Music Lessons with Bryan Tysl

Piano | Ear Training | Composition

Lessons are available at my home studio in Lyndhurst, OH or online.

More Specific Lesson Topics or Services Offered

Payments are due on the first lesson day of each calendar month.

(average 4 lessons/month; any 5th lessons are free to compensate for occasional 3 lesson months like November and December. If your attendance is consistent, they are free extra lessons!)

Students studying multiple disciplines (piano/playing by ear, composition/software) may want longer or more frequent lessons, and tuition will be adjusted accordingly.

Other Instruments Offered Up to the Intermediate Level

Saxophone | Accordion | Voice | Synthesizer

What is Ear Training?

Ear training is the musical skill you might not know you needed! Ear training will help you use your ears and brain to better understand and enjoy music. Some people naturally have more affinity to picking up on rhythms and specific pitches and chords, but everyone can use their brain and ears more effectively to become a more knowledgeable player or listener of music.

In lessons, this could look like understanding the functions of different instruments (or hands) within a band or “voices” within a solo piano piece. Once we know what we’re listening for, we can identify those parts, parsing them out of an entire “mix.” It might feel like a “Where’s Waldo” for sound at first, but it can become as simple as choosing which on screen character to direct our focus to in a particular moment in a film.

By improving this skill with specific exercises, one can eventually learn to play a part or entire song after just one listen. Even if it takes multiple listens with rewinding and careful listening, trial and error, this is an invaluable skill to have as a musician.

Even if you are not as interested in playing by ear, ear training can help you appreciate sick bass licks, key changes, or drum fills when listening to your favorite pop albums, hearing orchestral textures or counterpoint in classical music, or harmonizing effortlessly when singing.

Lesson Policies

Tuition/Payments/Discounts

Payment methods accepted: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, CashApp. If these do not work for you, let me know and we can work something out.
Monthly tuition is due on the first lesson day of each calendar month. Late payments will be subject to a 10% late fee per day unless we’ve made other arrangements.
A la carte lesson payments are due at each lesson.
Siblings or parent-child pairs may choose back-to-back lessons and pay the single rate for the resulting total block time (e.g. two siblings in 30-minute lessons scheduled back to back can receive the $180/month single-hour slot rate rather than two $120/month half-hour slot rates). Please note that this only applies to family members in consecutive lesson slots and not those who must have lessons on different days/times (requiring separate logins). An exception is made for an individual young student who may want multiple lessons per week.
Students who need to meet less frequently than once per week or cannot use the same slot each week (like Tuesdays at 4) will automatically go on the “a la carte” plan.
I reserve the right to increase tuition rate structures at my discretion; however, I will always provide ample advance notice (usually 1-2 months) prior to tuition increases.

Make-ups and Reschedules

If I am too ill to teach or the student is too ill to benefit from a lesson that day, we’ll find a time to make it up. This will usually fall in a vacated slot that someone else can’t use that week. Note that same-week slots are generally pretty limited.
Weather or tech-related absences (power outages preventing logins, computer failure, etc.) will also be eligible for make-ups regardless of advance notice.
Absences/reschedules unrelated to illness must be communicated to me at least 24 hours in advance to be eligible for a make-up.

When the student must be late, but less than 24 hours prior notice is not given: the lesson will still end at the appointed time (so a 1-2 pm lesson for which the student arrives at 1:20 will still end at 2). The missed time will not be made up except excusable absence circumstances.
When I must be late without at least 24 hour prior notice: I will make up missed time with either a video lesson or a longer lesson the next time an open slot is available.
Unannounced “no shows” (on the student’s part) will not be made up or pro-rated.
Each lesson is exclusively for the person(s) signed up. Lessons may not be exchanged with a non-enrolled sibling/parent/friend when the enrolled student is unavailable that day. Enrolled siblings may switch with prior approval. Friends and other students outside the family may not claim an empty lesson slot as a make-up without my approval.
Lessons are not automatically canceled on US holidays unless I am physically unavailable because of a performing engagement or travel. However, any holidays that you celebrate and would like off are eligible for make-ups, no questions asked. My studio is a welcoming place for all belief systems and their holidays.

Lesson Environment

Minor children should always have a parent/guardian around during lessons, whether that’s to troubleshoot tech issues, provide practice support, etc. Whether the parent should be participating the entire time depends on the student’s age, level, and maturity, but one should at least be in the house.
If lessons are on piano technique, the home must be equipped with a tuned, weighted instrument. Preferably that will be an acoustic piano, but I understand that in apartments with noise restrictions a weighted keyboard may be required. If the student does not have a home instrument, practice routines will not be established, and even if an instrument is acquired a couple months later, the window for establishing a practice routine will have passed, making steady progress very difficult or impossible.

Readiness/Preparation

Introductory Meet and Greets: Younger beginners (under 10) and all transfers will receive a free pre-enrollment assessment and tech setup session prior to finalizing enrollment. This is both to assess readiness for online lessons (for young children) and to choose the correct materials to buy (for both children and transfer students). These generally don’t go over an hour, but if you have a time constraint, let me know beforehand. Teen and adult “blank slate beginners” are encouraged to reserve more time on the first day than the lesson slot they’ve chosen so we can do a brief tech setup and get-to-know-you first, but will not necessarily need a separate hour-long interview.
Parents Observing Lessons: Parents and students are strongly encouraged to observe and/or record lessons. Parent attendance is required for young beginners who are not yet old enough to establish and monitor their own practice routines. All students are encouraged to record lessons via Zoom’s recording function.
Practice Requirements: Practice requirements will be measured in goals (pieces, exercises, or concepts mastered), rather than a specific number of minutes or hours per day. However, I expect that practice will be consistent. (A minimum of 15 minutes 4-6 days per week).
Splitting Lessons into 2 Days/Week: Younger beginners who are just approaching readiness for lessons may be asked to enroll in 2 lessons per week at the same tuition rate as they would pay for the combined time slot once per week (e.g. they may take 2 30-minute lessons per week at the $180/month rate for a single 60-minute lesson).
Fingernail Lengths: The student must keep their nails at an appropriate length (not so long as to impede playing). If at all possible, make sure that young students take care of all bathroom needs before the lesson.
Neurodivergent Students: I’m happy to teach neurodivergent students with various learning needs, but I need to know what those needs are at the beginning of our studies so that I may use the appropriate materials for each student. I also reserve the right to recommend instructors who may be a better fit if I don’t feel I can customize lessons appropriately for certain learning differences/circumstances.

Miscellaneous Considerations

When virtual studio recitals are scheduled, I will ask families to sign a media release form for any photos/screencaps to be placed on the studio website (or videos taken by family members that may incidentally include other studio members). If you’d rather not have your child’s picture or video on the website I will make sure to crop out/blur that child’s likeness in any photos.
I require all Zoom lessons to take place in my permanent Zoom meeting room. The student or parent may not act as the meeting host. When I am not the host, Zoom blocks my ability to share my screen under most users’ security settings, which means I cannot pull up sheet music and provide fingerings, annotate the score for analysis purposes, share DAW setups, etc.
If a student needs to withdraw permanently from lessons, please notify me at least one week in advance (that is: at the last lesson the student will have taken with me).
Intentional and blatant policy violations (such as repeated non-payments, intentionally failing to disclose neurodivergence that affects curriculum choice, and repeated no-shows) are subject to dismissal from the studio without refund.

Updated April 2023