Before we begin the count-down, let me set a little scene. I am a piano teacher mom so we have a studio in our home. It’s a room that has my Kawai baby grand piano and all of my other music stuff. It’s where I teach all of my students. My boys also like to “practice” in the studio. Which works out just fine. I have always encouraged my boys to practice their instruments. Well anyway, one day, one of my sons, whom I’ll call Johnny (his real name) was in the studio “practicing” his violin. I had a friend over and she was really impressed with this. “Wow! Johnny is really practicing hard” she said. “No he’s not.” I told her. “What do you mean?” she asked “I hear him, he sounds great”. “OK. Yes, he sounds great”, I told her. “He’s very talented, but he’s not practicing right now, he’s playing, but he’s not practicing” My friend turned her right palm over and raised an eyebrow as if to ask, “What’s the difference?”

Alas, what is the difference? Continue reading →

Piano Teachers and Piano Parents Take Heart! Encouraging kids to keep going with piano lessons is no easy task. But the benefits of music study are beyond measure. I recently came across a fantastic article on the American Music Parents website. The article is entitled “Preparing children for the Creative Economy” I found it very interesting.

We all know that the worldwide economy is changing, This isn’t the first time, the last change was from a largely agrarian work environment to an industrial one. The work paradigm that Boomers and Gen-xérs grew up with is quickly evaporating. The idea that you study hard go to college and immediately come out and find the job you had been training for is now no guarantee. Today’s young people are entering a new economy, “The Creative Economy”. Continue reading →

Once you have decided on piano lessons for your son or daughter you will need to find a teacher. Fortunately,  there are many fine teachers out there. Of course you want to find a good teacher so that your child will learn and have a wonderful experience. This begs the question what is a good teacher? Continue reading →

 

The true cost of learning the piano is…(drum roll)…are you ready for this? You’ll be amazed. The true cost of learning the piano is $169.95!! How do I know this? It popped up while I was online. In fact I see this ad everywhere. It seems the internet gremlins know that I’m a piano enthusiast so I am constantly solicited by people selling piano stuff: on my Facebook page, in my email, everywhere. Everyday I see this ad! It says “Master the Piano in 4 Weeks”.* Really? 4 weeks? And it only costs $169.95. Sounds too good to be true. Continue reading →

 

Hello and welcome to PianoParents.net.Whether you are just beginning on your piano parent journey or are a seasoned piano parent I hope you will enjoy this website.

I have another website and blog for piano teachers. I love writing for my piano teacher blog, but as a parent myself I found myself  writing a lot about things that are of interest piano parents. So I decided to start a blog just for the parents of piano students.

Piano lessons are a gift that can be enjoy for a lifetime.. Playing the piano is truly a wonderful thing but it isn’t easy. It’s one of the most intense projects that can be taken on. It takes years to learn to play.  There are bound to be ups and downs but it is well worth the time and effort.

Piano Parents are super special people. I know. I see parents just like you bringing their kids week after week, year after year into my studio for lessons. Making a huge sacrifice of time and money so that their kids can learn to play.

So I’d like to say thank you. Not only to the parents of my students but to piano parents everywhere. I know that kids may not always appreciate taking piano lessons but I can tell you that I almost never meet someone who doesn’t wish they could play. and I never have had anyone say they were sorry they learned to play the piano.

Enjoy the blog. Feel free to contact me with any questions or post ideas. If you like the content please go ahead and share it.

Thanks a million for reading,

Doreen