Piano Career Academy

[farm boy]

Wonder if anyone has heard of Ilena Vartic and the Piano Career Academy.  She offers tutorial piano instruction videos which appear quite instructive, however you have to subscribe in order to discover the usefulness if her instruction techniques.   My main question is I am a Grade 7/8 level player and I am unsure if these tutorials would be suitable for my level.  Any comments appreciated.

[pianoman53]

Show some videos to your teacher, and ask if it seems like a good idea

[brianr7]

 
 I very recently subscribed to Ilinca Vartic's  PianoCareer Academy Forum after looking at a number of her videos on 'YouTube', which give some illustrative introduction to Ilinca's holistic approach.

 In my view, the content and enthusiastic dedication Ilinca applies to her PianoCareer Academy Forum is superb and much more detailed and involved than what the introductory YouTube content or brochures can convey.

 There are three definable levels of subscribed membership, beginner, intermediate and advanced.

 I can only suggest perhaps you sign up for a month and see for yourself and if you do not believe Ilinca could acommodate  your level, you could always just cancel at any time 

 I believe you could also email Ilinca at the address on her website, and communicate with her directly.

Brian

[lojay]

I went to the piano career academy website first and was kind put off by the way the site advertised the membership.  To me the advertisement was basically all talk with no proof of its usefulness so immediately I thought: potential scam.

I was going to leave it at that, but thankfully Brianr7's post pointed out a youtube channel which inevitably led me to https://www.pianocareer.com/ which contains articles and most importantly a list of all tutorials.  From the videos I've screened her approach seems fine although the quality of her playing snippets of pieces range from really poor to good.  I do have a feeling she demonstrated with unprepared examples.  She seems like a good teacher.  Unfortunately, at least for me, the way the main website advertises misrepresents her.

@farm boy: Take a look at the list of tutorials.  IIRC, the monthly cost is less than $50.  Do you see more than a few videos that you think will be useful to you?  If so, pay the $50, backup all the content, and if there's no value in maintaining monthly membership, cancel.  It does appear that she updates the academy daily though.  If she takes suggestions on pieces and actually responds with a video response in a reasonable amount of time, I would say the monthly fee is more than worth it.  Maybe brianr7 or someone who actually is a member of the academy can shed some light on this.

[brianr7]

 Hi lojay,

 Yes, I generally agree, (if you click the  "Ilinca" link under Ilinca's photograph on the top right of the 'pianocareer dot com' page, there is more "about me" perspective on her musical background).

 I'd particularly agree that the 'sales pitch' generic advertising format on the 'academy' web page can indeed be seen as something of a cosmetic distraction from the actual quality of the "product", which IMHO is of a very high standard.

 From what I have seen, Ilinca's responses, whether written text or on video,  are very quick, and very informative, from which not only the original topic submitter can benefit, but which is of interest to everyone.

Brian

 

[farm boy]

Well thanks you guys for your comments.    You are right about the way Ilinca advertises her product and that is the main reason I posted my question on this forum.   She also has a special "deal" on at the moment where you can acquire annual membership for $400, normal cost is $550, so that's another consideration.

[peter2]

I am just a 71 year old beginner - about three years of self study. I signed uo for Ilinca Vartic's online course and found them very useful. I tried for a month and plan on signing up again for a year or more later on.
 The Russian School is excellent if you work it diligently!
I also use Alfred's Adult Self Teaching books one, two, and three.
 Shawn Cheek was perhaps the most helpful; and I have bought and used his sight reading CD's I also joined Shawn Cheeks blog and have a few hundred dollars worth of his CD's which have proven to be most helpful. https://www.shawncheek.com
   As always, I found a personal teacher really necessary. Luckily I found a PH.D music teacher who gives me a free 20 minute lesson every six months or so. Also, a woman a Church teaches me for free whenever I ask!
Yes, Ilinca Vartic and the Russian School of Piano are very helpful and professional.