If kids stop piano lessons

Source: Singapore Piano Shop & Music Book Online Shop   Published: 11/16/2019 11:21:29 PM   Clicked: 1520

My older son will go to secondary school and he told me he wants to stop piano lessons, as he expects school life to get very busy. 

Learning graded classical music doesn't seem to be very tedious for him now. He can read music pretty well, so he can hit the right notes approximately at the right time fairly quickly. His technics are perhaps lagging behind a bit. "Polishing" a piece can take a very long time, and he doesn't seem to have a very strong desire to do so. He is much rather moving on to a different piece. He "plays" piano every day, mostly to entertain himself rather than "practice". He only practices for the recitals and a day or two before the next class so that he doesn't disappoint his teacher too much.

We have two giant books of "Alfred's Basic Piano Lessons", he enjoys sight-read random pieces from them. We also have a giant book of "Piano Times", that he often attempts to sight-read. But most of the piano playing time, he plays the music he downloads from the internet.

I offered him to keep taking the lessons, practice when he can, and not attending the recitals. He thinks it would be a waste of money and everyone's time. So it seems that he is determined.

He doesn't hate classical music ( a change of attitude already), but I can't say he loves them. He loves certain types of Jazz. The teacher, while helps him with everything, is a classical piano teacher.

The teacher says:"
Kids who are totally focused on classical music will keep pushing their technique to new heights, simply because more and more great music comes within their grasp as their technical skills improve. Success begets success, as more peaks of the piano literature is conquered. I was like that, though I had the musical talent of a gnat.

However, your son isn't in that category, yet he still enjoys playing through the classics occasionally, so I think that's a lot more than most kids whose principal focus isn't classical will do. In later years, he might focus more on it - or he might not.

BTW, my sister (who's much more talented than me) stopped piano completely in her mid teens. She'd lost interest, and friends, fashion, relationships and school took up her time, and piano just wasn't a priority anymore. She never again touched the piano though it remained in the family home (and it's still there, now rusty with disuse) - but her musical skills weren't wasted: she got a good job in a music publishing firm on the strength of her ability to read music, and she still works there now. In fact, she's the only person in our family who makes a living from music: her job involves looking through new scores and correcting mistakes in manuscripts etc, yet she has no inclination to ever touch the piano.

Incidentally, in my time 'preaching' to the unconverted (I'm a self-styled proselytiser of classical music smirk ), I've found that playing the pieces they enjoy (but never knew they would, because they'd never heard them before) is the biggest factor in changing their previous allegiances. So, maybe your son might want to consider spending a little time with his teacher to really master a few appealing classics that he can show off to his friends and foes.

These are a few of the pieces that I've found got people talking and enthused, wanting to hear more of its ilk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhhmGmD_Eec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-StHeHGyakY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoaKYJrXoVw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2S5rCS4Img
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyJrxS82C4g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ6LBvOHX0c

I don't know what standard your son is at, but they're all easier than they sound grin."