This is a seemingly simple question, yet the one which needs to be approached with some understanding of what is involved and what are the common pitfalls.

This topic will have several posts, each tackling different aspects of the question. So, keep scrolling for more!

You want your child to learn the beauty and joy of music and be successful, right? This isn’t an “sample things to see what works for you” kind of decision, is it? It better be more serious than that because we can tell you right off that “sampling” music like you can sample sports and other activities will almost inevitably lead to your child failing it. There is simply too much envolved, playing an instrument is too complex a task to hope for a child to never bolt or say; “it’s too hard!”; “I can’t do it!”; or even  “I HATE piano!”

At this point the “sampling” is over and your child moves on to a different instrument, then to another, then pretty soon quits altogether. Sounds familiar? On top of the hurt and wasted time and resources, she will walk out of a failed “piano study project” with a sense of failure and a fractured confidence. It’s truly over for her now. She has labeled herself as “not musical”. She also discovered in a hard way the sad truth that she can’t really do some things despite all the preatching that “you can do anything in life, stars are your limit”. How is that for her avoiding difficulties in the future vs finding solutions? 

(Sorry, do not kid yourself that it isn’t your fault as a parent, unfortunately, it is). This situation is not a result of your child not being musical enough, not loving music enough, or her not being “talented”. It’s simply a result of your as a parent  lack of understanding of what is involved, it’s the result of mismatching the demands of learning music with your expectations, attitudes, and routines.

You heard people say; “Wish my son/daughter never took piano lessons, it was a nightmare, so much money, so much time, and he quit anyway and never plays! He had NO TALENT”. Yes, this is true. If this particular child didn’t start the lessons until parents were ready, it is very likely he would be successful and would learn a life-long beautiful hobby (and all other beneficial things along the way, like boosted IQ).

“Lack of talent” is a sad excuse, because EVERY CHILD has enough talent to learn and enjoy music. Something or many things went wrong for that child during the process of learning which turned him completely off, and this negative result is COMPLETELY AVOIDABLE!