Some might say that taking private piano lessons can feel a bit… lonely. After all, students often play for themselves and their teacher, which can create the impression that their musical journey is meant to be a solo one. Without friends around to cheer them on, it’s easy for kids to feel like they’re missing the camaraderie of team sports, where the drive to improve comes from not wanting to let the team down. With piano, especially in the early stages, it’s just you and the keys.
But here’s where the magic of piano truly shines. This solo pursuit teaches students something invaluable--independence. Without a team to rely on, they learn to push through challenges on their own. The discipline of daily practice without external pressure helps build resilience. It teaches them to reach deep and grasp onto something motivational within them rather than relying on external sources. And when those hard days come, pianists don’t wait for a team or friends to lift them up—they turn to the piano, finding solace and healing in the music. In moments of stress or frustration, they’ve already built that muscle that knows how to self-soothe and destress in a healthy way, using music as an emotional outlet. Taking private piano lessons near you may not have the instant rewards of team sports, but they build something more valuable: self-reliance that lasts a lifetime. If you're interested in learning more about piano benefits that become more powerful as you age, check out my other blog "6-ways-piano-has-benefited-my-adult-life.html". Written by Nicole Surovcek
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Ever hit a rough patch with practicing? In those times, you may wonder, “Will all this effort pay off? Will I (or my child) even continue playing piano throughout adulthood? What’s the point?” Maybe the most important benefits are not musical. What if there are character traits being cultivated that don’t fully blossom till later in life? As an adult, I’ve grown in my appreciation of being a pianist more than ever before- especially when it comes to the skill of reading music. I can find 6 correlations in which piano has benefited my life as an adult. Piano is: 1. Meditative In order to follow notes on a page, one is forced to focus. Sound is abrupt, therefore you immediately feel a change in your current state. The very nature of listening to piano keys is calming and contemplative. One can feel the body relax and the mind clear. Worries from that day are forgotten. All that matters in this moment, is this flow of energy that wraps around you. When I play classical music in particular, I am transported into an even deeper meditative state. I observe how my emotions rise and fall with the music. These specifically arranged harmonies, clashes, and musical phrases push me into the world of a composer some hundred to several hundred years ago. There’s so much culture, history, and emotion that I am now witnessing via their ears and experiences. It’s quite an exhilarating feeling. I’ve become increasingly interested in how classical music is designed because of this meditative factor. 2. Therapeutic Laughing, crying, socializing…there’s many ways of releasing expression and playing an instrument is also one of them! This is especially beneficial to personalities who are not naturally expressive with words. When it’s hard to understand your feelings, music comes in for the rescue. Being vulnerable with an instrument can feel safer than with a real person. Songs are also more forgiving and comforting to your emotions, than say, a boxing bag. On conflicting days, experiment with playing your own melodies. If you find your emotions being absorbed by the keys themselves, you’ve found another way to communicate or release. Who knew that a good practice could make one feel stronger and anew. 3. Delayed Gratification How many people do you know who are comfortable with delayed gratification? I find them few and far between, after all, now-days there’s simply no need. You want a specific meal? You got UberEats to pick it up for you. You want another blanket? Amazon will bring it to you tomorrow. You don’t like the movie you’re watching? Within seconds, Netflix has plenty more options. You want another associate to help you on a project? Post a job and you’ve got lots of applicants. It doesn’t take much effort to get results. Learning any instrument, will teach you otherwise. That mentality of “little effort, immediate reward” needs to be tossed out the window. Even talented musicians are only as good as they practice. It takes months, sometimes years, to get just one piece down. You might feel you are “not quite there yet” forever and you have to be okay with that. You practice the same measure 30 times, morning and evening, and MAYBE you’ll be happier with it tomorrow. As I’ve grown older, I have noticed there’s something quite admirable about someone who can work hard, stay focused, and commit to a challenge without knowing when and if the reward will come. It may be these people will stand out in a growing competitive world. 4. Discipline Part of learning an instrument means you have to practice it daily. Practicing 4 hours on the weekend won’t get you there as fast if you had split up that time into 30 minutes everyday. The key is to practice on a daily basis- and that’s a kind of discipline that will take you far. Remember any new skill requires more effort in the beginning than later. If you are constantly stuck in the take-off, you’ll constantly feel how hard it is, never seeing the benefits. Once you do see the benefits, you won’t mind being disciplined as much. Imagine how much more ahead you are once you’ve already gone through this cycle. These experiences give you real world knowledge and will give you a realistic perspective when choosing to engage in a new discipline. 5. Dismantling Fear Eleven pages of sheet music laid out in front of you will feel overwhelming. Organizational skills are crucial here. How can I make this realistic? Where are the patterns in this piece? How can I break it down and still accurately piece it back together without losing myself? A music teacher takes that responsibility upon themselves and shows a student different techniques in breaking a piece down. Suddenly, a student realizes, “Actually yes, I can do this.” When you experience this again and again, song after song, you start to believe that anything (even the overwhelming projects) can be done. As long as you have the skills to organize the challenge into smaller manageable parts- of course it can be done. As an adult, being faced with new challenges, I face it with a sort of confidence because I’ve already had some training in knowing how to be my own navigator. 6. Identifying Patterns Being able to find patterns in one’s life can save years of lost effort. A good music teacher will train you to look for patterns in the sheet music before you play your piece. Yes, it’s great if you can read notes accurately on the whim, but it’s better (and more efficient) when you can spot patterns in the piece even before you play. What’s even better than that, is mixing the two! Can you identify patterns in real time? These are all things we work on as we read music. Imagine if we applied this to real life situations. Do you know the patterns in your daily life? How do we respond under pressure? What do we turn to when we want to check out? How does your partner behave when they are holding back? What kind of friends is your child drawn to? Think about how much faster you get to know yourself, your loved ones once you’ve been conditioned to pick up patterns. Those are the six benefits that have been my favorite in my adult life. Of course, the benefits of learning an instrument are vast- increased focus, creativity, multi tasking, coordination are just a few more. If you’d like to know more, you can refer to this blog that already has study links attached. Written by Nicole Surovcek The recital day had arrived. It’s a mix of emotions- excitement and anxiety. A few minutes before the recital began, a mother came up to me saying, “Sam is refusing to play. He’s too nervous.” I immediately thought back to how hard he had worked to learn this song. He was playing it just fine a week ago. What can I do to calm his nerves? I tried talking with him, but it was evident that his emotions were too high. I ended up skipping over his name in the program during the recital.
How can one perform well with such elevated levels of emotion? When we practice piano pieces at home, there are no hormones disrupting your physiological state. It starts while you’re waiting for your name to be called. Hands get sweaty, heart beating, legs trembling, and suddenly…I can’t feel my fingers. How can I finish my song when I can’t control my body? Can I train myself to suppress a stress response? Or do I have to learn to deliver an excellent performance with pressure? Meeting high expectation in front of an audience can cause a nervous reaction that inhibits fine motor functioning. When you’re overwhelmed, it’s hard to do one thing correctly, let alone three or four things at once. Thoughts such as “I have to play it perfectly” “I can’t make too many mistakes” “If I mess up, then they won’t think I’m good” and “I only want them to see how well I can play”, resembles an individual that is struggling with performance anxiety due to high expectations. I decided to interview a few students that seemed to have no nerves on recital day. They performed their piece to the point of perfection. What’s their secret? Well, I asked and here’s their response (keep in mind they are 13 years old and under): “Practice in front of other people- 5 or more. Do it a couple times until you are comfortable” “If you mess up, just continue, because it doesn’t matter. People don’t always know” “Just keep going, don’t worry about the mistakes” “Imagine that no one is there. Like I’m in my room practicing, I don’t think of the people watching me.” “Pretend everyone’s just wearing their underwear” As you can see from those responses, it’s a style of thinking that will determine your success. To be able to perform well, one will need to prepare their mind for the big day. Here are some tips to that will promote confidence and help minimize the pressure of a performance: 1) Muscle memory beats anxiety A performance piece demands hours of practice and repetition. After a while your fingers play on their own and there’s no need for the brain to concentrate on reading music. You become very proud in this moment, because you don’t feel like you are “working” anymore. The song has molded as a part of your body. Muscle memory saves a many performances. 2) Practice in front of an audience Sometimes it just takes 1 person to start the nervous reaction. Invite your family, friends, or neighbors to come watch you play. Another tactic I use with my students, is filming them. It can help set the stage for the big day and the more you practice performing in a stressful setting, the less intimidating it will get. 3) Have a Plan B When you can’t regain feeling in your fingers or if you can’t get past a difficult part, know how to finish the song on a good note. There’s usually a part of the song that you know very well and are confident in, so practice easing into that part and tying it into the song finale. 4) Accept the worst First, ask yourself, what’s the worst that could happen? Whatever that is, you will free yourself if you can accept it. If the worst is not being able to complete the song, or making multiple mistakes, and it happens during your performance, the best thing you could do for yourself, is be okay with it. You might be surprised at how much energy you’ll find in that moment. Know that it is better to try and gain some type of experience versus gaining none. Sam wasn’t mentally prepared, but I believe if he had been willing to work on these four steps, he could perform his song well. |
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