My Experience Starting Piano As A Child (Part 1 of 2)

My experience starting piano as a child (Part 1)

I still remember my first piano lesson — although only vaguely. I was just five or six when my two older sisters were being sent to piano lessons, so I was sent along. My mother had received a few piano lessons from the nuns in her primary/secondary school, which she never carried on as they had no piano at home.

A few days before my first lesson, my father came home with a Casio electronic piano (or digital piano) that he had purchased for us all to practice on. It had no pedals but it was, actually, for 1991, a very good digital piano. It had a form of weighted keys, but not close to the technology that you have now. The excitement in the house when my father arrived home with this thing was palpable.

This was a total surprise to me and a completely alien object. I had no idea what it could do, I had no experience with professional piano players — I didn't even know what they were. This was also a time when I watched a lot of musicals on video (VHS, not YouTube) like Fantasia, Annie, Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang and Mary Poppins. I knew what music was, but I also believed that musicians were born not taught, and I couldn’t understand how you would even begin to learn music. The whole topic of music was a mystery that I desperately wanted to understand and be a part of.

That evening I remember that my parents announced we would all be going to piano lessons. I would start after my two older sisters, as I had just entered primary school, and needed to learn how to conduct myself in class first before I could be trusted to sit and pay attention in piano lesson alone. My sisters were excited that they had a new toy to play and experiment with.

Looking back, I really didn’t understand what was going on or even what the classes would entail. My parents didn’t have experience in music or piano lessons, so they were at a loss when it came to explaining the process and preparing me for it. I was on my own on a musical adventure.

Beginning the journey & school

That night, I looked at this keyboard piano as it was being set up in the living room. My sisters had a go of it, I played a few keys afterwards, and then we all went to bed eager to start our lessons soon. Being so young at the time, I cannot recall my very first lesson in any great depth. I remember my sister was with me, and I remember waiting for my lesson after hers, but I do not remember the details of the lesson.

Back then, we would have used the first few pages of a tutor book like John Thompson’s or Hal Leonard’s. My teacher was young — probably 20, had finished her ‘Grade 8 Piano Forte’ exams with the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and was training to be a teacher. I remember her being very kind, sweet and encouraging — not looking to rush me at all. However, despite her best efforts, I still remember walking away from piano lessons not really understanding what was going on or what she had explained.

Looking back, I was able to follow music class in primary school at eight much easier than I was two years previous in piano lessons. As a teacher now, realistically, it depends on the child — but a pre-instrumental music class is typically the way to go. It goes a long way towards laying the foundation of the musical language and technical speak associated with music. This way it's not so alien to children when they enter into piano class, or any musical instrument class for that matter.

Growing up, I was also extremely lucky as between the ages of 5-11, I had school teachers who would teach us to sing songs as a choir, and play recorder at dedicated music times during the week. This helped to fill in a few blanks that I had, that the piano lesson didn’t cover, or I had not grasped fully.

My first impactful piano teacher & barriers to progression

The main teacher I remember was when I was seven years old. She was an experienced teacher of more 30 years who, co-incidentally, was one of my friend-and-classmates’ mothers. She was wonderful, strict enough like areal  teacher to make me work, and expected more from me than the bare minimum. I always passed my exams with honors.

However, again I ran up against the problem of not fully understanding and internalizing what was going on in the music I was learning. Later, I moved onto another teacher at 14. But once again, I was far too focused on preparing for the piano exams and passing them, causing other areas of my musical education to lag behind. By now my aural and sight reading abilities were underdeveloped, simply not practiced regularly enough beyond exam questions.

I discussed my exam with my teacher — how I should play pieces, nuances of the music, but I only ever learnt music off by heart. I never really internalized this information, that I had spent so long memorizing, and applied it to a different area of music. My teacher at the time was getting me through the exams with Royal Irish Academy so I was doing an exam every 6 months, with 3 months prep before each exam.

Now I wouldn't dare enter students in exams like this — no matter how talented they were at the prescribed material. There is no point in studying and passing every exam available if it does not add value. Giving students space to breathe and to explore other music outside of exam pieces is key to their appreciation and development. Plus skipping through grades, or skipping them entirely, can be warranted — but often can stunt knowledge and overall musicality. This is especially true when moving up above grade 5. But try saying that to someone who wants to finish grade 8 as soon as possible!!

This blog ( Part 1 of 2) was a little different from my other pieces, a little more personal, but I do hope it is valuable for all of my current and prospective students. Even more so, perhaps it’s valuable for parents wondering whether to enroll their child in their first music lessons. For anyone who has questions about this process, or who simply wants to learn or have their child learn, do feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be happy to chat and help where I can!