Throwing Down the Bone

Watch the movie clip above. For anyone not familiar with the 2016 film La La Land it is a film about an aspiring young couple consisting of an actress (Emma Stone) and a jazz pianist (Ryan Gosling). The video you have just watched is an excerpt from the film in which Gosling's character Sebastian improvises over a simple theme.

Before shooting began for the film Gosling had never had a piano lesson in his life. According to producers he had played a little by ear before but was otherwise musically illiterate and devoid of any and all technique. This, however, would all change in the next three months.

With daily lessons and the help of a dedicated piano teacher, Gosling committed to memory the entirety of the movie's soundtrack. When filming began Gosling was able to perform all of his own piano parts without the need for a hand double. The results are remarkable. Due to time constraints, Gosling's lessons had no theoretical content concerned with reading music; instead, they focussed solely on his ability to play the pieces he needed to learn. From the clip above it is clear to viewers that he knows the music well and executes it with aplomb.

It is easy to disregard his achievement as a product of the time and considerable resources that Gosling has available to him. Three months worth of daily piano lessons at the rate of a top professional are not cheap, and the amount of practise between lessons can seem all-consuming. In addition, Gosling has only memorised a dozen or so pieces, with no emphasis on music reading or interpretation.

However, I feel that with a bit of tweaking, the three-month time-span that took Ryan Gosling from beginner to Hollywood-standard performer can be moulded into a coherent and comprehensive piano course. This is what I have called The Ryan Gosling Challenge.

Adapting the mODEL

Time-Frame

The principle of The Ryan Gosling Challenge is simple: three months of daily lessons (excluding weekends) to get you playing whatever you want. Over twelve weeks, a lessons every weekday will add up to a grand total of 60 piano lessons by the time the challenge is completed. To put this in perspective, most of my students have 40 lessons in a year; those on the intensive plan will have a minimum of 60 lessons and a maximum of 80. In effect, students taking the challenge will be receiving over a year's worth of lessons and tuition compacted into just quarter of that time.

Price

One thing that needed to be addressed in order to make this model accessible is the price of each lesson. Ordinarily I charge £40 per hour, pro rata, for a lesson. Ryan Gosling lessons are 30 minutes each, so with my usual rate the challenge would come with the whopping price tag of £1200. Because of the condensed nature of the challenge I decided that each 30 minute lesson should be charged at £12.50, bringing down the overall cost to a much more affordable £750. Again, to put this in perspective, a year's worth of piano lessons on the full time course (40 lessons at £65/month) totals £780.

Setting Goals

As for defining a set of goals to be achieved, I decided to leave that up to those wishing to take the challenge. Whilst some - like Gosling himself - may just want to learn and perfect a set of songs or pieces that are dear to them, others may favour a more comprehensive approach, while others still may wish to focus solely on improvising or composing. In 60 piano lessons anything can be accomplished, it is up to the student to decide what he or she would like to do with them.

Expectations of Students

The Ryan Gosling Challenge is a unique way to learn the piano. While I do not expect floods of enquiries from prospective students willing to commit themselves to 12 weeks of study, for certain individuals this approach may be just what they are looking for. I believe that The Ryan Gosling Challenge offers something unique, and with this belief, I have offered students wishing to take up the challenge compromises in my usual rates and conditions.

This also means that I have certain very particular expectations of students undertaking the challenge. Challengers will need to have a suitable instrument to practice on at home before the challenge begins (see my piano buyers guide: How to Avoid Buying a Piece of Junk). Daily practice will be required in order to digest the content of that day’s lesson. Because of the high frequency of lessons any missed sessions cannot be rearranged.

For those who are truly willing to take on The Ryan Gosling Challenge, these expectations will be easy to fulfil. In my experience, the most sincere and studious students have even higher expectations of themselves than I do, which is why they are the ones to persist, progress and achieve more than any others. The Ryan Gosling Challenge is not a shortcut to greatness; by nature, it demands a lot of work to gain the full value of the experience. However for the right student it will give them the biggest head-start into the world of piano they could possibly ask for, by totalling immersing them in all the instrument has to offer.