Online MUSIC classes • courses • private lessons
Exact-Notes: online music education
Live classes for after-school and homeschool enrichment for piano, violin, cello, guitar, and ukulele. Specializing in fun, live interactive classes for K-12 students, courses and resources for teachers, schools, and adults, and advanced scholarly study partnerships.
Learn more about our flexible programs for all learning styles!
One musical home • many starting points
See where your learner fits
Exact Notes brings young beginners, growing musicians, adults, teachers, and scholars under one unique umbrella. Explore the program that fits you.
For families
After School and Homeschool Enrichment
Join flexible live classes, self-paced virtual courses, private lessons, and starter experiences built to fit real family schedules.
For educators
Teaching—or planning a music program?
Learn about our specialized curriculum resources for private music teachers, classroom, school, and district partnerships.
young beginners
Kids' Starter Courses
Begin with piano, violin, cello, guitar, or ukulele through our live online enrichment classes and virtual self-study courses.
Beginner to advanced
Classical Piano
Learn classical and modern repertoire, expressive performance, and go deep in our Masterworks program for beginners ages 10 to adult.
Advanced • scholarly
Original Research in Bach and Beethoven
Dive deep into the musical symbolism of Bach and Beethoven through our groundbreaking original research.
Pick your sound
Learn the great beginner instruments that let kids make music right away
Piano and stringed instruments give children hands-on ways to connect with music instantly - and work better than instruments that come in one-size only or require strong lung capacity. Start with the sound that makes your learner light up, then explore our specialty kid-friendly pathways.
🎹 Kids Piano!
Easy to see, satisfying to play, and wonderfully versatile. Piano offers our strongest foundation to music.
🎻 Kids Violin!
Bright, expressive, and available in just-right sizes for growing players.Â
🎻 Kids Cello!
Warm, rich, and played while seated. Fractional sizes help young cellists settle in and start making music.
🎸 Kids Guitar!
A familiar favorite with a built-in visual map: the frets. Chords, riffs, and melodies give beginners lots of quick, recognizable wins.
♫ Kids Ukulele!
Small, light, and famously friendly. Four strings open a quick path to chords, rhythm, singing, and songs kids already know.
why choose piano?
🎹 Piano is the best foundation
Plus, the instant cause-and-effect of touching a key and playing a sound makes piano more instantly satisfying, especially for young beginners. Plus, whether you start with a digital keyboard or a traditional piano, what's learned keeps paying off later in harmony, theory, composition, and more. Learn more about piano below.
Why choose strings?
🎻 Strings come in just-right sizes
Violins, cellos, and guitars come in sizes for growing players, while ukuleles are naturally small and light. Since they require no breath control or lung capacity, kids of any age can put their energy instantly into analyzing, playing, listening, coordination, and musical expression.
Classical Piano
From strong foundations - to the Masterworks of Bach and Beethoven
For intermediate and advanced piano students ready to strengthen reading, technique, interpretation, and complete musicianship through substantial classical repertoire.
Foundations to MasterworksÂ
Classical Piano: Foundations to Masterworks
A program built for beginners ages 10+, or younger graduates of our Kids programs.
- Virtual course study for flexible, independent progress.Â
- Live weekly classes for feedback, accountability, and guided practice.
- Intermediate and advanced piano study with clear starting points.
- Flagship pathways through Für Elise, Moonlight Sonata, and Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.
Choose the level of guidance that fits, then grow into deeper repertoire and scholarship when ready.
Explore Classical PianoThe highest level of study
Advanced Studies
A selective yearlong one-to-one coaching and collaborative research pathway for musicians ready to work at the deepest level of performance, analysis, composition, and scholarship.
A yearlong private study and research partnership
Advanced Studies is designed for exceptional teens, adults, teachers, performers, scholars, and serious independent musicians who want sustained one-to-one guidance from Zach Tolan.
Students ordinarily enter after completing the FĂĽr Elise course, the Moonlight Sonata course, and substantial work in the Well-Tempered Clavier / Masterworks pathway. At that point, private coaching can grow into original questions, disciplined inquiry, performance projects, and collaborative scholarship.
First entry point
Beethoven’s Für Elise
Begin with the focused 10-week course to learn the complete piece and enter the world of score-based musical symbolism.
Next pathway
Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata
Continue through performance, interpretation, historical context, and symbolic questions in one of Beethoven’s most compelling early sonatas.
Long-form foundation
Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier
Build the broadest foundation through sustained Masterworks study in performance, counterpoint, composition, and Bach’s musical language.
Research and scholarship grow from the coaching
The yearlong relationship provides the primary framework for collaborative research: observe carefully, compare meaningful patterns, form and test hypotheses, refine interpretations, and develop work that can contribute to serious performance and scholarship.
Two genuinely free ways to begin
Try the teaching—or take a guided music pack home
Choose the starting point that feels easiest today. Meet Exact Notes in a free online starter class, or download a free sheet-music bundle with lessons you can explore on your own schedule.
Free live starter classes
Meet the program in a welcoming online class
Let your learner try a real Exact Notes class, meet the teacher, and experience the small-step, interactive approach before your family chooses a program.
Free printable learning bundles
Download sheet music with a clear path into the lesson
Choose from beginner song packs and classical learning bundles that pair printable music with guided instruction, so your learner can begin immediately at home.
Curriculum and resources for educators
Exact Notes supports the professionals and institutions who teach music
Private teachers, public-school music educators, charter and homeschool programs, and school districts can use Exact Notes materials in private studios, piano labs, general-music classrooms, and K–12 enrichment environments. Our most popular resources support young beginners in one-on-one and group learning environments who benefit most from the transformation our easy-to-read music notation provides and enables a smoothness to the group learning experience otherwise impossible with standard notation.
