Are you glad your parents made you take piano lessons?

[Anonymous]

Hated it. No longer play it. Learned nothing from it. Complete waste of time and money.

[Anonymous]

No, I was forced by my parents to take piano. I started at age 5 and continued till 16 crying almost every time I had to go to thoiano. It's a waste of childhood. Any parents reading this please don't force ur kids to play the piano if they don't want to. Every memory I have of piano is bad from the car rides to my lessons where I screamed and cried that I refused to go in to those awful examinations where I messed up and barely passed everytime. So there's the answer, no I will never be glad my parents forced me to play piano.

[Anonymous]

Yes, glad I can read music. My 7yo loves piano but her teacher is very fun and not into serious practice at this age.

[Anonymous]

Op - are you still here? I think it's really sad that a 7 year old hates piano. Find a new teacher! I took lessons for a while when I was a kid and my DS did too, for a while. but only when it was fun for him and I let him take breaks and switch teachers when it wasn't a good fit. Also, I didn't make him practice. I know that is contrary to what everyone says, but it worked for me since he likes to play. Please make it fun for your 7 year old or else she will hate it and you forever.

[Anonymous]

No. Waste of time and money.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I played for about 10 years as a child and took it up again in my mid-40s. I think you have to get to a certain level to be able to pick it up easily later in life, and my goal for DD is to get her there, not to make her excel, so she doesn't practice much, but she is making slow progress.

She used to say she hated piano fairly frequently, but these days (age 13), she objects to it much less. She does love music and singing, so I think that has sweetened the pill.

She goes to Levine, and the structure of a school is helpful for assessing her progress, to respond to an earlier question, although Levine really functions more as a loose confederation of teachers than as a school in the sense we think of a regular/academic school. Levine is also more flexible than it may appear. If you want your child to receive a certificate for a certain level, there are performance, repertoire, and skills requirements that must be met. But since we haven't gone that route, I've been able to say to the teacher, we're not doing X, for whatever reason, without any pushback. (That will, obv, depend on the teacher to some extent.)

[Anonymous]

Yes and yes. But I had natural talent and was able to convert to full tuition scholarships for college (also got into Juilliard but passed). For people of average ability, I've noticed that piano lessons help with: math (assuming you learn to read music with your piano lessons), self-discipline, and ability to be in front of a crowd (playing in front of people is a skill that translates to speaking in front of people). I think it's worthwhile, but if you're battling with your kid to do it, probably not.

[Anonymous]

No!!! I took piano lessons for five years from 8-13 years old. I hated them. The day my parents said I could stop, I remembered thinking a huge burden was lifyedfrlmmy shoulders. No more Saturday lessons!

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. Forced to take piano from 5 yo until 17. I hated ever second of the practicing and lessons, but honestly I was really glad later in life that I had that experience. For me, there were important life lessons/skills. But honestly I don't know that I would have/will have the patience to battle about it for so long like my mother did.

We switched teachers several times, didn't make a difference FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'm glad I learned how to appreciate music and classical music. I don't play piano now and haven't since I stopped lessons.

[Anonymous]

no and no. I can read music, but I never liked to play, even when I was taking lessons. I hated it from day one.

[Anonymous]

In and of itself, piano was a waste. I never practiced, my eyes were glued to the clock my entire 1-hr/week lesson, and I haven't touched a piano since I quit when I was 10. But it did help me immensely when I got to band in 5th grade (I played the alto sax) which I loved. Just the general idea of how to read music, etc. made me much better prepared than other classmates who had never been exposed to that. That said, I wouldn't be able to play much if I picked up a saxophone today so not sure it was totlly "worth it"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In and of itself, piano was a waste. I never practiced, my eyes were glued to the clock my entire 1-hr/week lesson, and I haven't touched a piano since I quit when I was 10. But it did help me immensely when I got to band in 5th grade (I played the alto sax) which I loved. Just the general idea of how to read music, etc. made me much better prepared than other classmates who had never been exposed to that. That said, I wouldn't be able to play much if I picked up a saxophone today so not sure it was totlly "worth it"...

My kids never ended up taking it to a higher level, but they enjoy showing off what they
Learnt- like riding a bike-you don't forget .

[Anonymous]

I begged my parents for several years for piano lessons and when I started them my teacher progressed me 4 years of learning in a 2 year period.

That's the best way - hold back rather than force and the kid is motivated.

I played to a very high standard and went to an audition only music school in new york.

I wouldn't bother forcing anyone to play any instrument, ever. Talk about killing off interest.

[Anonymous]

I would never force my kid to take piano. To what end? I took piano lessons from the ages of 6-17 and I didn't always love the lessons and I'm not particularly good, but I still LOVE to play. I was the one who asked for the lessons. Would you force your kid to play lacrosse if she didn't want to play? It's so random the things that certain parents are decide are musts for their children regardless of their own interests.