Piano lessons are often extensive multi-year long journeys. At the age of 26, I have had 15 years of piano lessons. EN Music Studio supports a 3 year curriculum that can be extended based on student interest. That being said, it is often hard for parents to imagine what piano lessons look like when they first register their child.
Being a pianist is a process, not a product.
As a teacher, I can not promise that your child will become a concert pianist at the end of the one year mark. Of course, there are curriculum expectation and guidelines; however, there is no “aha!” moment when a student becomes a pianist. EN Music Studio believes that students are pianists from the day they start playing the piano; while they may not be playing Beethoven by week 2, everything they create on the piano is part of their journey.
At the age of 26, with 3 certifications in piano, I can not point to you the moment in the time I felt like I was a pianist. As far I am concerned, I am both a pianist and a piano student every day. The piano is a expansive topic; there are no ending point.
Good Weeks and Bad Weeks
Even as someone with a self-declared passion for the piano, I have had good weeks and bad weeks with the piano. I am talking about both my past with piano lessons, and my current weeks!
Imagine a relationship with the piano as any human relationships. There are moments are deep passion, happiness, light-heartedness, sadness, rage, and frustration. It is in fact these emotions that give the piano so much life.
Piano lessons are a deeply personal project. There are weeks where a student will pour their heart out into a creation. Some weeks they find beauty in pieces they didn’t know existed. There are weeks they feel defeated and not good enough. This is all part of the great journey of the piano lessons.
The Role of the Parent and Teacher
The role of the parent and teacher is to support the child throughout this up and down journey. There are points that your child will feel like quitting! This moment will be up to your and the teacher’s interpretation. Is this because of a temporary block? Or is the student’s shifting their musical interests? Could the teacher support the child’s learning style better?
It is the teacher’s role to guide the student like in any other project-based work. The teacher will moniter their child’s progress, providing opportunities for the student to renew interest, to learn new concepts, and to provide resources to their creations.