Joseph D'Amico switched to teaching classes online for classical piano, and his students are now more active than they have ever been |

Find out how the creator Joseph D'Amico is sharing his passion for music and reaching more students through his innovative online piano community and membership.

How would you feel if online piano classes were more effective as compared to traditional in-person lessons?

The piano instructor Joseph D'Amico received a webcam as a gift for Christmas He began his venture into the world of virtual education, swapping long commutes to student homes for a home-based business teaching piano on the internet.

Now, Joseph is able to expand his reach to more people and give an excellent music education, at a reasonable cost.

Here's how he's helping aspiring classical musicians learn to play their first notes and establish a solid basis for their musical careers.

"I am realizing ... the online courses can lead to a dazzlingly good independence for students."

When he graduated from the college, Joseph did what most music teachers do. The teacher drove students to homes for lessons on piano and was hoping to eliminate the traffic by transitioning to a private studio.

He was then given the webcam as a christmas present. He wanted to play around with it with the camera and make virtual makeup tutorials with his piano students. They were thrilled with it.

The majority of the students decided that they'd prefer classes online immediately. they all embraced it after they realized how useful online learning can be.

Alongside providing greater flexibility for his students, Joseph saw increased interest in his online lessons.

"When you're showing someone something they're in the same room with the person, and you're giving signals that help people. When you're online, and they do not have access to anything, they realize what they really know and what they don't realize," Joseph explains.

"Despite my greatest efforts at the classroom, some students simply didn't be able to figure out their beginning location. Some students didn't know how to do basic things like calculate or work out the metronome, since I've been doing this the whole time. And so I realized, if I just lean into the idea a little the online classes could lead to crazy good student self-sufficiency."

His marketing efforts were successful and Joseph began attracting adult students from all over the globe who were eager to study piano.

"The people who make up the population are very different. They're being taught to be self-sufficientand that's an win-win. It's awesome. All of us are paying the cost for their dream to learn piano. Each lesson is, in my opinion inspirational," Joseph says.

"Some people are more intelligent than I am, which is why I'm teaching them how to perform this procedure. It's still amazing by the thought that surgeons are going to listen to what I have to say, you know, but it's happening."

"Surely there's the possibility of automatizing this."

Over time, Joseph noticed that many of his students were asking the same questions in the course.

"I am a magnet for a lot of adults who are beginners. I realized that I am saying literally the same thing to all of my students almost in complete sentences. They're all asking the exact same concerns. They're all making the exact same mistakes. There must be a way to make this process more automated."

Then Joseph went back to work.

The most common method of working with musicians is to meet with them in a one-on-one session every week. Teachers need to be able to charge an affordable price to cover this because this is live work, which can be a fortune.

Once a member enrolls in Joseph's program and receives access to numerous courses that build on one the other. The process of learning to play classical music is progressive, so when members progress through each level, they build new abilities that they will be able to apply in the future.

Every course includes a variety of songs for students to play and videos instructing them on how to play.

For students who require assistance and assistance, they are able to book Joseph for a private lesson. All they need to do is click a link and then add themselves to the calendar. Students are considered hybrid when they've been through both forms of instruction. Joseph will even give the first class for free in addition to the other benefits.

Joseph is also the creator of a free "Piano Essentials" video tutorial which teaches the basics of piano. Through 18 lessons, students learn how to read all the notes on the treble clef and the bass clef, understand basics rhythms, and also read sheets of music.

"Any student who is referred to me who is new, I'm going to take them through this course so that I don't have to instruct them on those topics. It also saves me a lot of time and helps them determine whether we're likely to be a really good pair."

"I possess a specific method of teaching. I'm very particular about my teaching. I'm extremely systems-oriented. I'm very routine. I'm attracted to these types of people." Joseph explains.

"So when a person doesn't this kind of person, and they are taking my course for free If they do not develop the drive to stick with it, they just won't complete the course. [The free course saves the students] lots of dollars. It would have been extremely costly for them to figure that out in the opposite way. And should they finish the course and they're still keen, then it's a to the floor."

However, things weren't always that simple.

"I had to think about the question of which I care for, my students or the teachers?"

In the beginning, Joseph wanted to serve teachers of piano as well as students. He quickly learned that having several audiences could be a challenge.

"When the first pandemic hit I had already been ensconced into the internet sphere. I got a huge rush of teachers that were attracted by online education."

Joseph offered consultations and created material on his blog and Youtube channel to help teachers make the transition to online education.

"I was really juggling this problem of who should I be serving, students or teachers? Being faithful to one particular community took up the entirety of my time. I needed to take a choice."

What was the deciding factor? He only had a handful of suggestions for instructors, but was flooded with concepts for teaching his students.

"On the side of students nobody's doing what I'm doing even if they wanted to. This is a market that's virtually untapped. The people I'm competing against as well as the piano applications aren't catering to the classical music community in any way. They just teach four-chord songs and a couple of popular, minimally complex music. They're really not focusing heavily on written music," Joseph elaborates.

"I'm giving you a real classical piano instruction and save you hundreds of dollars."

Instead of writing material for teachers of music, he encourages teachers to get involved in the student community and interact with the students, and get help if required.

"My free class is intended for everyone, not just my students. If teachers from other schools would like to join, they could take their students through my class. When you've completed the course, I'll say, 'If you're here from another teacher and you're interested in this course, it's the best place to return to them.' No strings attached and just great networking."

"It's centred around the notion of optimism and being hopeful for the future and possibilities you have when you let your imaginative aspect."

Each business that is innovative requires a home, and Joseph houses his work by providing .

" is what makes building websites enjoyable. I think I could build a website in a matter of minutes, and it would be stunning. There's something to say about the beauty of it. It's one of the most beautiful in the world, by far. It's more beautiful than any other you'll find using WordPress absolutely."

It only took a few days for Joseph to get set up to work with, and he was confident that it was the perfect solution for his company.

"You can build your own site, you could have memberships and are able to offer all sorts of courses, you can have things to do with social media. And then the community thing was just gravy."

Joseph uses 's community feature to give a more immersive experience to his pupils.

"I have a section within my group titled "Is it finished already?' It's where users post audio recordings of what they are doing. Members are posting in here left and right, wondering whether their work is finished or what their sound is."

Joseph makes use of this forum to offer members feedback regarding their work and other people in the group also offer feedback. Receiving regular feedback could be the turning point for budding musicians.

"I could have simply charged for that. You get access to somebody who'll critique your piano playing] pretty much anytime you'd like, in a day or two. If I'd worked that out earlier on I could have provided this service right away."

They feel less alone as they learn a new skill and helps Joseph's course stand out.

However, communities that are members like Joseph's require a lot of information.

"Until you have a big library of content, will let you sell courses and products in a single transaction cost-effectively. You can also create a community for free. It was just a matter of brute force and made a huge amount of information. It was really hard."

Apart from the ease of use and abundance of features, Joseph enjoys 's uplifting and collaborative spirit.

"There's this community on [at the site], and everybody's thrilled. It's all about the notion of optimism, being hopeful for the future as well as the possibilities one can accomplish when you let your creativity flow. It's amazing. It's amazing, I believe."

Joseph's advice for new creators: "Come in with a strategy for marketing."

"Build an audience, be known for something, then build your business around that," Joseph advises.

It comes with the tools needed to start your own online business, it can't do your marketing for you as he says.

After all, the larger the audience that is aware of your work, the greater the impact you can have.

In the present, Joseph continues to build Flex Lessons and helps people around the globe learn the pleasures of the classical piano. The genius of Joseph paid off and we're excited to see what he comes up with the next time around.