Piano lessons - The parent/child package

Thinking of sending your child for piano lessons? First, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you have a piano at home - of the correct height? Electronic pianos won't do, and don't even think of one of those electronic keyboards, unless you're one of the chipmunks that hang out with Alvin.

2. Do you have the discipline to force him/her to practice everyday even though there are 100 other things to do? (e.g. homework, ding xie, cycling, peeing, sleeping, eating, swimming, TV, Wii, playing iPhone, playing iPad, playing WP7 ...)

3. Can you play the piano yourself?

Question 3 is the tricky one. Somewhere upstream in your family history, someone must have said "dammit, I haven't a clue on how to play but I sure as heck am gonna get Jim to go for piano lessons". And that's where the trouble started.

I often wonder - if I didn't know how to play the piano and read notes, Nigel would surely be able to get away with what you might call "crap practicing" meaning: wrong fingering, missing sharps, missing flats, missing notes, wrong timing, wrong octave, wrong key signature, wrong time signature, wrong piano piece, sitting on the seat facing the wrong direction. If I were a musical idiot, he could actually play any old thing he wanted and I would say "well done!!". He would then turn away from me, snigger and roll his eyes.

There would just be no way to verify anything. It is like sending your child to study an exotic Amazonian tribal language and getting him to spend 30 mins revising it in the living room while you observe and try to determine if he's improving. "Well done buddy! Your tribal language speaking skills are fantastic! Now go practice your piano."

Bottom-line - be prepared to learn together with him/her so you can help your child to improve. You need to show an interest, be available to sit in the seat next to the piano, and pressure/reassure where needed. And trust me, the 100kg bulk of wooden melodies can make one cry.