Why Piano Lessons Are More Important Than You May Think

13 minutes ago2 min read

So often, piano teachers are seen as people who teach kids how to play the right notes for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

But there's always more going on under the surface.

Meet Milly

Milly was a 9-year-old student who felt under immense pressure.

She attended a highly esteemed private school but felt at the bottom of every class.

Her older sister, however, was an ideal student.

She was always winning awards. All the teachers adored her.

They both played cricket for the school.

But where her older sister would hear cheers as she helped her team win, Milly's team would lag.

Milly was always compared to her older sister.

But Milly's sister wasn't interested in playing the piano. She had dance lessons instead.

This meant piano was one area where Milly couldn't be compared to her older sister.

30 minutes a week where she didn't feel like she was lagging. Or in her sister's shadow.

A moment just for her.

But sadly for Milly, her busy and pressured school life left her little energy for piano.

She desperately wanted to be good, but it didn't come naturally.

Some weeks, she'd turn up for her lesson absolutely exhausted.

So we'd play a music game.

A game we played more than others was "Sneaky Capybara."

When faced with bass clef notes, Milly had a mental block.

Every time she started a new piece, she'd fly through the right hand. But when we looked at the bass clef, her mood shifted.

"Why can't I just do it?" she'd sigh.

We tried acronyms. We tried landmark notes. But nothing clicked.

"I just need to know it, you know? Like when I look at treble clef I know straight away that's a B. I need that with bass clef."

Repetition was key.

We'd play Sneaky Capybara (she named the capybara 'Capper') every week.

At Christmas, Milly asked if she could learn "You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch."

I found a 2-page arrangement I thought would take her a few weeks to conquer.

She mastered page 1 in one lesson.

Then, she came back the next week, having figured out the second page by herself.

Including the left hand.

"I woke up early every morning to practice. I just love it so much!"

She didn't perform her piece anywhere.

She didn't want to play it to anyone.

But she had so much enjoyment playing her piece to herself, knowing that it was her accomplishment.