Spencer has been asking me for music lessons for a few months. I've been dragging my feet about it for a couple of reasons; 1. practicing takes a lot of time and that's something we don't always have a lot of; 2. music lessons can be pretty costly, especially if you have to buy a new instrument; 3. I don't want to have him start the lessons and then quit once he finds out how much work it really is. However, even after explaining all of this to him, he still wanted to take them. He initially asked for piano lessons, then violin lessons, and finally guitar lessons. After talking to a few music teachers we found out that piano is the best instrument to start with and will set the child up with a good foundation. Since we already have a piano, this worked out well for us!
I talked to Spencer before hand, and explained to him what I had learned about starting an instrument. I then let him choose what he wanted to do with the understanding that he would have to stick with it for a least a year. He chose to start piano lessons. We interviewed a couple of teachers and had a mini lesson with each of them. After these, he still wanted to do it. So we picked a piano teacher and set up weekly lessons.
Yesterday was his first official lesson, book and all. It went really well to begin with. He remembered the hand positions and sat with proper posture. He was responsive and attentive while learning to count out each note. He even made it through 4 songs before he realized he was actually going to have to work a little. I could see the exact moment when he started to get frustrated with himself. I think the teacher realized this soon after and she quickly wrapped up the lesson. She complimented him and told him that he was very talented and that he did an excellent job. I was so proud of him!
Of course, once we walked out the door he told me he was done. He doesn't like piano lessons; they aren't fun. We sat and talked about it for a few minutes and he cried a bit, but in the end he decided he's going to stick with it, (which is good since I wouldn't have let him quit just yet anyway).
It was so frustrating though! On the one hand I completely empathize with him. I remember what it felt like to get frustrated with how much there is to learn on the piano, and I expected it to happen with him as well. I just didn't expect it to happen after the first lesson! On the other hand, he agreed before hand that if I signed him up for piano lessons he would stick with it for at least a year. I don't want him to learn that once something gets a little hard, you bail. He needs to know that you stick with it. Ultimately I think I handled it alright, but it wasn't easy to keep things in perspective.
As far as the teacher goes, I really like her. Of all the teachers that we met I felt like she was the most comfortable with teaching as well as being well educated. We'll see how the next month or so goes, but I have high hopes.
He did get up this morning and start practicing right away. He did well, and was pretty excited to get to summer camp and tell his friend that he had practiced the piano already. Sounds like he just needs to take a break when he gets frustrated rather then push himself.
