About
Staircase Piano School offers personalised music lessons in the comfort of your own home across London. Our experienced teachers work with children and adults, combining musical expertise with a supportive, structured approach grounded in music pedagogy.
Whether you’re discovering an instrument for the first time, returning to music or preparing for exams, we shape lessons around your interests, experience and goals. Through clear guidance and achievable steps, we help you develop your skills, grow in confidence and enjoy making music.
Get in touch to discuss lessons for you or your child, and we’ll help you find the right teacher.
The Staircase Philosophy: Growth, Patience, and Enjoyment
At Staircase Piano School, we believe that everyone can develop a meaningful relationship with music, whatever their age or starting point. Our teaching is grounded in music pedagogy, with lessons shaped around each student’s needs, interests and ambitions.
We combine musical and technical foundations with clear goals, manageable steps and constructive feedback. Our Staircase approach encourages students to see mistakes as a useful part of learning: an opportunity to listen, understand a difficulty and find a way forward. We help students recognise their progress and approach challenges with curiosity and patience.
Learning takes many forms. Depending on the student’s age and needs, lessons may include listening and rhythm games, movement, simple breathing activities and opportunities to reflect on their playing. These activities work alongside instrumental practice to make musical ideas accessible and engaging.
Our guidance continues between lessons. Tools such as a practice diary help students understand what to work on, how to approach it and how to recognise improvement. Over time, we support them in becoming more thoughtful, confident and independent learners.
Whether you are learning for pleasure or preparing for exams, we will help you build your skills, take pride in your progress and enjoy discovering what you can achieve—one step at a time.
Staircase Piano School tuition fees
Did you know about MU teaching rates?
Behind every music lesson are years of training, thoughtful preparation and professional experience. The Musicians’ Union (MU) publishes recommended minimum rates for self-employed music teachers across the UK, helping to ensure that this work is fairly rewarded.
These recommendations provide a starting point for our pricing. Your personalised quote will reflect your teacher’s experience and qualifications, lesson duration and your learning goals, including any specialist tuition such as exam preparation.
To find out how much your lessons would cost, get in touch and tell us a little about what you’re looking for. We’ll be happy to discuss your needs and provide a personalised quote.
About Me
Floriana Iovino is an Italian pianist and music educator based in London, and the founder of Staircase Piano School. Her work brings together an international performing background, over a decade of teaching experience and a continuing interest in how people learn.
Her love of music began at home, inspired by her mother’s passion for opera—particularly Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro—and she started learning the piano at the age of four.
Floriana studied for ten years with Marco Tezza at the Conservatorio Arrigo Pedrollo in Vicenza, graduating with honours in 2014, and continued her training with Massimiliano Ferrati in Castelfranco Veneto. In 2022, she completed her Master of Performance at London’s Royal College of Music, studying with Sofya Gulyak, Ilya Kondratiev and Alexander Romanovsky.
She was also awarded a scholarship to the Steinway Society Piano Academy, studying with Federico Gianello, and has attended masterclasses with pianists including Benedetto Lupo, Boris Berman, Oxana Yablonskaya and Yossi Reshef. Her performing experience spans Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium, with appearances at venues including the Berliner Philharmonie, Westminster Music Library and Kasteel d’Ursel.
Alongside her performing career, Floriana has taught children, teenagers and adults, from complete beginners to advanced pianists. This experience has shaped her commitment to teaching that combines clear musical goals with patience, creativity and close attention to the individual student.
She continually explores, develops and refines teaching methods to make lessons more productive, engaging and enjoyable. Her approach includes imaginative listening, rhythm and movement activities, practical guidance for home practice, and tools that help students recognise their progress and become more independent learners. She also mentors fellow teachers, sharing the ideas and practical approaches that underpin Staircase Piano School.
At the heart of her work is a simple aim: to help students build lasting musical skills while feeling curious, supported and proud of what they achieve.
Floriana Iovino
Oliver’s story
When I first met Oliver, he was five years old, bright and full of enthusiasm for the piano. He picked up musical ideas and patterns remarkably quickly, often with very little explanation, and remembered them from one lesson to the next.
Over time, however, I noticed his excitement giving way to worry. His parents explained that he was becoming anxious about making mistakes and felt frustrated whenever he could not understand something straight away. Eventually, even coming to a lesson began to feel difficult.
During one lesson, while he was hiding behind the sofa and refusing to come near the piano, I had an idea.
I drew a staircase on the first page of his music book and explained that each mistake could become another step towards understanding. Every attempt gave us something to learn from and helped us work out the next step.
“In fact, I want you to make all the mistakes you need to!” I told him.
He burst out laughing, and I could see the relief on his face.
A few days later, his mum sent me a message: Oliver had started saying that he was “climbing up the stairs” whenever he wanted to learn something new.
Oliver’s story is one of many that have shaped my teaching. Over the years, students facing different challenges have inspired me to develop practical approaches that help them move forward when they feel stuck. I continually adapt and refine these methods, looking for ways to make learning clearer, more productive and more enjoyable for each individual student.
Some of the most rewarding feedback comes from parents who thank me because their children choose to sit down at the piano of their own accord between lessons. They understand what to practise and how to approach it, and they take pleasure in doing so.
That growing independence and enjoyment is at the heart of what I hope to achieve: helping students feel confident enough to explore, equipped to work through difficulties and excited to keep learning.
Floriana
Staircase
Piano
SCHOOL
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