Online Piano Lessons: A Hoffman Academy Review

Written by Adam | Last Updated: July 29, 2025

Chopsticks? Heart and Soul? Do you have a simple song or two you can peck out on the piano but wished you could play something more meaningful?

As an alternative to traditional private lessons, Hoffman Academy offers an engaging, affordable, and self-paced option that will have your kids tickling the ivories with their favorite tunes in no time.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Learn more in my disclosure policy.

Hoffman Academy’s piano program provides quality online instruction designed for your convenience. Your family can take lessons from the comfort of your own home at any time that fits your schedule. Since all video lessons are available at no cost, you can learn to play piano for free. Should you decide to buy the premium membership for a more immersive experience, you’ll still only pay a fraction of the cost of one-on-one lessons.

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Piano Lessons: A worthy investment

When I was a child, my parents paid for private piano lessons, and I chose to continue these lessons through high school. While there are many things I learned in school that I didn’t stay with me, I still enjoy playing piano to this day.  Am I skilled enough (or brave enough) to perform on stage at my church or a local community concert? Probably not, but the joy I get from playing is worth the investment my parents made in my piano education.

In our digitally soaked world, music education provides a tactile experience grounded in reality. The value of learning to do hard things through consistent practice and effort teaches perseverance. Blessing others with the gift of music can bring great joy to friends and family.

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If learning piano has so many benefits, how can you bring these good things to your family in a way that won’t break the bank (or your calendar)? Hoffman Academy solves this problem.

Hoffman Academy: An Online Alternative

As our oldest was reaching school age, he began to take a liking to the piano. He would often peck out songs on the piano, even showing an impressive ability to translate a tune he had just heard on the radio into an uncanny rendition on the keys.

We considered private lessons but wanted to find a more convenient option. The challenge of hauling younger siblings to their brother’s piano lessons, the rigid schedule, and the added expense prompted my wife to search for an alternative.

Since we were already homeschooling our kids, the idea of trying online piano lessons with parents as facilitators wasn’t so big of a jump after all. Given my background in piano, when my wife found Hoffman Academy’s online piano lessons, she quickly gave me the task to investigate this option.

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Hoffman Academy: Child-Tested and Approved

Because all of the video lessons at Hoffman Academy are free, I was easily able to watch through the first few and browsed the outlines of the first unit. I was encouraged with what I saw, but the real test remained. I sat down with my son, and we watched the first lesson together. He was quickly engaged and comfortably followed along with Mr. Hoffman, taking his turn on the keys at the appropriate times. The zany puppet show at the end sealed the deal for him.

From there we agreed to sign up for the premium membership to get access to the lesson materials and guided practice sessions. We started with an annual membership and planned to reassess after completing the first unit or two. That was in 2016. We have been satisfied customers of Hoffman Academy ever since. Three of our children are now Hoffman Academy students with another anxious to start.

Does Hoffman Academy Really Work?

Here is a glimpse of what our students have learned through Hoffman Academy. This compilation includes a few songs they learned from their respective unit lessons, as well as popular songs they selected from Hoffman Academy’s tutorial library.

This next example, played by our oldest son, is “All of Me” by John Schmidt. It’s actually the song that Mr. Hoffman plays during the introduction of every video lesson. While it’s a complex piece, Hoffman Academy provides a tutorial for intermediate level students that makes the song more accessible. Our son was excited to find this tutorial and diligently used it to teach himself how to play the piece, which remains one of his favorites.

What Exactly is Hoffman Academy?

Hoffman Academy provides online, video-based piano lessons aimed at helping anyone learn how to play the piano. Starting with private lessons in 2007, Hoffman Academy’s online teaching method now serves over 250,000 students across the globe.

The lessons are based on the Hoffman method, developed by Joseph Hoffman as an alternative to traditional teaching methods. With this method students not only learn the mechanics of playing music, but they also comprehend musical concepts in an easy way.

Free Video Lessons

Hoffman’s passion for music education is evident in all aspects of their program. The best evidence of this is the fact that the video lessons themselves are free – all of them. You aren’t just limited to viewing the first few lessons to get you interested. Hoffman Academy truly wants quality piano education to be available to everyone.

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Premium Membership

Given the quality of the video lessons, a piano student can certainly learn a lot from Hoffman Academy for free. However, we’ve found Hoffman Academy’s premium membership to be a valuable addition to help our kids stay on track and get the most out of the lessons. By purchasing a premium membership, you get instant access to guided practice lessons, printable worksheets, interactive games, and personalized student profiles.

Premium Benefit #1: Guided Practice Lessons

For premium members, each lesson is accompanied by an online practice module with a set of practice exercises. The exercises cover the most recent lesson while also mixing in review concepts. The practice modules provide a structure to practice time that is easy to follow even for the youngest students. The accompanying audio tracks also provide instant feedback to students as they work out the more challenging parts of each song.

Premium Benefit #2: Printable Worksheets

Each unit comes with a downloadable PDF containing worksheets to reinforce each video lesson. The exercises give the student a chance to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

The worksheets include:

• sheet music for the songs they are learning
• sight reading exercises
• fill in the blank exercises
• additional training to emphasize the content of each lesson

Premium Benefit #3: Interactive Games

The interactive games, which are easily a favorite of all the students in our house, are a simple, fun, and effective way to help students learn. For premium members, games are often included in the guided practice session, but these students can play them at any time. Even our youngest child, who hasn’t yet started lessons, asks to play piano games after seeing the fun his siblings are having.

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Premium Benefit #4: Student Profile

With multiple students in our house, having personalized profiles for each one is a must. As the parent, I can easily switch between each profile to see the most recent lesson they have completed and which lesson is next. I can also quickly access the printables that match their lesson progress.

These profiles also provide fun benefits to the students as well. Each time they complete a lesson or practice module, they earn points redeemable for fun avatars. Our kids love earning new avatars.

Why We Love Hoffman Academy

Engagement from day one

With the very first lesson, students learn to play their first song. It’s certainly not Mozart, but the accomplishment keeps them engaged and more willing to learn the “boring” stuff like proper posture and hand position.

Emphasis on fun

Mr. Hoffman has an engaging and caring attitude. He inserts a good balance of fun while teaching important musical principles. In addition to the vast lesson library, Hoffman Academy also provides dozens of lessons on how to play popular songs like We Don’t Talk About Bruno and Everything is Awesome.

Structured practice time

The guided practice modules are an excellent resource to help keep your students on track. As the parent, I can simply assign a video lesson and the accompanying practice module and worksheets to my kids. I don’t have to design a practice routine.

Even if you don’t have a musical background, the guided practices are easy to follow and implement. Students can complete the routine independently, and you can have them repeat the routine with you at any time to ensure they are mastering the material.

Flexibility

Unlike a personal instructor who may provide instruction only once a week or less, Hoffman Academy enables aspiring students to work through the lessons at their own pace.

This flexibility proved quite valuable when life got busier than usual for our family. In 2024, we took on a complex home renovation project, which occupied a large amount of time. Unfortunately, I lacked the energy to check in with my piano students routinely. However, they were still able to proceed through their respective units using the guided practice modules and premium membership materials. While they may not have progressed as fast as I would have liked, they were able to stay engaged until I was free to provide better oversight.

Affordability

In addition to the great experience we’ve had with Hoffman Academy, it continues to be a very affordable option for us. With four kids, we greatly appreciate the half-price discount that Hoffman Academy offers on its premium membership for additional family members.

Purchasing an annual membership provides a small discount over monthly billing, but both rates are very reasonable. In fact, the monthly rate is typically less than one session with most private piano instructors. Every now and then Hoffman Academy offers a lifetime membership. We did purchase this option for our oldest son many years ago, but we currently have annual memberships for our other children.

As Hoffman Academy has continued to add more lessons, the price of an annual membership has understandably increased a few times over the years. Even with these increases, the program continues to be an affordable option for our family.

The Hoffman Academy Store: A La Carte Items

If you aren’t ready to sign up for a premium membership from Hoffman Academy but still want try out a unit workbook, you can buy a digital version in the online store. The online store also includes digital sheet music for popular songs at varying skills levels. Several of the printables such as the Ultimate Piano Chord Chart are free.

Printed Hoffman Academy Books Available on Amazon

If you prefer to purchase printed material, you can also find printed versions of select Hoffman song books on Amazon.

How We Use Hoffman Academy

In our home, our use of Hoffman Academy has varied. In the beginning with one student, we would first watch the lesson together, and then he would work through the practice exercise as I provided feedback. Between lessons, he would then repeat the practice session on his own each day. As I added more students, I began to give them more freedom to watch the lessons independently. Now I simply check in with them and have them complete the practice session with me to ensure they are ready to start the next lesson.

Although each of my kids moves at a different pace, I attempt to align their progress so we can plan a family recital as they complete each unit.  In addition to playing the songs they learn in each unit, I ask them to pick out another song or two that they would like to learn. They sometimes choose from Hoffman’s library of popular songs, or I help them find sheet music for one of their favorites, such as the theme to Star Wars.

A Lifetime gift

So far, all our Hoffman students seem to love playing the piano and want to continue to learn. We are grateful for the chance to have given them this gift. We hope they can enjoy it for the rest of their lives and use it to bless others. If you’re interested in doing the same, I encourage you to check out Hoffman Academy.

If you have any questions about our experience, don’t hesitate to reach out.

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