Frequently asked questions

We are a 100% online traditional music school, founded by Tever Díaz García in 2026. We teach Asturian bagpipe and tin whistle in live individual and group classes, with a platform of our own where every session is recorded so you can review your progress whenever you like. You start wherever you are: no prior musical experience or entrance tests required. Our full name is Escuela de Música Tradicional e Innovación Fervienza — School of Traditional Music and Innovation Fervienza — and the “innovation” part is not just a name: it is how we build our own teaching tool while we teach with it.

We offer three ways to learn with us. The Individual Class is one hour a week, just you and your teacher, with 24/7 access to the recording of your own class. The Group Class is also one hour a week, in a small group, with the same access to the recording. Workshops/Masterclasses are one-off sessions on a specific topic, with access to the workshop material and the platform for that particular session. Whichever you choose, there’s always someone teaching you live — never just a pre-recorded video.

We don’t have final pricing for the 2026-2027 course yet, so we can’t give you a figure here — but write to us and we’ll tell you exactly where things stand and what you can expect. What we can tell you: Individual Class, Group Class and Workshops/Masterclasses will have different fees, and Individual Class and Group Class include access to our own platform for as long as you’re an active student, with recordings of your classes available at any time.

The Individual Class is just for you: a weekly hour one-on-one with your teacher, with the pace fully adapted to your level. The Group Class spreads that same weekly hour across a small group of students. Both have different fees and give you 24/7 access to the recording of your own class on our own platform. Pricing is not finalised yet — ask us if you’d like to know where things stand. Neither format requires previous experience or an entry test.

It’s our own teaching platform: every class, individual and group, is recorded, and you have access to those recordings at all times. You also get personalised follow-up — questions answered, adjustments to your level and recommendations designed for you, all within the platform itself. Today it covers Asturian bagpipe and tin whistle; we don’t rule out expanding it to other instruments or content further down the line. Access is tied to your status as an active student.

Full access to the platform is designed for students active in Individual Class, Group Class or Workshops/Masterclasses. But there are two ways to try it before enrolling. If you buy Xibla (our beginner Asturian bagpipe chanter) or Whistle (our beginner tin whistle), you get 2 months of free access to a path designed to show you how everything works, shorter than the access an active student has. If you buy a book, you get access to that book’s online material. In both cases, keeping full access afterwards depends on enrolling in Individual Class or Group Class.

The 2026-2027 school year runs from September 2026 to June 2027. This is the period during which the Individual Class or Group Class fee is paid. In July and August there are no live classes — the live service pauses for all students, whether you come from Individual or Group Class.

During those two months you can, if you wish, optionally subscribe to platform-only access, at the same price regardless of which format you come from. We haven’t set that price yet — ask us if you’re interested. It’s entirely voluntary: if you don’t subscribe, you simply won’t have access to the platform for those two months, without affecting your continuity as a student the following year — you don’t need to re-enrol or lose your spot.

We’re putting together a small shop with instruments and our own learning material to help you get started: Xibla, our Asturian bagpipe learning flute; Whistle, our beginner tin whistle; and books to go along with your learning, both made in-house. Buying a Xibla or Whistle gets you 2 free months of platform access, so you can try it before deciding; the books include access to their own online material.

Sales aren’t open yet — we’re finishing up the details ahead of the 2026-2027 course. If you’d like us to let you know as soon as you can buy, just get in touch.

No, it isn’t essential before your first class. If you’re not sure yet which to choose: the Asturian bagpipe is a bellows-blown wind instrument, larger and with more elements to coordinate from the start (breath, bellows pressure, fingering); the tin whistle is a small flute, fingering and direct breath only, with a simpler learning curve in the first weeks. Neither requires previous experience. We’re preparing Xibla and Whistle, our own beginner instruments for Asturian bagpipe and tin whistle, but the shop isn’t open yet. In the meantime, you can bring your own instrument if you already have one, or write to us telling us what draws you to each — we’ll help you decide, no obligation.

Live classes are currently taught in Spanish and Asturian; English and French are coming soon. This is a limitation of our own platform, not a decision about who we want to teach. In the meantime, the rest of the site — information about the school, who we are, contact — is already available in all 4 languages.

No. At EMTI Fervienza you start wherever you are — there are no entry tests or prerequisites, in any class format. If you’ve never played before, the first session focuses on posture, breathing and first notes; if you already play, we adapt the pace to your real level from day one.

You can write to us through the site’s contact form — we’ll get back to you to answer any questions and work out how to get started. Tell us what you’re interested in (gaita asturiana or tin whistle; if you’re not sure yet which one fits you best, tell us that too, we’ll talk it through), your current level if you have one, and your rough availability: it helps us suggest the right format straight away, Individual or Group. We reply in Spanish or Asturian; if you write in English or French, we’ll read you too, although the class itself isn’t available in those languages yet. There’s still no enrollment process or automated online payment on the site: the first contact is always direct with the school, not a purchase form.

Yes, you can. We’re still finalising the exact procedure, so for now we handle it case by case: write to us, tell us your situation, and we’ll let you know how to make the change or cancel. We’d rather help you directly than give you a process here that might not fit your case later.

All classes are taught by Tever Díaz García, the school’s founder. He holds a Professional Music Studies Technician qualification in the Gaita (Asturian bagpipe) specialty from the Oviedo Conservatoire, with training in instrumental technique and performance, classical and traditional repertoire, music theory, harmony and chamber music. Before founding EMTI Fervienza, he taught gaita at the Municipal Music Schools of Proaza and Teverga between 2017 and 2022. Alongside music, he is a computer engineer with specific training in teacher education — that dual root, piper and engineer, is what shapes the school: the aim is not to replace tradition with technology, but to use technology to teach and share it better.

The first class is live, over video call, one on one with your teacher (or in a small group, if you enroll in Group Class). It lasts the same as any weekly session: one hour. If you’ve never played before, we spend it on posture, breathing, and the first notes — no prior knowledge needed, and there’s nothing to prepare in advance. If you already play, we use it to get a real sense of your level and adjust the pace from that very first day. Like every class, it’s recorded and you can watch it again whenever you like on our own platform.

There’s no entrance test or level exam. When you write to us to enrol, we ask about your current level if you already have one — including if you’re self-taught, with no prior formal lessons: that experience counts too, and it gives us a first reference point so you don’t start from scratch if you already know how to play something. That first answer doesn’t lock anything in: it’s just the starting point we bring to the first lesson, where we actually confirm it — either by listening to you play, or, if you’ve never played before, starting from zero. In Individual Lessons the pace is adjusted to you session by session, so an imprecise initial placement isn’t a problem: it gets corrected along the way. If at any point the pace doesn’t feel right, tell us — we’ll talk it through and adjust it.

We can’t give you an exact number — it depends on the person, the instrument, and how much you practise between classes. What we can tell you is how you’ll notice it: with a weekly live class and real follow-up, it’s not unusual to play a simple piece all the way through within the first few weeks. Since every session is recorded, you can go back and compare how you sounded at the start with how you sound now — it’s the most honest way to see your own progress, rather than relying only on how it feels in the moment.

The difference isn’t just “online” — it’s the combination of three things that rarely come together: real live one-to-one classes (not recorded content or a group webinar), a teacher with verifiable formal training, and follow-up between sessions through the recording of your own class.

That lets you work on things that get lost in a one-off class. You can review a specific passage as many times as you need. You can compare how you played a month ago with how you play today. And you get corrections designed specifically for your level, not a generic syllabus.

If you already play, the first class is spent listening to you and adjusting the work from there — not repeating the basics.

These are one-off sessions on a specific topic, different from an ongoing weekly class such as Individual or Group, with access to the workshop material and to the platform during that session. This is the first time we’re offering this format, so we’re still finalising the schedule and content for each one — as soon as we have a date and topic, we’ll announce it. If you’re interested, get in touch and we’ll let you know as soon as the first one is available.