Piano Lessons - Do I Teach Reading Music?

Piano Lessons - Do I Teach Reading Music?

A frequent question of parents signing their children up for piano lessons with me is "Do I teach reading music as part of their lessons?" Yes, I do.

However, it's important for parents to understand that reading music is separate from playing an instrument. They are two completely different capacities. In fact, reading music, learning to play an instrument and having proficient music skills are three completely different skill sets. In piano lessons, I teach all three of them but the most important thing about piano lessons is how well the student plays the instrument. The goal of piano lessons is to teach the player to function at the piano with proficiency.

I've taught many people who are fabulous instrumentalists who don't care at all about reading music. It's completely unnecessary and unimportant to them. If a player is not interested in learning to read music, it becomes a hinderance to their success at the instrument. It's lots of wasted lesson time and effort extended on something that does not benefit them because they will never use it. They simply don't have that interest, and no amount of trying to get them interested will work.

I do teach students to read music if they are interested in acquiring that skill. This often becomes an issue in lessons when a student is not interested in learning to read, but their parent is determined that the child learn to read. This tends to cause problems. If you are a parent and you are concerned about your child learning to read music, it's something that should openly be discussed, and not just between parent and teacher. It needs to be a three-way discussion between parent, student and teacher.

I am always willing to address the issue with parents and students, but if a student really does not want to learn to read music, I am most likely going to side with them. I have seen far too many students lose their interest in playing the instrument because they hated what it took to learn to read, and it was not what they wanted to learn. This is why it is critical for parents to understand the distinction between the different skills. Reading and playing can be mutually exclusive.

Reading music is something that anyone can learn, and very young students are able to learn to read music before they learn to read English. However, reading music can be taught at any time and is far easier to learn then actually playing the instrument. It's important for parents to understand that a child that does not want to read, but loves to play is far more likely to stick with their lessons if their wish to play is respected without using it as a "carrot" to get them to learn to read. They can always learn to read later if they do become interested in it.

If you have any questions about this, please contact me at http://anaheimpiano.com and I'll be happy to get back to you with answers and information to further your piano lesson experience.

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