Piano lessons for adults in Kyoto
One-to-one, English-friendly, near Demachiyanagi. For people touching the piano for the first time, and for people coming back to it after years away.
For people who have always put others first
People who run a shop or a company. Office workers chasing one schedule after another. Parents who have always put the family first. People whose work or child-raising has finally settled, who feel it might be time for something of their own.
Kind people, who have kept going by doing things for someone else. musicand tends to suit them. You don’t need to let go of that kindness. But while you are at the piano, it doesn’t have to be for anyone else. Not a business owner, not an employee, not a parent, not a teacher — just one person, making a sound.
People from their 20s to their senior years come here, and many of them are beginners. Whether you live in Kyoto or are here for a few days, you are welcome.
There is no measuring stick here
Can’t read music? Worried about making mistakes? At musicand, that is welcome. The places where it doesn’t go well are exactly where your sound starts to change.
There is no “good” or “bad” in these lessons, so there is nothing to perform for. Coming here is an experience in itself — like getting off the train in a town you don’t know, or letting yoga loosen a stiff body. Not to make your fingers faster, but to let your breathing loosen.
What happens in a lesson
We don’t start with finger drills. We start by loosening your breath and your balance. Once the body relaxes, feelings start to move — and only then do sheet music and theory come in. Do it the other way round, and adults tend to overthink and freeze.
Classical, pop, chords, singing, duets: we build the lessons around the music you want to make, not around finishing a textbook.
From Yumi
For a long time, I was away from performing. When I played again, my fingers wouldn’t move the way they used to. And yet I heard music in a completely different way. I met a tone that only I, as I am now, could make.
The gap was not lost time. It was time for meeting the piano again. It is never too late to start. First time or first time in years, there is a sound only you can make right now.
Yumi Fukuda — pianist and developmental-support specialist. Born in Australia and raised in Indonesia, she has made music in Rwanda, the UK, the US, Mexico, the Philippines and Ecuador. She plays alongside people rather than leading them by the hand, and has made music with over 1,000 families and individuals, from babies to people in their 90s.
In their own words
Adult students, translated from Japanese in full. Not shortened or reworded.
I run a business, and here I can come back to myself.
I used to think a piano lesson meant you had to play well. But my teacher always says, “Just hearing the sound you make today is the best thing” — a line that sounds too good to be true, and she means it from the heart.
It’s a place where I’m not a business owner or a parent, where I can simply be on an even footing.
I’m a logical thinker, and I kept wondering what on earth this teacher was doing. It took me a year to finally understand. Sharpening my senses has made my everyday life richer.
Business owner, 50s
I’m around thirty and I can’t read music, so I went to the trial lesson a little nervously, wondering if I’d be okay. By the time I left, I was thinking, “Huh, maybe piano is fun.”
I started coming because I found it hard to keep going on my own. My teacher, who has a wide range of experience, from developmental support work to living abroad, thinks seriously about how I can keep enjoying the piano and tells me, so the piano has naturally become part of my life.
Office worker, 30s
I come for a single lesson once every three to four months. I don’t have a piano at home, but the sound of the piano and my talks with Yumi calm me. In an age of AI and social media, having real, in-person time has made every day easier for me to live. I sometimes join musicand café too, and it makes my student life in Kyoto fun.
University student
Ways to come
Trial lesson 30 min · US$50
Meet the piano, and Yumi, first.
Single lessons 45 min · US$75 / 60 min · US$95
For visitors, and for anyone who would rather come now and then. Paid by card in advance. A booked lesson can’t be cancelled, but it can always be rescheduled.
Living in Kyoto from ¥7,500 a month
Monthly lessons, from once a month (45 minutes), at our usual yen rates. A one-time ¥5,000 enrollment fee, no annual fee. Just ask.
Play with others: piano pod
Once every three to four months at S-pod, Imadegawa. Play solo, play four hands, sing, or just listen. Next: Saturday, November 28. Prices & dates →
Questions adults ask
I can’t read music.
You can still come. Some people start from chords, some from the ear. When reading becomes necessary, we learn it together then.
I only have a digital piano at home — or no piano yet.
That’s fine. We’ll share ideas for practising on a digital piano, and you can start even before you have a piano at home.
Do I have to play in a recital?
No. There is one every two years, and it’s optional. This is a place to play for yourself first.
Am I too old to start?
No. There is no upper age limit. People come from their 20s, and some touch a keyboard for the first time in their senior years.
Does Yumi speak English?
Yumi isn’t fluent in everyday spoken English, but she has taught music in English in the UK, the US, Rwanda and the Philippines. Lessons work well through music, gestures and patience, and anything that needs more detail can follow by message.
Coming with children?
Children’s piano lessons (one-to-one) start at age 3. For babies, children and the whole family, World Song Circle is the place to start: songs from all over the world, for every age.
Where
Demachiyanagi, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto. About 9 minutes’ walk from Demachiyanagi Station (Keihan / Eizan), about 12 minutes from Imadegawa Station (Karasuma subway line), and about 4 minutes from the Kawaramachi-Imadegawa bus stop. The exact address is shared when you book.