To wonder why people enquire about piano lessons when they have no piano??

[CroesoY]

AIBU to find it a bit strange?

Parents making queries for their child to have piano lessons when they don’t have a piano or keyboard at home.

Even if a child has lessons in school on a school piano how would they practise?

Am I missing something?

Why buy a piano when you haven’t had lessons? Or if you don’t know whether you are going to be able to afford the lessons in the first place?

Seems perfecly reasonable to me. I had lessons before buying a piano. I specifically looked for a teacher who did lessons at ther house. Almost all did. Although I do understand that progress is slow until you have an instument to practice on at home, why would you fork out for a child until you're reasonable sure they have a bit of talent and interest?

WTAF ARE you on about then?

FFS half the posts make no bloody sense today.

DD started piano lessons the November before last. A space had come up with her teacher and we didn’t want to miss it. We made it clear that we wouldn’t be buying her a keyboard until that Christmas and the teacher was fine with that.

I have a friend in his 60s who recently decided he wanted to learn piano and his teacher actually suggested to him that he have a month of lessons before deciding whether or not to commit to buying a keyboard.

I wouldn’t suggest going indefinitely without access to a piano, but fortunately some teachers are flexible about it.

Seems obvious to me. Child tries lessons to see if they enjoy them then, if they persevere and show they’re serious about wanting to play you invest in your own piano. I hardly think I’d buy an expensive and bulky instrument for my child to decide after two or three lessons that the piano wasn’t for them.

Surely they would want to know whether their child liked if first before committing to buying a piano? People who ask about their first driving lesson don't necessarily already have a car

I had horseridng lessons, but no horse. I still learnt to ride, lol.

You might find it a bit strange but perhaps they don't know? If they aren't musical themselves it's not impossible that they don't realise how much learning an instrument is about practicing at home even from the very beginning. My parents didn't, not because they're stupid but because they don't come from the kind of background where music lessons were normal.

Fortunately instead of making snide posts on the early 90s equivalent of the internet (teletext? perhaps a note in the newsagent window??) my prospective teacher explained to them that we'd need a piano at home, pointed them towards a local reliable piano shop and told them what to look for in a beginners' instrument.

It's attitudes like yours that keep classical music middle class.

I would love flying lessons but I don’t have a plane

Some people don’t have room for a piano or the money to buy one but they want their child to have lessons, I was told piano is the best instrument to learn as you can them play other instruments using the same skills?

Dd1 had lessons, we didn’t have a piano as I guessed she would get bored after a term, I was right

I think it is very normal. If you're not already a musician, you need a music teacher on board to advise you on what sort of instrument to buy anyway (is a keyboard enough? what sorts are good enough? How about this piano on freecycle? Do you know anyone who's upgrading and might have one to sell on?). Indeed, I am musical and still didn't obtain a much smaller instrument in advance of DC having some trial lessons to see if they would like it. We have had friends starting up come round and play our piano for a bit of practice between lessons until they were sure.

Well, because you want to find out if your child would enjoy playing the piano first before buying a massive instrument, finding the space for it and looking after it.

It's not a recorder - it's a piano!

Mine took lessons for 1 month before we invested in a piano (picked out by the teacher). We had to clear out a big space for it in the living room. Imagine if the DC decided she couldn't get the hang of it!

They will tend to get bored after a term if they try to learn without practising at home, because they normally won't make much progress so won't get to the stage where they can play fun pieces.

People learn to drive without owning a car.
People learn to fly without owning a plane.
People learn to ride horses without owning a horse.
People learn to drive a bus without owning a bus.
People train to sprint without owning a 400m running track.

People don't learn bus driving etc on one 20 minute lesson a week - maybe not the best comparator! I think music is more like learning to read or write. You wouldn't expect a child to learn to read when they only got a book for 20 minutes on Thursdays.

DS has his piano lessons at school. He uses one of the ones in the practice rooms to learn his pieces on. He's starting a diploma next year. I'm glad his teacher is nothing like you or he'd never have got started at all! He also plays the church organ - guess what else we don't have!

I find the attitude that music lessons aren't worth having, unless you practice constantly between lessons, so bizarre.

I'm not musical at all, but I have had a variety of other hobbies in the past, many of which I didn't/couldn't practice at all between lessons. Sure I didn't progress as fast as I would have if I had had access to the relevant equipment/facilities in between lessons, but I still progressed and enjoyed it.

Music seems to attract the school of thought that it's not worth doing unless you do it every single day. Is it really that different to anything else you learn?

I think, like most things, the more you do the faster you pick it up ...

More concerning is the parents who moan about lack of progress when they don't practice at home - we were told 4x the lesson length in private practice each week was a good guide!

Because pianos and keyboards are incredibly expensive and space-consuming, good teachers are really very hard to find, and children don’t always take to new hobbies?

Very few people keep a nice Steinway kicking about in case their child decides to learn piano, particularly if they aren’t musical themselves.

And people wonder why classical music (for example) is seen as elitist?

It really isn’t the same as other skills you might learn (aside from, as another poster said, reading - there’s no way your child could learn to read without practise, is there? Music is literally a language). The reason children give up quickly without practice is because progress is glacial, the lessons become repetitive, and they get bored. Music teachers have bills to pay and they can’t have their livelihoods depending on the whims of children. Commit to it, and make sure children have an understanding of that commitment.

A keyboard can be bought cheaply, after all!

There are some really good school music teachers trying to change that idea walls DS was all about metal guitar until Miss O turned him on to Chopin ...

Playing a musical instrument is a skill not s language. The world is full of people who play musical instruments but don't read music. I am not saying it is ideal if you want to become a world class classical musician and obviously the more you practice a skill the better you get but it is ridiculous to say you cant learn a musical instrument without hours of practice starting from your first lesson. Of course progress will be slower but you can still make some progress.

I guess you’ve never tried to teach anyone the piano, Bovine...