Our Teaching Philosophy

We provide quality piano lessons in Balwyn, Balwyn North and surrounding suburbs (Greythorn Shops) with the aim to develop not only a students musical craft but also key skills in perseverance, self-management and self-evaluation.

Our teaching approach is inspired by Dr Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory and adopts the view that music is a language and music education occur in a way that mimics language acquisition.

We understand that the process of learning anything new can have rough patches, music included, so we are the facilitators to maximise the fun for young students and build them up into musos who can be their own evaluators as they mature. We love lessons where the student drives the learning and sets the goals and the teacher asks the questions to guide them to the answer themselves and we aim to foster that initiative in every student.

At Muso's Mind Music School (MMMS), we would be overjoyed to help students begin their musical journey that will hopefully stay with them for years to come.

Holistic Learning

Lessons at MMMS focuses on one major goal: the development of students to be their own muso, We want every student not just to play music - but to understand it, feel it and make it their own.

We understand that music exams are popular and beneficial part of music education that build students' technique, confidence and performance skills, so we support our students who choose to prepare for them. We also believe that a great muso is more than a great exam result.

That's why we go beyond the exam and develop our students' music ability holistically, including:

Musical/by-ear understanding aka. 'audiation' (rhythm, pitch, tone/timbre, texture, form)
- Understand the pitches, harmonies, rhythms and more that they hear in a any song
Musical expression
- Add all the musical details in to play better than a keyboard programmed recording
Specific instrument technique
- Perform their music with sound technique and prevent aches and injuries
Music Notation
- Comprehend all the little details that can be easily missed in sheet music
Musical Creativity
- Reimagine the songs they play by adding their own style and even compose their own song

Whether it's a Mozart sonata, a jazz solo, a Queen anthem, or a pop trend, our students gain the confidence and ability to learn music on their own—and enjoy every step of the journey.

Edutainment

It is widely known that people learn best when they are engaged and having fun. Younger kids especially may have a hard time sitting still for periods at a time, engaging in repetitive practise and can become frustrated easily during the learning process, all of which are apart of normal music lessons.

At MMMS, lots of time and effort has been focused on strategies to engage the young students in their lessons. Some of these strategies include:

Embracing appropriate use of technology to aid students learning and engagement on topics that can be confusing and frustrating (Note reading, Rhythm reading, etc.)
Adopting gamification and reward strategies to help motivate students with difficult tasks that require consistent effort (Repetitive Practise, Theory work, etc.)
Incorporate modified planning and whole body learning methods to alleviate restlessness and improve focus

We don't shy away from delivering quality lessons to older students either, we include musical minigames and frequently use of technology for students to practically apply new concepts in a musical setting.

Student-Driven Lessons

We don't want to be the teacher that talks at students - we strongly believe in students taking initiative and direction over their own learning. As students grow and mature we want them to gradually take more charge of their music learning journey - and our teachers, always balancing between professional instruction and support with student independence.

A successful lesson with a student at MMMS involves:

Students arriving to the answer on their own with confidence in their skills - not making a habit of looking at the teacher to provide every one of the answer or constantly seeking their assurance.
Students evaluating their own playing and performances and collaborate with the teacher to figure out what's great and what needs improvement.
Students understanding the musical concepts behind why they play the way they do, they don't just copy instructions without understanding.
Teachers being facilitators to the learning and developing students' problem solving skills to figure out the answer.

Our goal isn't just to develop our students' musical skills but also their skills to learn and teach themselves because one day, we want them to learn the songs they enjoy all by themselves.

Consistency

Showing up regularly is a major part of improvement and learning which is why we strive to provide consistency in all our lessons. The learning process is full of ups and downs and our tutors are here to cheer and support their students' through it all.

At MMMS, the teachers work closely with the students and their families to:

Maintain reliable and consistent lesson schedules
Provide readily available, structured lesson materials
Create and build practise habits and routines for the students

Because progress doesn’t come from just the big wins—it comes from showing up, pushing through the tough spots, and then looking back and celebrating how far you've come.