The drop out rate of piano students deciding to stop playing is high – some estimates list it as high as 80 percent.
While playing the piano may seem like a daunting task, especially after the first lesson or two, there are many reasons to stick with it and create a lifetime of learning.
It’s easy to hear a song or watch a performance and think to themselves “I’d love to play like that.” Yet in most cases, they don’t realize the level of commitment it takes to achieve what looks easy in a professional performance.
Piano is different than many other instruments a child may pick up and begin playing. You can’t put your fingers on a strong and strum and be able to play a song. It takes effort to create music. It takes determination to master the art of reading music. It takes skill to learn to read music while each hand operates at a different pace.
It takes baby steps over and over again to realize a dream of playing the piano for life.
With every beginning piano student we see, there exists a very wide gap between their initial expectations and the realities of what it takes to make beautiful music.
- They get frustrated after months of practice, and they know very little beyond the basics.
- They get frustrated at how slow their growth is despite their daily effort.
- They don’t realize that practice is a never ending process, and they will only improve a little at a time.
- They get frustrated at how the teacher and other advanced students seem to play effortlessly.
- They have other things – family, school activities, obligations, other commitments – that constantly get in the way of practice.
- They feel alone in their routine, with no support system to help them get through difficult days.
- They mistakenly believe that one day they will wake up and magically be able to play all they desire flawlessly.
It’s easy to lose your passion if you don’t have realistic expectations from the start. The more you learn up front, the easier the process will be in the long run.
