and you can use the layout of the courses to pick level appropriate repertoire and strategically work to increase your skills. 

If you choose to still get piano lessons, you will need less of them AND each lesson will be more worthwhile because of these courses!

Are these courses intended to replace piano lessons?

These courses are aimed at students who wish to find their own way, but are still willing to check in with a teacher every now and then. While they are not intended to completely replace the need for a teacher, they can certainly decrease the amount of lessons one might need.

Students who enjoy these courses should consider using a hybrid approach between infrequent Zoom lessons (also offered here) and course instruction. This will save students a significant amount of money compared to weekly lessons while offering similar levels of effectiveness.

Also, all members can get feedback on their playing by sharing recordings in a dedicated section of each course. There is a significant amount of guidance that can be offered using this unique approach.

What is asynchronous learning? Is the Studio Membership truly asynchronous?

Asynchronous learning is essentially learning or study that is not in real time. Flex Lessons utilizes this concept by anticipating what student needs will be, prerecording content that addresses those needs, and making this content available to all members, on demand. 

Many students tend to have the same sorts of questions about pianistic topics, and it generally not necessary to explain these concepts to each student, one at a time, in real time. The asynchronous model combined with member access to each video frees up time to make more content, and ends up assisting a much greater number of students. 

True asynchronous learning would ideally involve a flow of information back and forth between the instructor and student. This concept is already integrated into the Studio Membership! Students can share their recordings to recieve helpful feedback.

What happens if I finish the program?

If you finish all of the course work, you are welcome to continue your study with me or another teacher privately. You will also have developed your skills to the point where you can begin to explore repertoire on your own.

I don't expect students to remain members forever! Rather, I anticipate that students will use my program for a period of time in their life and be on their way at some point.

With that said, I am working to push the level of the program up, and I hope to cover the late intermediate and early advanced levels as time allows.

What level course is appropriate for me?

Students who are not brand new beginners are strongly encouraged to reach out to me so that they can get placed accurately. Generally speaking, I suggest that students focus on pieces that can be learned in a month or less. 

Students should find pieces comparable to what they already know. Many students work on pieces far too difficult for them. Students who choose to do more pieces of lesser difficulty will develop stronger reading skills than those who do the opposite. 

One advantage of becoming a Flex Lessons member is that you can explore the libraries and sample the content to get a sense of how difficult a piece would be to work out. Choose music that you can confidently understand, and you'll make progress. 

How are piece ratings determined?

Pieces are rated on a scale of 1-10, where 10 represents the most difficult teaching repertoire below the professional level. This allows for a more granular comparison of pieces at lower levels. Most of the piano courses range from late beginner through the intermediate levels (roughly level 1 to level 7). This will change over time.

Read more about difficulty ratings and graded repertoire here: https://www.flexlessons.com/graded-repertoire

How does the community feature work?

All members are invited to participate in a private community platform designed for piano students. Have a music theory question? Wondering what to study next? Want some feedback on your current repertoire? The Flex Lessons Community is a great place ask questions, share your content, and meet like minded musicians!

The community feature enables us to have engaging discussions outside of the major social media networks. Community members can follow topics, create posts, and reply to other members. They can also share various types of content, links, and media. 

How do I access the courses and community? Is there an app?

There is no need for an app. All you have to do is visit the main site and log in. You will find the community as well as the courses (under the products tab for piano members). 

You can access all of this content on any device, as all pages are fully mobile responsive. For best results, use a device with a larger screen such as an iPad or laptop. 

Does Flex Lessons offer online piano lessons in real time?

Yes! You can book live online lessons as needed using a convenient self-scheduling tool. 

If you are interested in live piano lessons, you should  consider taking a lesson or two per month and using the membership for the rest of your instruction. This way, you save money and get access to on-demand instruction between your lessons. 

I just want to purchase a single course. Is this possible?

At this time, it is not possible to purchase a single course. There are many reasons for this:

  • Flex Lessons courses relate to one another and depend on one another.

  • Courses are constantly being developed, modified, and updated.

  • Membership is required to get feedback for your playing, which is needed to keep students on track.

How are payments processed?

Flex Lessons uses Stripe for all transactions. Stripe is a well known payment processor that is built into this site to handle all payments conveniently and safely. 

When you make a payment for anything on Flex Lessons, your payment information is handled completely by Stripe. This means Flex Lessons does not have direct access to your payment information. 

I am already a Flex Lessons member. How do I change plans?

Just head over to the billing section of your account and click change community plan

  • Starting at $32/mo

Studio Membership

  • Community
  • 7+ products

This affordable alternative to traditional piano lessons features a unique course-based curriculum, private community, and Zoom piano lessons as needed.