Piano Lessons: One Piano Teacher’s Dream

Once there was a piano teacher whose students practiced at least half an hour every day, never complained about doing scales or theory, and were always on time for their lessons.

And then the teacher woke up.

Kidding aside, there is a reason behind everything your teacher wants you to do. And it isn’t just to make your life hard. From daily practice to scales and theory, your teacher wants you to do these things in order to help you reach your musical goals. Here’s why:

Regular Daily Practice: Quite simply, if you have goals you want to meet for your performance at the piano, there is no substitute for regular daily practice. During your weekly lessons, your teacher can give you some valuable ideas on how to improve your playing. But unless you put those ideas into practice, you will never see any improvement in your skills. Effective practice is the only thing that will help piano students improve their skills and meet their goals. (See my earlier article on How To Practice.) And the foundation of effective practice is regular practice.

Music Theory: Many students become reconciled to regular practice, but still resist completing their theory assignments. How can learning the Circle of Fifths and other silly things like that help one become a better musician? Well, as with many things in life, true mastery of a subject cannot be attained without understanding leading theories behind it.

If you understand about enharmonic equivalents, that will help you learn to transpose. If you understand about different musical modes, you’ll come to recognize a piece that has been written in a particular mode. And this can help you sight-read or learn it more effectively. If you understand the basic structure of a typical musical form (a sonatina, for example), you’ll know what to expect when you encounter one. And so on.

Scales: Oh, those tedious scales! There must be very few piano students on Earth who have never complained about learning their scales. Why do piano teachers insist on this torture system for their students? Several reasons.

For one thing, scales are a very basic means of developing proper form and nimbleness with your fingers. For another thing, familiarity with a scale will help you when you encounter a work written in that key, especially one with lots of accidentals. And this will also help you learn to transpose pieces from one key to another. Having your scales “in your fingers” will also help you in learning to sight-read, and to improvise as well.

Sight Reading: And speaking of sight-reading, why do you need to do it? If practice makes perfect, then why develop the skill of sitting down and playing effectively without practicing? Because, although you should always strive to practice a piece to perfection, there will be occasions when you’ll be called upon to play with little or no advance notice. If you are already accustomed to doing this in your lessons, you won’t be intimidated by such a request.

Improvisation: The same is true of improvisation, or the related practice of playing “by ear.” Especially if you begin playing jazz or rock or related styles, the ability to improvise or play by ear will be crucial to your success. If you have already been accustomed to doing this from your early piano-playing days, you’ll be ready to meet this challenge.

Recitals: Some students are terrified of performing at recitals. They go to lessons all year, they practice uncomplainingly, they make good progress… But they wish they could avoid proving it to all their friends and family members! Why does their teacher insist upon a public performance?

Answer: To give them a chance to overcome this very fear. While one can certainly play for one’s own enjoyment, the ultimate goal of learning to play piano is to share the joy of music with others. Again, if one is accustomed to performing in a recital from the earliest days of lessons, this will become a regular part of life, and the fear can be overcome before it grows overwhelming.

Yes, your teacher asks you to do all sorts of things that aren’t very much fun — at least not at first. But the only reason to do so is to help you meet your own musical goals. So work with your teacher. Surprise her! Come to your next lesson on time, with all your assigned pieces well-rehearsed, and a couple of extra scales under your fingers! Your teacher will be delighted, but the real person to benefit — will be yourself.