The song selection students receive are based on their personal taste. If a student has a passion for learning classical music, or any specific genre or style of music, our curriculum can be tailored to fit the personal needs.

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We customize the curriculum to help fit the musical goals each student has. We have an amazing way of teaching our students the theory of piano without having them realizing they've been learning it! For students that want to dive deeper into musical theory, the personalization of our curriculum allows for that as well!

Yes, of course! While we start our beginner level students with our patented alphanumeric notation, sheet music is introduced within the first few levels. We teach the beginner techniques in our notation, and then the student learns how to map it and read it in sheet music. This process continues back and forth until the student reaches the mid intermediate category, where at this point they are fully only reading sheet music. The transition has been seamless for thousands of students.

We think it’s bananas that piano has been taught the same way for hundreds of years. Just as a child learns to speak before reading or writing, the Payam Method introduces piano in a natural, intuitive way. Our approach makes learning more accessible to all levels of learners by drawing from the psychology of language learning. For example, we start with our alphanumeric notation — using the familiar language of ABCs and 123s, not the foreign language of sheet music — to help students make meaningful progress and build confidence from day one. You can read more about our curriculum here.

Yes! Many of our students’ parents have become students themselves. While our focus is on children under 18, we teach adults as well.

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Students need to be 4 years old to start class in person and 7 years old to start classes online. The teacher will determine readiness during the free orientation.

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Your experience as a prospective student starts with a 1:1 orientation and school tour with one of our teachers. You’ll review the curriculum and methodology that makes Payam Music different from traditional lessons. During our half hour together, we’ll also start to get to know the student to start to personalize their experience by learning what genre of music they'd like to learn and what learning style will be the best match. We invite parents or a guardian to join students at the orientation. No preparation necessary!

We love new school location requests! Complete this quick form and we’ll get back to you.

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We continue to open schools and you can see the most updated locations and online options here. We also invite you to sign up to request a school near you.

Traditional methods require students to fully master a piece before moving on, which often leads to boredom and loss of motivation. The Payam Method, instead, focuses on progressive technique-building—like how math builds from single to double-digit addition. As students learn new techniques, they continue practicing earlier ones, reinforcing skills while advancing. This keeps learning exciting, with new songs and challenges introduced consistently.

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Payam is a traditional Persian name and is pronounced pie-yum. Payam is both our founder and the name of our school. 

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Yes! The connection between instructor and student is one of the most important aspects for a successful learning environment in our schools. We make sure every student has an instructor they feel incredibly comfortable with, and also matches their specific learning style.

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Since we use our own patented curriculum which has all of the levels from beginner to concert level pianist, we hold internal assessments at the end of each level to ensure the student’s readiness to advance. Our curriculum allows for the fastest acceleration through the diploma path. While we don't force any of our students to take external exams or participate in competitions, students who like to do so can prepare in our schools!

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We teach on high end keyboards in our schools. This allows us to change the weight of the keys to match the needs of each student and the techniques they're working on. Our students are some of the most award-winning piano players in the country – we promise learning on a keyboard has not held them back.

The song selection students receive are based on their personal taste. If a student has a passion for learning classical music, or any specific genre or style of music, our curriculum can be tailored to fit the personal needs.

‍

We customize the curriculum to help fit the musical goals each student has. We have an amazing way of teaching our students the theory of piano without having them realizing they've been learning it! For students that want to dive deeper into musical theory, the personalization of our curriculum allows for that as well!

Yes, of course! While we start our beginner level students with our patented alphanumeric notation, sheet music is introduced within the first few levels. We teach the beginner techniques in our notation, and then the student learns how to map it and read it in sheet music. This process continues back and forth until the student reaches the mid intermediate category, where at this point they are fully only reading sheet music. The transition has been seamless for thousands of students.

We think it’s bananas that piano has been taught the same way for hundreds of years. Just as a child learns to speak before reading or writing, the Payam Method introduces piano in a natural, intuitive way. Our approach makes learning more accessible to all levels of learners by drawing from the psychology of language learning. For example, we start with our alphanumeric notation — using the familiar language of ABCs and 123s, not the foreign language of sheet music — to help students make meaningful progress and build confidence from day one. You can read more about our curriculum here.

Classes start at $75 for online lessons and cost around $100 for 50-minute in-person lessons but vary based on age, curriculum path, level and location.

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A wide range of keyboards will work, including one that starts around $100. Here are our favorites: https://payammusic.notion.site/recommended-pianos

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Yes, you need a piano or keyboard to practice at home. If you don't have one yet, be sure to check out our favorites.

While we are not draconian about practice, we do see students progress faster when they practice – even with small amounts per week. The teacher gives students guidance on how much to practice but most practice without being asked. As students advance through the curriculum, the recommended practice time increases as the songs and techniques become gradually more challenging. However, a good baseline we recommend to our students after they've completed the introductory coursework is 100 minutes per week split between 4-5 days! That's just about 20 minutes of practice a day! They even call it funwork instead of homework.

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Online piano lessons are very similar to in-person lessons: personalized, private, live 1:1 instruction. The lessons take place over Zoom at a set day and time each week, just like in-person lessons. We tested online lessons to ensure that quality and progress are the same as in-person lessons and we are pleased to share that they are surprisingly similar. Learn more about tech setup and what to expect for online lessons.

Every student’s first lesson is free. The 50-minute lesson will be customized based on what we learn about the student in the orientation. The student will be able to play a song on their first day! At the end of the lesson, we’ll make a mutual decision whether the student is ready to start piano lessons.

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