Why Piano Is The Best Instrument To Learn First

If you already have strong feelings about the instrument you or your child wants to learn, there is certainly nothing wrong with starting on that instrument. However, if you are trying to decide where to start, there are many advantages that the piano offers.

You may think that as a piano teacher, it’s obvious that I feel this way but I am also someone who sings, plays multiple instruments and writes music. This advice comes from my experience learning and also from the many students to whom I’ve taught voice, piano, guitar, bass and drums. Because I learned some of those instruments as an adult, I also remember what the beginning challenges feel like.

Even if a student ends up choosing another instrument as their primary instrument down the road, piano is the best instrument to start a strong musical foundation on. There are two categories of reasons why this is the case. The first category of reasons has to do with ease of learning and the second category of reasons is about the piano’s long-term purpose as a tool for any kind of musician.

Ease of Learning:
Unlike many other instruments, piano is one of the easiest instruments to get get a sound out of right away. When you hit a key, it makes a clear sound; there’s no squeaking, buzzing or other unpleasant noises that can happen with other instruments when attempting to sound a note.
Piano doesn’t need the student to tune it each time before playing. Learning to tune is more difficult and often takes more time to learn than playing a simple song. This can be an obstacle if someone in the house doesn’t already know how to tune an instrument. Part of learning is developing the ear for relationships between pitches so it’s not a great idea to be practicing on an untuned instrument.
You don’t have to create accurate pitch to play the piano. All notes already already exist on the piano and there is no possibility of hitting pitches that are between notes.
Piano is not physically awkward to play. It doesn’t cause any discomfort to fingers (such as pressing down strings) or require holding an instrument in position in order to make sound.
It is possible to play music that sounds good very quickly. Beginners on any instrument are bound to get frustrated and quit when the obstacles feel overwhelming. Being able to enjoy playing music fairly quickly gives a little bit of instant gratification that can help with motivation.
Long Term Tools:
Piano is the easiest instrument to see and understand theory on because of the linear way that it is laid out. The shapes on the staff look the same on the piano which help to visualize the intervals and chords.
Piano has the full range of the orchestra so it can be used to work out parts or play a condensed score of all parts. This is especially useful for writing music and hearing how parts sound together while writing.
Piano can handle all of the components of music, including melody, harmony and rhythm. It can be used to teach parts to singers or instrumentalists or to provide accompaniment for practice or performance.
Having basic keyboard/piano skills makes it easy to sequence parts in music recordings. Connecting a keyboard to a computer using MIDI, virtual instruments parts can be played into DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software to create music recordings.
Having basic keyboard/piano skills makes it easier and quicker to enter music into music publishing software such as Finale or Sibelius to create sheet music.
Reading skills are easily transferred to other instruments. After reading skills have been developed on the piano, reading for most other instruments, especially those that only play one note at a time, feels easy.
Whichever instrument a student starts out on, the most important thing is to make it as accessible and fun as possible while maintaining a solid learning plan, including a realistic practice schedule. Students that are excited about what they’re learning will be more motivated to practice at home.

Is your child ready for music lessons?

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The main factors in determining whether your child is ready for lessons are age, focus, interest, developmental stage and aptitude. This can vary from child to child, but in every case these are the traits we look for to determine readiness for music lessons.

Age

The ideal starting age is between five and eight for most students.  Although some kids are ready younger, most are not.  Starting early is great if the student is really excited about learning music, able to focus and the parents are committed to working with them regularly at home. Very young students don’t do most things on their own yet and shouldn’t be expected to practice on their own. The younger the student, the more likely they will move at a slower learning pace in the beginning so nothing is lost by starting anywhere in the five to eight window.

Focus

Children live in the moment; in order to be ready for lessons, young children need to be able to focus long enough to accomplish something that is not entirely their own idea. If they can’t focus on doing something you ask of them for more than a few minutes, they are probably not developmentally ready. At this stage, working for a half hour can seem like an eternity. One-on-one lessons can be a great way to build focusing stamina but it’s better not to rush into unnecessary struggles that will ease naturally just by waiting a little bit.

Interest

When determining whether to start lessons on the younger side, interest is really important. If the child has a strong interest in PLAYING music and not just listening to it they may already be trying to play the piano (or other instrument).  In this case it’s better to provide guidance before they form habits that can hinder progress later. Most people have a natural interest in music so it’s important to find a way to appeal to each student’s individual musical interest in order to motivate students at any age. This is especially true with younger students, whose minds will wander quickly if not fully engaged throughout a lesson.

Developmental Stage

Children under age four are generally not ready to start private music lessons because most children this age haven’t yet developed the ability to focus, understand concepts and develop basic coordination. These skills are necessary to learn to play an instrument and understand music and are usually beyond the capability of children in this age group. Group sing-a-long or simple percussion instrument classes may be more appropriate at the toddler age.

Aptitude

Natural aptitude for playing an instrument is not necessary to take lessons except when you are considering starting a student very young.  All of the skills that are required to play an instrument ARE learnable and initial aptitude is not an indicator of what students are ultimately capable. Having taught hundreds of students in our studios has shown that many students without a high initial aptitude often develop into gifted musicians through time and work. Some learners start slow and then rocket ahead later when all of the pieces of the puzzle drop into place. All learners need to be nurtured along the way and given a chance to develop.

Starting music lessons at any age during childhood is an advantage since children’s brains are more flexible and able to adapt to new physical coordination and languages. This has such a profound impact on the brain that even students who stop and then return to music lessons as adults struggle less than adult students who never took lessons.

Top 6 Habits that Sabotage Piano Students Learning To Read Music

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Many things that seem like a good strategy to get you or your child playing right away can actually hinder learning to read music. This is particularly true of piano music. Although beginning piano music has only one note at a time, unlike other instruments, piano parts rarely play just one note at a time. The piano can effectively be the whole orchestra, playing everyone’s parts at once. Continue reading “Top 6 Habits that Sabotage Piano Students Learning To Read Music”