There are all sorts of people and platforms on the internet that you can learn to play the piano. Pianote is one of these, which I will discuss my opinions here. Before I do this though, I need to declare that I am not getting any payment for these opinions in any way at all and I have no affiliation with Pianote or anyone that works for Pianote.
While I have been aware of their website for a few years now, it is only recently that I discovered that they have a whole lot of free videos on You Tube – 796 at the time of writing this. Obviously I haven’t sat through all of their videos but I have looked at a handful and this has been enough for me to help me form an opinion.
First of all, it does grate on me a little that they teach a modern technique for modern music. They don’t teach classical music as such. This is a reflection of my own personal tastes and not the quality of the information.
If you are looking to learn to play classical music primarily, then this is not the place to start. They do have some videos aimed at teaching certain famous classical pieces, which may be of use to you down the line when you have learned the basics.
If you want to play modern music, then you will find a tremendous amount of really useful free videos on YouTube. I cannot quibble with what they teach – their information is accurate. Sometimes they mention certain ways of learning things are better than other ways. I don’t really agree with this, as my own teaching has shown me so many times that there is no one way of learning new information. Often there are several ways of learning the same piece of information and the best way is the way that makes the most sense to the individual student. As a piano teacher, I often have multiple ways of explaining the one concept and if one way doesn’t work with a student, then I try other ways until the information is understood.
The thing that impressed me the most with the videos that I watched was that all of the presenters were clear and logical in presenting the information. It was clear that their aim was to be positive and encouraging. I would say that each of the presenters are good teachers, regardless of their work for Pianote.
Putting my own personal bias aside – I cannot find fault with the videos on YouTube on the Pianote channel. I’m impressed that even though they are a business trying to make money, they have so much free information. I haven’t subscribed to Pianote, so I don’t know exactly what they have, but it seems clear to me that if the information that they give away for free is anything to go by, then the paid subscription to Pianote would probably be excellent, especially if you are wanting to learn to play modern piano music.