Teaching Piano Lessons!
Apprehensions of Students/Parents!
Teaching Piano Lessons? Lots of students and parents have some common apprehensions about taking piano lessons; some of which are genuine whereas the others are just myths that have just been heard from somewhere.
As a teacher, who teaches piano lessons, it would indeed be helpful to them if you could spend some time trying to answer their queries.
Once they feel comfortable, it would definitely help to make the lessons more effective and enjoyable, both for the students as well as the teachers.
Here are some of the most common concerns raised!
Teaching Piano Lessons!
Queries on Lessons!
You need to have talent to play the piano. I am not sure if I have it!
Learning the piano is like learning anything else. With efforts and practice, you can definitely play it well. This question should definitely not be holding you back.
If you know people who have given up playing the piano, it is not because they did not have talent but because they were not committed enough.
Can I start taking lessons at this age?
Children can start taking lessons when they are about 6 years old. Kids with some sort of musical background in their family may be able to pick up things a couple of years earlier as well.
Older students can start anytime they wish as long as they have the desire and motivation to learn.
You need to take lessons only if you want to play Classical!
You will anyways need lessons to pick up the basics like reading music, scales, harmony, technique, and much more.
This is something you need to know & learn irrespective of what style you play in. Once you know these things, lot of students may be able to make good progress on their own playing in the pop & jazz style but a teacher will definitely help to make that progress much faster.
Having learnt the basics, if you want to pursue some particular style of playing, you may have to change your teacher accordingly.
How long does it take to learn?
Depends on how far you want to go! At the same time, this is not something which you are going to learn in a few weeks. In six months time, you may probably be able to play only some simple tunes. So you need to set your expectations correctly and be ready to make long term commitment. You will also need to make sure that learning the piano does not get pushed around because of your other activities.
Teaching Piano Lessons
Role of Parents!
As a Parent I just need to pay for the lessons.
As a parent, if you think this way then you are indeed wasting your money. You will have to make sure that your kids practice regularly, otherwise everybody’s efforts will come to a naught.
Talk to your kids regularly and find out what they feel about their lessons. With your feedback, the teacher can alter the lessons accordingly to make it more enjoyable to your kids.
For more suggestions, read our other page
My child is not making much progress, maybe it is the teacher’s fault.
If you child has been practicing regularly and both of you have been committed enough then you may take a call to change the teacher. But be sure that this is indeed the case before you take that decision; most of the time the effort and dedication from the student is lacking.
Value the teacher’s time, the teacher will have other commitments.
The teachers are normally paid only for the lessons they provide, if you expect the teacher to spend extra time with your child, you need to pay for it.
If you want your child to appear for some competition, then you have to pay for the extra time the teacher will be spending with your child for the preparation.
You also need to ensure that you do not get into the practice of leaving your child at the teacher’s studio after the lesson is over, just because you have some other things to be done.
Piano Lessons
Final Thoughts!
These are some of the common concerns/apprehensions which students and parents normally have. Once you have clarity on those and once the expectation from everybody is set, it becomes easy to concentrate on the learning once the lessons begin.
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