Is Your Off-the-Bench Working to Your Advantage?
Movement, singing and rhythm before notes on a page, and how to make sure every minute off the bench builds real musical skill.
MTNA 2026 · APPC 2026 · TopMusicLive 2026
Music educator · Researcher · Speaker
I only ever had three piano lessons. I've spent over 30 years making sure other kids get better ones.
I get children moving, singing and playing together before they ever sit down at the keys. Now I research why it works, and help teachers bring it into their own studios.
30+years running piano schools
8,000+students across the Forte network
8countries I've presented in
MEd · MResresearching how we teach music
About
The kid who couldn't sit still
I taught myself organ from cassettes, and at 14 I snuck into the school music room, taught myself Grade 4 piano and paid for my own exam. I got a credit.
That restless kid is why I teach the way I do. From the start, I had my students off the bench, moving and singing before they played. Examiners began commenting on how musically they played, and how well they memorised.
Read the full story →Speaking
Talks for teachers, schools and conferences
Grounded in research, practical enough to use on Monday, and usually with the audience out of their seats at some point.
Improvisation and Composition Skills using Orff-Schulwerk
Orff-Schulwerk techniques that get students improvising and composing from their very first lessons.
NCKP 2023 and 2025 · APPC 2024 · Texas MTA and Canadian MTA 2023
Teaching Kids Piano in the 2020s
A hands-on workshop on what today's young students need from their piano lessons, and how to give it to them.
Australia · UK · USA
I've presented at MTNA, NCKP, NAMM, ISME, ASME, the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference, TopMusicLive and the London Music Expo, and for Trinity College London, ABRSM, AMEB and the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
“Paul Myatt has co-presented several successful pedagogy courses on Orff-Schulwerk using the Trinity College piano syllabus. He is a well-informed pedagogue who brings a sense of fun and excitement to learning, offering teachers practical, hands-on activities that can be used in lessons immediately.”
Writing
Every fortnight, one idea worth questioning.
Short essays for music teachers on how we teach, why it works, and what the research says. Starting soon on Substack.
Coming upWhy the piano should be every child's first instrument
Coming upThree piano lessons and a Grade 4 credit
Coming upWhat happens when kids learn piano standing up
The first essays are on their way
Want to know when they land? Drop me a line and I'll let you know.