To Quit or Not to Quit

Piano lessons. Parents want their children to have them. Children find practicing the bane of their existence. Is the battle worth it?

For our oldest, we decided it definitely was not. She got no enjoyment out of playing . . . ever. We were exposing her to a variety of things, and we wrote this one off as one that did not interest her. And frankly, (sorry JB if you are reading this) of her many, many talents, music is not one of them. I say that with some hesitance. I don’t want to teach her that if she isn’t good at something she should just quit. However, in other things that she’s tried out of her own genuine interest (like ice skating), we did not let her give up just because it got harder.

Then there’s my son. He has responded to music since the day he came home from the hospital. It instantly soothed him. From the time he could talk, he has spontaneously broken into song at any given moment. And he performs an entire self-composed operetta whenever he plays with his Playmobil castle, dragon and knights.

While ultimately he wants to learn how to play the guitar (at 6 he is a Guitar Hero junkie—and yes, video games are a whole other subject), he’s been told he must learn piano first. He tried a lesson, loved it, and impressed the teacher.

Yet, I know the day is not far off that he too will battle us over practicing. I am committed to not letting him quit. Clearly music brings him joy—and sometimes we all have to work at having a little joy.

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about singing and learning. FPG now has a whole page devoted to music resources.