As the director of music lessons in Miami, I have seen that piano music lessons are by far the most popular choice in music lessons.  This is for a variety of reasons.  The piano is a fantastic introduction to music and how it works.

A Great Start To Music

Visually, a piano is a great layout for understanding the basic concepts of music theory.  Most parents don’t necessarily go with piano music lessons for that exact reason, however.  The piano is also a very pleasant sounding instrument and makes for a beautiful addition to any household.  If a student learns how to play a piano, chances are, there will be an opportunity to play many places because the instrument is so popular.  If only every house had a drum set!  Or not…

Alternatives To The Expense

While a piano is a lovely thing to have in your home, they are quite expensive, and many parents do not want to invest in a piano until they know that their student is going to be interested in playing piano for a very long time.  Therefore, I always get this question:  Can my student start a beginners piano music lessons on a keyboard?

Starting With A Keyboard

The answer is:  Absolutely.  That being said, not all keyboards are created equal.  There are some electric pianos which are very similar in style, touch, and sound that can be a great substitute for an actual piano.  Electric pianos such as this typically have weighted keys.  This means that when pushing down on a key from this keyboard, you will feel something similar to the natural resistance you feel when pushing down on a key on an actual piano.  This is very important because it allows the player to control how loud or soft the instrument will sound, or dynamics.
If you do not have a fancy keyboard with weighted keys, can your child still get piano music lessons?  Of course!  There is so much to be learned from a piano and piano music that even without the complete control of dynamics, a student can still learn many music concepts.  That being said, it is still much more preferable that a student learn initially from a weighted keys keyboard.

Importance Of Weighted Keys

Also, if the student is not learning on a weighted keys keyboard, eventually, the student will have to switch over to weighted keys.  This is because dynamics play a huge part in playing musically and with feeling.  A student can learn basic music theory and how to read music and figure out fingering scales with a very basic keyboard, but ultimately, when we, piano teachers, teach music lessons, we are teaching students how to create music.  Therefore, we want to give the student every tool necessary to be able to translate any feeling into sound, and this definitely includes dynamics.

Music Theory

I have mentioned music theory a lot in this article and that is because a student can learn more theory from piano music lessons than perhaps with any other standard instrument.  This is because we play the piano with all ten fingers and therefore, we can potentially play on ten different keys at the same time.  If a student can play on ten different keys at the same time, then they better know how the notes they are playing relate to each other!  Because there is such a potential for intricate chords, the more a student knows about music theory, the better.
Music theory is a huge reason why piano music lessons are so important.  Some people choose to learn the piano on their own and try to play “by ear”.  That’s fine but it is doing a great disservice to the player.  Even if the goal is to simply learn how to play songs played on the radio, knowledge of music theory will make that learning process much faster.  There are many repeating patterns associated with music and music theory, and the ability to recognize those patterns will help you play that song you love without thinking too much about it.
Music theory is also an extremely helpful tool in composing your own music, if you ever decide that maybe you should turn that melody in your head into a song that you can play on the piano.  There is no end to what you can accomplish by taking piano music lessons.

Getting Started

Piano music lessons are very popular for a reason.  If you really want to play music but do not know where to start, piano music lessons are a fantastic option.  Do yourself a favor and learn about music through this beautiful sounding and looking instrument!
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