No — you can join the JPS Academy at any time.

If you already own The Proficient Jazz Pianist, the Academy is a perfect companion because it gives you ongoing training, live events, community support, tune studies, and advanced tracks that help you keep applying and developing what you’re learning.

But you do not need to own PJP before joining.

The Academy was built to give you a more connected, organized place to continue growing as a jazz pianist — whether you’re currently working through PJP, coming back to jazz piano after time away, or simply looking for more guidance, community, and consistency.

That said, if you ever want to strengthen your foundation, you can add PJP to your account at any time.

The JPS Academy is an ongoing membership.

Instead of being one single course you start and finish, the Academy gives you an ongoing place to continue learning, practicing, asking questions, attending live events, studying tunes, and staying connected to your jazz piano journey.

You’ll have access to training, community, live sessions, tune studies, and advanced learning opportunities designed to help you keep growing over time.

Inside the Academy, you’ll get access to ongoing jazz piano training, live events, community discussions, tune studies, sheet music, masterclasses, Q&A opportunities, and advanced learning tracks.

You’ll also get access to the new JPS platform experience, which has been rebuilt to be cleaner, more organized, more intuitive, and easier to navigate than the old system.

The goal is simple:

Give you one clear place to keep growing as a jazz pianist.

Yes, as long as you already have basic piano skills and you’re serious about learning jazz.

The Academy includes training, community, live events, and tune-based learning that can help you stay connected and keep growing no matter where you are in your jazz piano journey.

That said, if you are brand new to jazz piano and want the most complete step-by-step foundation, The Proficient Jazz Pianist is still the best place to build those core skills.

But you do not need to have everything mastered before joining the Academy.

Then the Academy can be an excellent place for you.

The Academy is built to help you go deeper into the skills that matter most for jazz pianists, including comping, voicings, solo piano, improvisation, tune analysis, harmonic understanding, and musical expression.

You’ll also be able to participate in live events, explore advanced tracks, ask questions, and stay connected to an environment that keeps your playing moving forward.

That’s exactly why an ongoing Academy can be so helpful.

You don’t need to practice for hours every day to benefit.

The Academy gives you a consistent place to return to, even during busy seasons of life. You can attend live events when you’re available, watch recordings when you need to catch up, participate in the community at your own pace, and keep jazz piano active in your week.

The goal is not perfection.

The goal is momentum.

Yes, live events are recorded whenever possible so you can watch them later if you cannot attend live.

That means you can still benefit from the training even if the live session does not fit your schedule.

No.

The JPS Academy Membership gives you ongoing training, community, live events, tune studies, and advanced learning opportunities.

The Accelerator is a higher-level coaching program for students who want more direct feedback, structure, accountability, and support over a focused period of time.

The Academy is your ongoing home for continued growth.

The Accelerator is the more intensive coaching experience.

Yes — and for many students today, it works even better.

Traditional in-person lessons can be valuable, but they’re often limited by time, pacing, and retention. You meet once a week, cover a few ideas, and then rely on memory when you go home — without recordings, structured lesson plans, or a clear system to follow.

Modern online learning has evolved significantly.

With Jazz Piano School, every lesson is part of a structured curriculum you can revisit anytime. You have the ability to rewatch demonstrations, slow things down, view multiple angles, and practice with clear guidance rather than guessing what to do next.

The Proficient Jazz Pianist core program provides that step-by-step structure, so your practice is always focused and intentional. You’re not dependent on remembering what was said in a single lesson — everything is organized and available when you need it.

As you continue into the Membership or the Professional Accelerator, the experience becomes even more interactive, with live coaching sessions, feedback, and a community of players — combining the benefits of real-time guidance with the consistency and clarity of a structured system.

In many cases, students find this approach leads to more consistent progress than traditional lesson formats, because they always know what to practice and can return to the material as often as needed.

No, you do not need to be a theory expert before joining the Academy.

Jazz Piano School is designed to make theory practical and musical, so you’ll learn how concepts show up in real playing — through chords, voicings, progressions, tunes, comping, improvisation, and solo piano examples.

It does help if you have basic piano experience and can find your way around the keyboard.

But you do not need to understand every scale, chord extension, or piece of jazz harmony before you begin.

The Academy will help you build that understanding over time.

Many experienced players join because they feel like they have gaps in their playing.

The Membership helps connect what you already know, refine your skills, and take your playing to a deeper level.

Optionally, you could also apply for the JPS Accelerator if you want faster and more in-depth education

Consistency matters more than time.

Even with 20–30 minutes a day, focused practice inside a structured environment can lead to steady, meaningful progress over time.

Over the last year, I’ve migrated and reorganized the JPS experience into a completely new platform that is cleaner, faster, more intuitive, and much easier to use.

On the old site, there was a lot of valuable training, but after more than 10 years of building Jazz Piano School, the experience had become harder to navigate than I wanted. Courses, resources, community, announcements, events, and next steps were not always as connected or easy to find as they should have been.

The new Academy fixes that.

Now your lessons, courses, live events, announcements, discussions, and resources are brought together into one more organized learning environment.

You’ll have a clearer home base, easier course navigation, a more connected community, member profiles, discussion areas, notifications, events, and interactive features that help you stay more engaged.

The new platform also includes features like checklists, progress tracking, badges, streaks, and other gamified elements that make it easier to keep showing up and feel momentum as you learn.

So the biggest difference is this:

The old site held the education.

The new Academy supports the entire learning experience.

It gives you a clearer, more organized, more interactive, and more community-driven place to continue growing as a jazz pianist.

You can make meaningful progress with as little as 15–30 minutes a day.

The curriculum is designed for busy adults, not full-time music students. Each lesson is structured so you can move forward at your own pace, whether you practice a little each day or in longer sessions a few times per week.

Because the program provides a clear roadmap, your practice time is focused and efficient — you won’t waste energy wondering what to work on next.

Students who practice more consistently will progress faster, but there are no strict schedules or deadlines in the core program. You move forward when you’re ready.

Many members find that having a structured path actually makes practice easier to maintain, because they can sit down and immediately begin working on something meaningful.

YouTube can be helpful, but it is also scattered.

One video teaches a voicing.

Another teaches a lick.

Another teaches a tune.

Another teaches a theory concept.

But most students struggle to connect everything into a clear path.

The Academy gives you a more organized, connected environment for learning jazz piano. Instead of bouncing from random lesson to random lesson, you’ll have ongoing training, live events, tune studies, community support, and a clearer place to keep growing.

Yes — everything inside the Membership is designed to be flexible.

You can go deeper into one area, revisit concepts, or explore new topics depending on your goals and schedule.

You’ll get immediate access to the full library, core tracks, live sessions, and community.

From there, you can start with a specific track, explore topics that interest you, or join a live session to get oriented.

The special launch pricing is only available during the launch window.

After the launch ends, the Academy returns to its regular pricing.

If you join during the launch, you can lock in the launch offer while it is available.

Yes. With either plan you can cancel your membership anytime before your next billing cycle.