Immersive Piano Retreat
Escape distraction, immerse yourself in music, and surprise yourself with exactly how much progress a week of complete immersion can unlock.
Most of us try to learn new skills like the piano in the spaces left over after work, family and everything else. The PianEasy Retreats reverse that equation. For one week, you give yourself permission to focus on one thing. Immersed in music you love, concentration deepens, confidence grows, and the momentum that usually takes months to build begins to gather in just a few days.
Spend the week alongside a small group of like-minded people, following a thoughtfully balanced programme of guided practice, individual tuition, workshops, and time to rest and recharge, all designed to maximise concentration and prime for progress. Days settle into a gentle rhythm of focused learning, good conversation, mountain air, and uninterrupted time at the piano. Freed from the usual distractions of everyday life, you’ll discover just how much becomes possible when your attention is allowed to settle in one place.
Whether you’re taking your very first steps at the piano, returning after years away, or simply looking to take your playing further, you’ll experience the same carefully structured approach that underpins the entire PianEasy project: breaking everything into simple, manageable steps, practising with purpose, understanding what you’re playing, and gradually building pieces in a way that feels clear, achievable and genuinely enjoyable.
Set in a peaceful French hamlet in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, the retreat offers mountain views, a shaded picturesque garden, and the rare luxury of genuine peace and quiet—an environment deliberately chosen to minimise distraction and accelerate learning.
When the week ends, the retreat doesn’t.
You return home with the PianEasy Library, the Foundations Course, and an ever-expanding collection of pieces and Practice Strategies that keep the momentum alive. So if the Library is where your journey begins, the Retreats are where the progress curve truly achieves escape velocity.
Who's It For?
The retreats are particularly suited to:
- Adults returning to the piano after years or even decades away.
- Complete beginners looking for an enjoyable and accelerated introduction.
- Intermediate players keen to build confidence, improve their playing, or simply immerse themselves in developing their skills and repertoire for a week.
- Piano enthusiasts looking to connect with others who share a love of the piano.
- Anyone curious to discover what a week of complete musical immersion can achieve.
What The Retreat Offers
You’ll spend the week following a carefully balanced programme designed to maximise concentration and accelerate progress. Each day combines a variety of complementary activities designed to keep you fresh, allowing your playing to build naturally throughout the week.
You’ll experience a blend of:
Individual tuition
Guided and independent practice
Group workshops
Sessions on the Foundations Course
Practice Strategy seminars
Time away from the piano to rest and recharge.
Learning the piano is essentially the process of harnessing the muscle-memory machinery we all possess. We unlock it through targeted, mindful repetition spread across multiple sessions throughout the day. Retention is far stronger when we repeatedly retrieve a memory after a break than when we try to establish it in one long sitting. One hour of practice, for example, is usually far better organised as four focused fifteen-minute sessions spread throughout the day than as one uninterrupted block.
Methodology & Philosophy
Learning the piano isn’t about talent — it’s about attention, focus, and process.
My playing transformed when I discovered a set of straightforward, replicable practice strategies that really do make progress feel almost inevitable, provided you simply stick to them.
The following principles are key to this approach:
- Learn by imitation before notation.
- Build one manageable segment at a time.
- Practise deliberately and efficiently rather than repeating for repetition’s sake.
- Understand the musical patterns that make memorisation dramatically easier.
- Balance focused work with deliberate rest.
Music & Repertoire
Learning the piano should be joyful, personal, and motivating, so nothing is chosen for you.
Creative Freedom
Learn what inspires you: Classical Gems, Film Scores, Folk Songs, Soundtracks, Jazz Standards, Arrangements of Billie Eilish, Adele, Einaudi, John Williams, Songs from the Musicals, even Cliff Richard if that’s your thing Mum.
Bite-sized Walkthroughs
Focused, beautifully clear and fully rewindable video guides designed to give you everything you need for your Project Memorise This/These.
Flexible Learning
Pause, repeat, and revisit every section at your own pace — both during the retreat and afterwards through the online library.
Choose Your Piece in Advance
Before the retreat we will pick your piece(s) together.
If it’s not standard repertoire an arrangement can be prepared if none exists already.
The only rule:
Choose something you know & love, and so feel excited to play.
Motivation, patience & perseverance are SOOO much easier to muster when “Project Memorise This” is a beloved favourite.
Daily Rhythm
The schedule aims for a daily rhythm of focus, concentration and rejuvenation:
Early morning warm-up: Coffee, light stretching, breathing exercises, gentle breakfast and coffee.
Guided practice sessions
Group workshops & theory seminars
Rejuvenation breaks: Walks, meditation, siestas, light exercise or even coffee
Flexible evenings that allow you to go with your own flow: Continue practice, revisit some theory, go to the bar, read a book or watch a thematically related movie like Shine…this is time for you to curate for yourself/selves as your energies and desires dictate.
Practice takes place on digital pianos with headphones, culminating in a chance to play a local Steinway grand.
Location & Practical Details
Location: The Ariege, French Pyrenees
Accommodation:
Group Size: 4 participants per retreat initially. Groups of 4 friends/colleagues applying together are welcome.
Meals & Refreshments
Designed to support energy and focus.
Light breakfasts
Simple lunches on-site or explored locally
Four evening meals catered on-site
Three evenings free for local restaurants
Coffee, tea, and light snacks available throughout the day
Click here for more detail
The Founding Cohort
The first PianEasy Retreats will be intentionally small: just four participants.
Rather than launching at full scale, I’d much rather begin with a handful of enthusiastic people who enjoy the idea of helping shape something from the very beginning. Your thoughts, suggestions and experiences will help refine every aspect of future retreats.
As a thank you, the inaugural retreats are being offered at a special introductory rate of €800 for the full week.
If this sounds like something you’d enjoy being part of, I’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch via the Contact page, tell me a little about yourself, your musical background (if any), and what draws you to the retreat. We’ll arrange a conversation and see whether it feels like a good fit for both of us.