Could You Be Wasting Your Money On Piano Lessons?
My kids and I went to a carnival a few weeks ago. It’s was a fun family evening and we had a blast running from game to game and collecting our prize tickets. My son was so excited when we were all finished to turn them in for … wait for it … a paddleball game. You know the one: you try to bounce the ball a few times and then, without warning, that little plastic staple can no longer hold that flimsy piece of elastic string and bang, no more toy. We tried to talk him out of it but nope, that was going to be his reward. And no sooner had we gotten back to the car then it broke. I think we all learn a good financial lesson from that toy. Wasting our money hurts. Good thing you’d never waste your money on your child’s piano lessons. Or are you wasting it right now?
photo by: EvelynGiggles from flickr licensed under Creative Commons
How could I be wasting my money?
Learning to play the piano is not an overnight process. You don’t eat a fancy little cupcake and suddenly become a virtuosic pianist. It takes work, dedication, self discipline and determination and it takes time. The more time we put in, the better we get. The more time we spend away from it, the worse we get. There is no other alternative. I took some time off of playing piano several years ago. I was so busy working and being mom that my own performance skills were beginning to slide. All of those pieces I had spent hours and weeks perfecting, gone, just like that. Well, it’s wasn’t just like that. I hadn’t done anything to make sure my skills were sharp. I just flat out didn’t play anything for myself so when I did finally return to it, it was gone. My brain still knew what was supposed to happen, my fingers no longer could do the work. It was dreadful. It was frustrating. And I vowed to never let it happen again. No matter what, I would play something every single day.
During the school year, your child without doubt has a piano lesson every week. Knowing that lesson day is coming, they spend a little time playing pieces so that when it comes, they don’t have to show up without improvement. And you, knowing that you write that check every month, help to make sure it happens. But during the summer months when the playground & pool are calling, lessons are few and far between and our schedules get a little flexible, the piano can become the “I’ll do it later” event of the day. How many days have passed since your child actually played the piano?
Summer practice is not something that has to be rigid. The act of playing anything is better than doing nothing at all. It’s important to keeping up the skills that we all worked so hard to build during the school year. So make it a point to help your child find a song to play every single day for the rest of the summer. It can be something they already know or it can be something completely new that you pick out together from the music store or online (click here for some posts relating to sheet music). Whatever you choose make it a fun and relaxed session. This isn’t the time for drill sergeants. This is the time for creating music just because we can.
Has your child been playing the piano this summer? If so, what is the hot song on their playlist?
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- Need Rhythm Help? Play a Game!