Source
r/piano•
silorme

Expected Level

Question

All four of my children are taking piano, I even got a couple years in when we got our new Steinway Essex. She's a beauty.

Anyway, I love our piano teacher, she's been doing this for decades and still takes lesson herself to improve. My daughter, who is now 10, has been taking since she was 4 and has show good aptitude towards it, and our teacher thinks she might go somewhere with it.

One thing I appreciate about this teacher is she makes sure you play well, not just play the notes. It had been about 30 years since I had lessons, and this is the first time a teacher has really focus on this.

She also works a lot of my children on making sure they play well not just play the notes. I think this is great, but I have realized she has been playing for 6 years and is in a 2B book. Is this about right? I worry that her focus on perfecting a piece may be holding them back. What's your all's thoughts?

Posted Oct 13, 2022, 10:45 PM UTC

216
orlandocfi•

Your 10 year old may need a higher level of instruction if she has demonstrated an aptitude for piano. A good teacher will be demanding, but will also challenge the student with increasingly advanced repertoire. It sounds like the teacher is good, but is not challenging. Take your daughter to the local university to have her audition for a teacher that will be more challenging. She should not be slogging through kiddie lesson books after 6 years.

5
Igotdakeyskeyskeys•

Maybe just ask her how far and seriously she wants to take it? It is her life after all

1
orlandocfi•

Maybe you need to get back into therapy and work on your issues. Stop trolling this discussion.

1
Igotdakeyskeyskeys•

Cool have fun when your kid gets older

1
deutschHotel•

That's pretty much a book every two years. Way to slow!

3
nazgul_123•

No, this is very slow. I would recommend you change teacher. I would expect the average student (without any significant problems with learning) to be at the stage where they can play 2B pieces after around 2 years, even if they only practice a few minutes a day.

1
silormeOP•

Thank you. I've hunted for expected progression of students but could not find anything.

1
nazgul_123•

Usually, the book number is close to the number of years that a student would typically have been playing.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
sarimanok2040•

Too slow. My 3 kids are all taking piano lessons since they were 4 yrs old. 2b should be played when they’re about 7-8 yrs old. They only play 15-20 mins a day. More if they have recitals and stuff. The way the teachers explain it to me is that the average student (not piano prodigies) takes about a year to finish each level. The piano levels supposed to correspond to their grade level in school. They can move quickly to the next level if they are more diligent practicing.

1
Igotdakeyskeyskeys•

Maybe stop stressing on it so much, 4 is so early, let your kids have a balanced childhood also.

Just want this response to hit everyone on here, children’s mental health is the most important on here, your kids hands at age 5 aren’t even going to be hitting an octave interval.

Teaching your children that there are going to be strict expectations like this at such a young age is going to cause them to burn out fast with anxiety and depression in late teenage years. I don’t know why this shit has to be taken this seriously, it’s like parents live vicariously through their children.

0
silormeOP•

That's a lot of bad assumptions there.

1
bw2082•

To me that sounds slow. I mean it only takes a quick look on YouTube to see kids who started at 4 are already playing concert level at 10. Now granted those are the exceptions, but 6 years to progress to only that level seems slow. Take this with a groan of salt too since I have no idea what a level 2 books is.

-4
stephenp129•

So you have no idea what a level 2 book is, but you feel qualified enough to make your statement...

1
bw2082•

yes. I am guessing it is Alfred Level 2B.

1
Igotdakeyskeyskeys•

That’s a terrible attitude, music is supposed to be fun, if you were my teacher I’d hire a different one lol

1
bw2082•

You realize the other people are saying the same thing that the progression is too slow right?

1