It’s very important for parents of piano lesson students, particularly students under twelve, to understand that playing classical music does not benefit children and young people near as much as playing music they recognize. In my years of being a musician and teacher, I’ve encountered a lot of parents who assumed that it was somehow “better” for their child to be playing classical music.

However, your average eight-year-old has no knowledge of classical music. They may like listening to it if it’s presented well to them, like hearing it on TV or in a movie. But children have no natural inclination to want to play it on the piano, particularly if it’s unfamiliar to them. It’s actually quite difficult. It’s a lot of work for them, and far harder than simpler children’s songs that they recognize.

In the beginning of their lessons, and at least for the first two to three years, kids benefit the most from playing music they recognize. There are some great brain reasons for this. By playing music they recognize, they are able to take advantage of their ability to make sure they are playing the song how its “supposed” to sound. Since classical music is both difficult and unfamiliar to them, they have no “inner check” to assure that what they are doing is correct. I found that children learned far faster, and developed better musical skills from playing what they recognized. Learning faster and developing superior musical skills trumps any benefit of struggling through a piece one doesn’t know merely because the word “classical” is attached to it.

I once had a student who had partially learned to read music before studying with me. She had memorized what notes looked like on the page and which letter names they corresponded to. However, she had never learned exactly which keys and letter names were a match and she had never learned to read or count rhythms! This is the equivalent of knowing how to read the alphabet but not how to spell and attempting to read the newspaper. It will produce no positive result.

This child had played this way for years! By the time she got to me she had already wasted about three years of multiple hours per day playing this way at home with no teacher because she really loved to play. She just had absolutely no idea that what she was playing had nothing to do whatsoever with what was on the page. Since she was playing out of books of songs that were unfamiliar to her, she had no “inner check” on what she was doing. Essentially, she was playing letter names in her head and making up the song the way she like. There was absolutely no benefit to this because it robbed her of any ability to properly learn and apply what she read. She was just pounding the piano in a way she liked without knowing that she wasn’t playing the song.

When I asked her to play by ear a song she recognized, she could do it quite well. However, when I asked her to perform something from the book, it was clear she was “illiterate,” yet oddly musical. I asked her how she came upon playing the classical music in an attempt to straighten all this out and get her going the right way. It turns out her childhood teacher had endlessly extolled the virtues of classical music. Her parents believed this to be true, and during the time when the child was not taking lessons, they continued to buy her piano books of unknown music thinking she was teaching herself. When I finally got to the bottom of her problem and began working with her on learning to read and count the rhythms, she realized how much work it would be and quit lessons. If she had been playing music she recognized for all those years, the whole problem could have been prevented. She is far from the only student I’ve encountered who had some of this problem going on.

Despite how traditional piano lessons are taught, it’s important to distinguish that reading music and playing the instrument are actually two completely different, and mutually exclusive, elements of music instruction. They are different skills, and in fact, have nothing to do with each other.

As a lessons consumer, particularly a parent, it’s critical for you to understand that. Let’s say you are a non-musician seeking piano lessons for your child and your are thinking “I want my child to learn to read music.” What’s really important to understand about this is that reading music happens in the brain in totally different parts of the brain than those that have anything to do with hearing and understanding music or playing the instrument as a tactile experience. Although reading music and playing music are related, they are absolutely not the same skill.

What it takes a student to learn how to play the piano is completely outside the domain of what it takes that student to learn to read music. Written music is a language, the same as any other written language and learning to operate in that language requires that it be taught separate from learning the instrument. This is despite the fact that in most traditional music lessons, particularly piano lessons and school band programs, the teachers try to combine playing and reading into the same task. This is why so few music students end up as proficient readers. Most children who really want to play will instinctively sacrifice reading skills to improve their playing skills.

This may lead you, the parent, to ask “Does my child really need to learn to read music?” Truthfully, it’s not necessary in order to learn to play the instrument. There are many players who do not read music who are far better players than those who do read music. In fact, many of the household names in both popular and classical music do not read, yet are tremendous performers and artists.

However, there are significant advantages to learning to read music. If you are thinking “Maybe I don’t want to put upon my child that they have to learn to read music” understand, if taught correctly, it will provide advantages.

Children who start piano lessons at very young ages are often taught to read music before they learn to read their native language, so it can be learned by anyone who applies themselves and is given encouragement and coaching in making it easier and fun. Understanding the difference between those two skills goes a long way in clarifying what is to be accomplished in studying the piano. It is also much better for both the parent and the student to understand that reading music is not the same as playing the instrument so that everyone, student, parent and teacher are clear about the goals of learning to read music.

If you have questions about this, contact me through my website at http://anaheimpiano.com and I’d be happy to give you some assistance that addresses the players in your house. There’s not one solution that works for everyone, so I’d be happy to address any individual questions you may have.