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Common Questions and Other Musings
“I’m Too Old for Piano Lessons” and Other Things I Commonly Hear From Adult Students
How Piano Lessons Can Aid in Teaching Life Lessons
Suzuki is a method of learning music that is ideal for young children. The Suzuki method relies heavily on parental involvement and positive reinforcement. The learning process is approached much in the same way that children learn their native language, first by listening, then speaking, then reading.
Music is learned first by listening to recordings, and then taught by rote with help from the parent and teacher. After the child is comfortable with the piano they begin the process of reading music.
“I’m Too Old for Piano Lessons” and Other Things I Commonly Hear From Adult Students
Here is a rundown of how the average conversation between myself and a potential adult student usually goes: “I was thinking about taking lessons, but I don’t have a musical bone in my body. I am also (insert age here). Can I even learn piano now? I bet I will be the worst student you have!”
First, for the record I don’t have a worst student or a best student. I have students, each on a level that is suited to their strengths and weaknesses. I wouldn’t be able to teach if I thought that someone not knowing something instantly made them a poor student. All it means is it is something they don’t know and something I need to teach them.
Now that is off my chest I can address the other concerns. The idea that musical talent may have skipped your line in the family tree is not true. If you are able to enjoy music to the point that the idea of “hey, I really want to be able to do that” has entered your head then I can say that you are indeed musical. Tone deaf is an actual thing that occurs when someone cannot hear the difference between notes. If this described yourself, you would derive no interest from listening to music in the first place. Music is a skill that can be learned, just like any other skill. At its most basic level, playing piano relies on muscle memory. If you can tap your thumb in alternation with another finger than it is safe to say that you can learn to play piano.
It is a very common thought that people are either musically talented or not. Maybe talent comes into play for professional musicians, but for the average student it is based on practice (and practice is more important than talent for even top musicians). I actually take it as an insult when someone tells me that I play well because I am “so talented.” Saying that completely negates the years of lessons/training/practice that have gone into learning the piano. There is no magical thing inside myself or others that make playing piano easy. Learning to play piano is based on trying to learn to play piano, not talent.
To summarize all this, if you can commit to coming to lessons on a regular basis and then taking some time each week to go over the lesson on your own, I promise you will successfully learn the piano. If you have even bothered to read all this then it is fair to say you are interested enough in piano lessons to go ahead and start learning.
I completely understand the reluctance of parents to go and spend thousands on an instrument that their child may or may not be interested in next year. The bad news is that yes, you need some type of piano or keyboard for practice at home. The good news is that keyboards come in all price ranges and you can find a usable one for relatively little money.
If you or your child are a true beginner then I would suggest buying a keyboard that is listed as having weighted keys or real piano action. This keyboard should include a stand. You can expect to spend at least $100 for this. After a few months, you can reevaluate where you are with lessons and then make the plunge to buy either a high quality keyboard/digital piano or a real piano.
How Piano Lessons Can Aid in Teaching Life Lessons
In 2014 and beyond it is more important than ever for parents to have their child study music. Why? Because we have the extreme fortune/misfortune of living in a society that functions on instant gratification. Want to lose weight? We have a surgery/pill for that. Want to know why porcupines have needles on their back? You can google and have your answer immediately. Need a blender? Amazon.com will have one to you stat. Even schools today are set up so that while students must work, they are usually working on material that they can master on a daily basis. There are very few ways in which to teach your child that tackling big things requires focus, and self discipline.
Piano lessons are one of the few remaining activities in which a child can learn these skills. Piano cannot be mastered in a day. Heck, piano can’t even be mastered in a year. Piano is hard. There is no way for me to sugarcoat this. It takes years of lessons and regular practice for someone to be able to sit down and easily read through hymns or Christmas carols without great difficulty. However the actual process of getting to that point in music is one that can be filled with the unequaled self satisfaction that comes from hard work and an enjoyment of learning music.
I have often heard students say that a particular passage in music is too hard and then watched as their frustration grows. There is nothing more difficult than asking a third grader to go home and practice something they simply aren’t getting week after week. I can see the frustration growing in their face each lesson. It is at this point that real learning starts. The student must find something inside them to make them continue working on the trouble spot until it is easier. They must work through the wrong notes step by step, over and over until they are corrected. Once they have tackled that spot successfully they are usually overwhelmingly proud of themselves. The feeling of mastering something you have been trying to “get” for weeks is indescribable. There is such a feeling of positivity on their face accompanied by a sense of accomplishment that would not come from getting something easily.
This hard work is also a valuable lesson in the long run. How often in life do the things we REALLY REALLY want come easily? You know the answer is never. Kids are growing up unequipped to deal with reality when everything is handed to them instantly. They need to know that for things that matter there aren’t any shortcuts. Instant gratification and hard work are practically antonyms. Of course children learn to play piano to make music, but as parents, you should also think of their lessons as a way to teach them self discipline and focus—2 invaluable skills they may not pick up elsewhere.