Holm Köhler
He teaches piano and cello and offers accompanying theory lessons – for example in preparation for a degree in music or for music teacher training.
View Holm Köhler’s profile →Keyboard instrument
Piano Lessons in Cuxhaven
At the piano you learn to play melody and accompaniment at the same time and to understand how music fits together – from the classical repertoire to pop, rock, blues and jazz. Cuxhaven Music School is a public, non-profit music school in Cuxhaven-Ritzebüttel, run by FeMiC e.V. Lessons are open to children, teenagers and adults – whether you are starting out or coming back to music.
Your piano teachers
Klaus Behncke
Klaus Behncke has taught piano and keyboard in Cuxhaven since 1992 and guides bands and ensembles through their first steps. Alongside classical piano lessons, his teaching covers pop, rock, boogie, blues, folk and jazz as well as music theory – for every age from 5 to 95.
View Klaus Behncke’s profile →Christoph Kämmerling
He has taught in Cuxhaven since 2001 – patiently and with genuine pleasure in every step forward. His students range from 5 to 65 years old, from absolute beginners to advanced players; he also teaches guitar for beginners.
View Christoph Kämmerling’s profile →Beate Steffens
Beate Steffens studied flute with piano as a subsidiary subject in Hamburg and teaches with attentiveness, creativity and a great deal of experience. She offers flute from around age 8, recorder and project work, and piano from around age 4 – individually and in groups.
View Beate Steffens’s profile →How lessons work
Piano lessons can begin at almost any age – with us often from around five years old, but equally as a teenager or an adult. To start with, a well-maintained acoustic piano or a good digital piano with a weighted keyboard and 88 keys is enough. Everything else – from the right posture to your first piece – you learn step by step in your lessons.
With Beate Steffens children can start from around age 4; Klaus Behncke teaches every age from 5 to 95, and Christoph Kämmerling's students range from 5 to 65.
- Individual lessons: 30 or 45 minutes, weekly – or as a block of 5 lessons that you arrange with your teacher.
- Group lessons with Beate Steffens: groups of three (45 minutes) or four (60 minutes).
Whether piano lessons are also possible in pairs is something we are happy to discuss when you get in touch.
Fees
Individual lessons cost from 69 € a month (children and teenagers) or from 83 € (adults). You will find all fees – including 45-minute lessons and lesson blocks – on our fees page.
Trial lesson and registration
The easiest way to request a free trial lesson is our contact form – choose “Piano” as the subject. You can reach the office by phone on 04721 666868 on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon; the office is closed during the school holidays. You can also contact the teachers directly – their details are in the profiles on our teachers page.
You will find us in the historic Ritzebüttler Schule building:
Cuxhaven Music School · FeMiC e.V., Grodener Chaussee 11, 27472 Cuxhaven
The piano in brief
Hardly any instrument is as versatile as the piano: it can carry melody and accompaniment at once, is as convincing solo as in an ensemble, and for many people it is the very first way into music.
At a glance
The piano is a keyboard instrument and at the same time both a stringed and a percussion instrument: pressing a key sends a felt-covered hammer against taut strings. Its wide compass of 88 keys (seven octaves plus a few further notes) makes it the most complete of all solo instruments – whole orchestral works can be played on it.
History & origins
Around 1700 in Florence, the Italian Bartolomeo Cristofori built the first instrument that could play both loudly (“forte”) and softly (“piano”) depending on how firmly a key was struck – hence the name “pianoforte”. Neither the harpsichord nor the clavichord had offered that dynamic range in this form. Over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the piano was refined ever further and became the most important domestic instrument of the middle classes; composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt shaped its repertoire decisively.
Construction & how it works
Pressing a key sets a hammer in motion through a finely balanced action; the hammer strikes one or more strings and immediately falls back so that the string can vibrate freely. When the key is released, a damper settles back onto the string and stops the note. The vibrations pass through a bridge to the soundboard, which amplifies the sound. There are two basic designs:
- Grand piano: horizontal strings and a longer case – preferred in concert for its full sound and precise action.
- Upright piano: vertical strings and a compact case – the classic instrument for the home and for lessons.
Sound & tuning
A modern piano is tuned in equal temperament, meaning the octave is divided into twelve equal semitone steps. As a result the instrument sounds equally good in every key. Most notes are produced by two or three strings tuned together, which gives the sound its fullness. Because string tension changes over time, a piano should be tuned regularly by a specialist – as a rule once or twice a year.
Playing & technique
The piano is played with both hands across the whole keyboard; typically the right hand takes the melody and the left the accompaniment and bass – though both hands are equal partners. The pedals widen the expressive range: the right pedal (sustain) lifts the dampers so that notes continue to ring; the left (una corda) makes the sound softer and quieter. A relaxed hand and arm position, a good ear for dynamics and the coordination of both hands are the essential foundations.
Role & repertoire
The piano is at home in almost every kind of music: in classical music as a solo, chamber and accompanying instrument, in jazz as the harmonic backbone, and in pop, rock, film music and song accompaniment. Because it can present harmony and melody at the same time, it is also excellent for understanding music theory – many players of other instruments use the piano as their “thinking instrument”.