As with many things, there are some myths surrounding piano lessons. In this article, I will go through some of them.
Myth 1 – Age.
Am I too old to start piano lessons? People of all ages may ask this. While starting piano lessons at an early age is the norm when students are around 7 years old and reading, there is no set age for starting piano. You can learn at any age. Having a commitment to learning the instrument will help you learn at any age.
Myth 2 – Do I have to practice every day?
Regular practice is essential in learning piano. Life is not perfect though, and everyone needs to take a break from their work occasionally. I used to tell my students that 5 or 6 days of practice was a good practice week, but then found that when they knew they could take a day off it would turn into 5 or 6 days off. I now tell my students to practice every day, especially during the week. Then, when life happens, they get right back into practicing again the next day because it’s not their day off.
Another part of practice is that it doesn’t have to be long lengths of time. For beginning piano students especially, 5, 10 or even 15 minutes of practice each day is all that is needed at first. Consistency of regular practice sessions is what will help in the long run.
Myth 3 – Can I learn piano on my own?
There are a lot of videos on playing the piano. When you learn from a video, you do not have the benefit of correcting bad hand position or fingering and can form bad habits early on. Muscle memory is important when learning piano and undoing bad habits takes more work than doing it correctly to start with. While there are some things you can get from videos, the promise of learning piano in a week is a little farfetched. Learning piano also involves learning to read music and the theory behind it all. It involves practice with feedback for that practice. Taking lessons allows you to build off each skill learned in a way that helps you progress.
Myth 4 – I must play my song perfect for my teacher!
Many parents (or grandparents) that listen in on a lesson expect perfection. They maybe had a teacher that would not let them go on to the next song until they played the song perfectly. Some of the students that have great practice habits do come back to a lesson playing a song beautifully. This is not the case for many students. There are many factors that play into this and working out the problem areas during a lesson is all part of the learning process. When a student gets the concept and we have been on a song a little too long, I will move on to another so we have a fresh start and can concentrate on that concept on a new song.
Myth 5 – Learning piano should be enjoyable.
Well, this is an oxymoron! Have you ever enjoyed doing something that you have gotten good at that you didn’t have to work at? Most things like playing a sport, take a lot of work. You can have fun while you are learning the sport and after that hard work, it is fun because you have learned a skill and have gotten better at it. The same can go for lessons.
Lessons can be fun, but there is still some form of work that needs to be taught that the student will practice. Sometimes when I introduce certain pieces, I will tell the student that the piece is challenging, but that it is because of the challenge that makes it a lot of fun! They usually latch on to that because they want to find out about the fun on the other side. In my experience, it is the challenge that makes it fun.
As with any myth, there may be some truth to it, but some are simply just myths. Learning piano can begin at any age. Perfection is not what it is about and with regular practice piano can be fun. What are you waiting for?