Music lessons are a waste of time for most kids

Creative endeavours are worthwhile in and of themself. You don't have to be a virtuoso, or an Oscar winner, or a child prodigy, or an anything. To create, to practice, to do it with other people is enough.

FFS we will totally deserve it if the borgs take over.

What a reductive perspective.

People do not all imagine their child will be a concert soloist 😂 in fact most parents hope their child doesn't get any notions of pursuing music as a career because many jobs are insecure!
For the vast vast majority its a wonderful hobby and I honestly don't know any parents of musical kids who harbour delusions their child is the next Hilary Hahn?!
Most i know encourage their kids to stick at it not because they have lofty ambitions, but because they want their child to learn to commit to something, to develop the resilience to keep going through the tough bits. Because above all? Its so worth it for the absolute joy music brings! It can be a lifelong hobby that may bring friends and great experiences to their life, what's not to like!

I know someone who earns £300k a year building AI music related algorithms for videogames. Apparently there’s an entire team of them - they earn that much because they can play in addition to being highly qualified stem professionals

I paid for music lessons for both my sons. It was not about them becoming a musician. It was actually about getting them to understand how to learn something (anything) by practice. My eldest son particularly was a kid who never wanted to do anything until he’d mastered enough theory and observation to do it perfectly first time. He struggled massively with trial and error in ewrLy years till 8-9. Music is fabulous at teaching kids that some things have to be practiced. Over and over. And not getting it right first time is standard, and with practice comes perfection.

It opened up many more opportunities for them both, just knowing they could do things even if they struggled at first. Given time, patience and practice. Particularly stuff around muscle memory and realising how that actually works and some things you have to put time in to repeat.

As a bonus, in my eyes, they learnt to read music, and perhaps more importantly due to a brilliant teacher to recognise “keys” of music of many different styles. That opened the door to them both being able to play stuff on guitars by “ear” some years later. And that in turn, offered huge social opportunities to be a useful person for group social gatherings—always useful to have someone who can crank out latest hits to sing along with. My eldest can bash a tune out approximately on a Piano as well just from that.

as someone who learnt the flute (badly) as a child and teenager, I was never going to be a musician. I hated practice and did as little as I could get away with. But I loved playing weekly on Saturday morning in the Wind Band. It was a buzz and high playing in a competent band and a great social events . Haven’t picked up the flute since I was around 21, except briefly a few times to see if I could still play. But I have great memories of those times, and a couple of lasting friendships formed over 40 years ago now.

i, and kids,also learnt to read music. Ok, it’s a niche skill. I’m not that great as I can’t truely sight read, but it is a handy skill to have from time to time. Like say allgebra🤷🏼‍♀️

So, it’s only a waste of money if you see everything as a means to making money or being successful at it. But many things in life are about the experience of learning itself, and enjoying it just for FUN .

You're projecting an awful lot.

Whatever your own feelings about your own musical background, you are not those kids and you are not their parents either.

I played 2 instruments, reached only grade 5 in both. I had no talent but a decent ear. I got a lot out of being in an orchestra and early solos boosted my confidence in public which fed into my later (non musical) career. I can still read music, sight read a tune and having played brings extra appreciation to listening. Not a minute of it was wasted.

What an unbelievably depressing view point. I took up the instrument I now make a living from in my 20s. But that’s still not the point. Music is for human connection, feeding your emotional IQ, personal enjoyment. Not making money. Jesus Christ.

I am sure there are over keen parents who hope for dazzling success but I’ve never come across them, and my kids go to a very musical school. It’s more about fun, performing, creativity etc

also I’m not sure being a grade 8 prodigy is the only path to a career - do taylor swift etc play at that level? Anything that feeds creativity is a good thing

i have a musical child that is also lazy. He can play piano pieces by ear, used to sit down and tinker away. Hated performing in front of people because he couldn’t be bothered to practice what he was learning.

picked up another instrument in middle school and has played now through to his final year in high school. In band he has found his people. His tribe that have been with him through HS. He still doesn’t go for tryouts for region and state bands or practice very much but he’s a solid member of the band.

it’s been worthwhile for that alone and there is opportunity to join the band at college (uni) which will help him settle in and find a tribe there too.

This is such a soulless take. I've never met a parent who thought their reasonably talented child was going to make it as a soloist. Music is such a good skill to carry with you all your life and creates a lot of joy, whether you play for your own enjoyment, mess about with friends or volunteer to help an amdram panto.Its not about beimg a star soloist for most people.

Absolute rubbish. In any case, learn music is not about preparing for a career in music for 99% of people. It's about having an enjoyable hobby for life and the possibility of playing an instrument in an ensemble or singing in a choir if people want to. Study after study has shown how music enhances the brain in other areas, too. When you condescendingly talk about being "just" a music teacher, please remember that, if it were not for people like me, you would not have passed your grade eight 'cello at the age of twelve. Music is not for the élite it is for everyone, regardless of ability.

Here is a link to some Cambridge Research into wether playing musical instruments improves intelligence.

Does Playing Musical instruments make you smarter

I understand the parental delusion point. Even excellent classical musicians will likely fail to make a career of it. However I think there's enormous value in learning to play an instrument for its own merit. My kid comes from a family that can't hold a tune between us so the fact he's got to grade 3 is all his own achievement - great for his left esteem and his social life.

You know there is more to learning a musical instrument than getting a job right? It was brilliant for ds's dyspraxia - fine motor control and coordination. He was never going to be a musician and as you put it 'scraped' a grade 3 but it was entirely worthwhile.

You do have a point, but I disagree for several reasons. Playing in any kind of ensemble is hugely beneficial for everyone who participates. I know the music world can be every bit as competitive and nasty as any other sphere of life, but the benefits are enormous.
Only a select few soloists are ever needed in the world, but generally soloists are backed by an ensemble - sometimes a full symphony orchestra, sometimes just a pianist. There are vastly more musicians making a living as backing musicians, session musicians, music teachers, tutors, etc etc than most people are aware of (because they don't perform to the paying public). Many professional musicians neither want to be soloists, nor do they have what it takes to become one (temperament, discipline, resilience etc etc). Agreed that salaries are generally not high even for full time musicians.
But why rain on their parade and kick the joy out of them? What a fun sponge!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3957486/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20children%20who%20undergo,and%20IQ%20in%20young%20adulthood.

As well as brain development, performing solo or as part of an ensemble helps hugely with confidence in front of audience. Music lessons are about so much more than merely learning a specific instrument.

It's not about becoming the next musical phenomenon for well over 99.9% of the kids that take music lessons. Just because you weren't good enough for that, it doesn't give you the right to be so mean about those who reach a Grade II and love every moment of it - the skill required to get that far is still valuable in many, many ways.

You are so wrong @Baldrick23 . How on earth have you come up with such a completely ridiculous post?

My daughter is grade seven violin, grade five piano and grade five music theory. She has no interest in being a virtuoso, she just loves music. She has taught herself to play guitar, bass guitar, mandolin and mandola. She has an electric violin and plays in a band. The degree of pleasure she gets from her musical interests is impossible to measure. School wise, she’s a straight A student and it’s my belief that music has helped to develop her brain. Research bears this out.

You are talking absolute rubbish.

Bloody hell , I couldn't disagree more. I play a brass instrument, had lessons all the way through primary and secondary school, played at the county and national level and in the local brass band. I never wanted to be a professional musician, but I've always played. If you move around the country with jobs or family , joining a musical group is a quick way to find a social life and set of friends. I'm 54 now and still play for fun. It's so beneficial for my wellbeing and I still absolutely love it.
Both my DCs play and love music too.

I don’t think music lessons are a waste of time.

I do 100% agree that it’s a completely valueless skill for most kids - ‘valueless’ in that even the really talented ones are going to struggle to make a stable career of it.

However, nothing fun is a waste of time. I also really can’t think of another subject that illustrates so uncompromisingly that talent is nothing with practice and perseverance. And it stretches memory and creativity in a different way to most other subjects. And performing music teaches skills about poise and pacing and even just standing up straight and saying hello that can be valuable in any job that involves group presentations.

You can just do things for fun? That's ok. Why do you have to do everything thinking you might make a career out of it, how joyless.