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Piano lessons - where 'should' my 7 year old be at?!

6 replies

Nonky · 17/09/2017 07:55

Hello
My son has piano lessons weekly and has been going to these for a year now. He absolutely loves them and the teacher which is great and I've always been of the mindset that fun is the main thing and then learning comes with that.

I used to be a good piano player (grade 8) and I'm just wondering whether my son is actually learning much from these lessons. He is still only playing pieces with one hand with a limited number of notes. Am I being to pushy to think he should be doing more than this by now? I know he does lots of composing his own tunes with his piano teacher (again very simple) as this is what he loves and the piano teacher who in my opinion is very good, recognises this and always tries to make it fun.

I guess what I'm wondering is for £15 a week and at inconvenience as it's a late evening with quite a drive -
Are we getting anywhere?

There is the option of having much more old school type lessons in school which would make my life easier but I know my son would hate them!
Thanks in advance for any advice

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OutandIntoday · 17/09/2017 08:03

That does seem like very slow progress. I too can play ( though only grade 6) but i took my dc to ~ grade 1 myself before i got a teacher. We used the Pauline Hall books which introduce the left hand very quickly. 10 notes for 10 fingers or something like that is the first one which starts at a complete beginner. We rattled through it in a few months and the dc were confidently playing the 5 notes of each hand. We the moved onto Pianotime 1 at which point they stopped listening so well to me so i got a teacher who then started working on grade 1 with them.

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NataliaOsipova · 17/09/2017 08:10

My DD's teacher says it's quite a big leap to grade 1....but thereafter a much smaller step to grade 2 etc. I do think enjoyment is key at this age, though.

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Fleurdelise · 17/09/2017 09:54

If you mean that he is playing pieces with one hand at a time, so left hand plays, right hand plays, never playing notes together at the same time I think it is normal. What tutor books are used and where is he with them in terms of progress? How much is he practising a week?

All the good piano teachers will tell you that it takes longer to grade 1 piano than on any other instrument (well except violin) and if the foundation is set down properly now the progress will speed up later on.

Dd has been doing piano for 4 years (since she was 6) it took 18 months to grade 1 and then her teacher was happy with her progress that she skipped grades 2 and 4 and only took 3 and 5 every year. And played a lot of repertoire. Now after 4 years she started preparing for grade 6.

If he enjoys it and is practising I would give it another year and then re-asses the teacher and her teaching methods.

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Malbecfan · 17/09/2017 11:40

Perhaps the teacher is using a different methodology e.g. Kodaly where listening, singing and composing are the inherent musical skills and they use the piano to facilitate it. My younger DD learned the violin like this, and so whilst actual progress if you measured it in terms of grades seemed slow (she has only ever taken grades 1 & 4 but is now expecting to take grade 8 early next year), her musicianship is excellent.

Can you ask to sit in on a lesson? I teach a few instrumental lessons each week and although it is in school, I have had a couple of parents ask to watch (mostly because they had a large instrument to shift at the end of the lesson) but they had a couple of concerns about how they could best help their child during the week. Once they understood the technical points I was trying to get across, they could remind them, and it proved to be quite useful.

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Wafflenose · 17/09/2017 12:14

Grade 1 can definitely take three years at this age. However, I would have a 7 year old playing simple pieces with hands together after much less than a year. I agree that asking to watch a lesson and finding out about the next steps required for your son would be useful.

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Nonky · 17/09/2017 14:24

Thanks everyone. He does love them so I will follow some of the advice above. I think practising at home is a key thing. For one reason or another we've had a difficult year and that has not been a priority. Now we are coming out the other side I will see how things go over the next few months with regular home practise. Thank you!