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On Screen Piano Lessons

With Mike Benjamin

Welcome to On Screen Piano Lessons – The place where you can learn to play piano from the comfort of your own home, at your own pace with professional and experienced guidance for all levels.

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About Me

Hi my name is Mike Benjamin and I offer Piano Lessons online in all styles of music for all levels. I will guide you through to steps and the theory so that you will be able to compose and play Piano music in your favourite styles, whether you are a beginner or a pro.

My philosophy is that learning to play the Piano should be enjoyable, as well as educational! I teach the in all genres of music, from classical, jazz, boogie woogie, ambient or any other style that you want to learn.

About You

However you’d like to be able to play, I’d like to help you reach your goal.

All Lessons are tailored to each individual, as we are all individuals! I teach the reading of notation, playing by ear and working theoretically with chords, chord progressions,intervals, arpeggios and the circle of fifths.

If the lessons are for you or your children or as a present, I can teach in every style and always at a pace that suits you.

How We Work Together

I use 2 cameras to teach, one facing me and the other directly overhead of my keyboard.

This way I can show you exactly how to play the fingering, the chord shapes and help guide you through the difficulty in piano playing of using both hands together.

I always have the music in front of me on my screen, at the same time as my students so that we can work together despite being in 2 different places.

Fully Qualified ABRSM Piano Teacher

I am registered with the ABRSM and am happy to help students work through the ABRSM grading system, from grades 1 – 8, including theory.

What’s Your Style?

Classical

Classical Music is generally considered to be music composed during the five defined eras of music as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th Century and Contemporary, each having recognisable
characteristics , composers and associations with their period.
Structures and forms varied throughout these eras and were reflective of their times and evolution.
On the piano the development of the pedals added to the compositional opportunities also.
In learning about music and how to play the Piano, we often start by following the formal and
traditional structure of learning Classical music through understanding and then performing the
notation on the written page. To the beginner, the notated page can look daunting and complicated,
yet really, there are only 3 elements to understand when reading musical notation. The position of
the note on the Stave, which tells us which key on the piano to press, its appearance, black, white,
with or without a stem, tells us its duration, and thirdly the details of Dynamics, which refer to
volumes, speeds and expression.
There is a finite range of symbols and instructions which through a step by step approach to
learning we can understand completely and put into practise so that we can play any piece of
written music.
If you are a beginner or experienced , I will help you to be able to play any piece of music and
enjoy the journey too.

Blues

People often refer to Blues as being the foundation upon which a lot of modern Pop, Rock, Funk
and Dance music etc. stems from.
The technical foundation of Blues music in its earliest forms followed certain formulas which are
used in most modem music today, such as a persistent pulse or what is called an ‘implied’ pulse
which commonly is given by the drums and or the bass in the context of a band, although the
rhythm exists in all music at all times. Also found in early blues was a 12 bar format using the
Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant chords, also know as chords 1,4,and 5 in their scale. This is still
used and very recognisable today in all kinds of music.
Another element that was unique to blues was the ‘blues scale’, which is a slight variation of the
‘Pentatonic ‘ scale, with the Blues note of them all, known as the ‘Flat 5, of a scale, added.
To teach you how to play blues, I will show you these elements , the 12 bar format, the Blues scale
using the major and minor scales with the Blues Scale and how to use the ‘implied /given pulse’.
Blues was my foundation and its a pleasure to teach this to students as its a stand-alone subject, but
also directly connected to Jazz and Boogie Woogie as well as Rock and Funk, all of which I can
show you how to play with a lot of fun along the way.

Jazz

In the late 19th century a form of music was being composed in America called ‘ragtime music’,
also known as Stride, Barrel House and directly related to Blues music. It was played on the Piano,
with a structure where the left hand played a low single note, followed by a chord, both played on
the down beat, whilst the right hand played melodies and chords around that beat, creating
syncopated ‘ music. It was sophisticated in its rhythmic qualities and took some practise to be able
to play it. The harmonic structures, chords etc were also using new more dissonant pairings with
unusual for the time, voicings .
This foundation went in a few directions but syncopation and what are known as extended/altered
chords stayed as features of Jazz.
By placing a note a quarter beat late against a pulse, flattening or sharpening a note out of its scale
we have the elements of jazz. Often the rhythm uses the so called swing rhythm, which is notes
divisible in thirds as opposed notes divisible by seconds, which is known as straight time.
In my program of teaching jazz, we build from our understanding of Scales, altered scales, chords,
inversions, chord extensions and altered chords, which scales to use over which chords and all
rhythmic qualities and where to place notes in time against a pulse.
I’ll show you step by step how to build and gain knowledge to be able to play Jazz.

Pop

I can help teach you how to play and compose Pop Music.
Often when learning to play pop music we learn by using ‘Chord tabs’ which are diagrams telling
us the foundation chords which are played over some bars of music. Pop music is a broad category
but its elements are very similar. To play Pop music on the Piano we need to understand chords,
how to form them, what all of the chord symbols mean and the best way to ‘Voice’ chords using
inversions and extensions. I will teach you all of the tricks too, to sound more Bluesy, Country,
Rocky Indy, Latin etc. if its ‘Pretty Piano’ and ballads you want to play and or compose, I will show
you the importance of understanding intervals, in particular 6ths and their opposite, 3rds. How to use
the left hand and how to create ‘fill-ins’ leading from one bar to another.
Also, how to create top lines, melodies and the use of decoration.
I am extremely experienced with using recording programs such as Logic and how to mix and
master your song if you want to use technology for your work. From Pop to Dance, Film Music and
Electronic.
If you want to play from notation, chord tabs of compose your own music, please contact me and
tell me and I will help you achieve your goals.

How to Book Your Lessons

Bookings

All Piano Lessons offered are Online and On screen using video platforms. This is the new normal and has so many advantages to learning quickly and more easily.

I understand if you’d initially like to try a One-off lesson to see if it’s right for you, at which point we can asess your long term goals and look at which approach we take to help you get the results you want as quickly as possible.

If you then would like to start with regular Piano Lessons, i will allocate a dedicated time for you, to learn week by week.