My child is ready to start lessons…or is she? (Topic 1, Part 1. What is involved?)

What is involved? In determining whether it’s time to start lessons now or wait a bit more parents need to consider many factors and also many people!

This topic will also have several posts, so keep scrolling to find what interests you most

Where to start? With understanding and accepting that learning a musical instrument is a project which will span at least 10-12 years. Start with accepting the fact that at this point no one will honestly be able to tell you if your child has anymore potencial than average. You will not know until at least mid-way through if music will fall for your child into a category of casual interest, or a hobby, or a passion. And that is about 5-6 years, 100’s of hours, and 1,000’s of dollars from now!  

And yes, postponing a firm decisions may be a good idea if you can’t yet see clearly enough that this is something your family, you yourself, and your child want, need, and value enough to accomplish. Yes, it is better not to start music lessons until you have thought through many questions, made many decisions, and ready to commit. Common mistake: parents putting the decision to commit to piano lessons onto the child’s shoulders. Please, don’t do it. The truth is: you as a parent, and only you can make that decision, because only you can understand what’s involved!  Yes, your child should bare some responsibility, but it must be an appropriate amount and kind of responsibility for their age. That will change as they grow, of course. But the initial decision, the “turning point” decision is your weather you admit it or not. If you aren’t ready to embrace it, wait until you are. Or, may be not have your child study music at all! Do something else, something less demanding of dayly discipline, less costly, less personal?

With the next few Bolgs we will take a look at some thinsg to think through. By no means this is a complete list, so please, feel free to add your thoughts to the discussion!