“If you are considering piano lessons for your young child, know that you must be involved in your child's practice and lessons. It is the most important thing for beginning students that you, as the Parent, are invested and interested in the learning process and their progress.”

“At first it was my mom that was committed. And after a while, it became me. You start loving it and liking to play, and it’s really satisfying.”

You must plant an apple tree 10 years before you plan to eat the apple.  If a child is to enjoy the fruits of music in their adult lives, it will be a parent who plans and nurtures the music tree.

A young child is curious about the piano and interested in it. Your son may walk up, touch the keys, and try to play. Your daughter may ask or even beg to play the piano. These signs of interest are good and important.

But whether or not the child learns to play is up to the parent.

Children lack the skills necessary to master the piano. They don’t have the perspective to commit to a process that will take many years, the discipline to practice every day even when it is boring or difficult, the persistence to push on through weeks and sometimes months when progress is temporarily slow.

If they are to truly learn to play the piano, it will be a beautiful gift from a parent or grandparent who says, as one father did to his teenager who was tired of practicing:

Imagine yourself at age 60. I will be long gone. You will have forgotten the names of the kids you want to play with right now. When your soul needs comfort, you will have the piano. I will supply the commitment, the persistence, the discipline needed for this gift until you are old enough to do this for yourself. I will give you the gift of music.”