More than just the convenience of In-Home Piano Lessons

Back in the years B.I. (Before Internet or X Boxes), when many of us learned to play piano, we may have been dragged to a series of grueling sessions with teachers who were not expected to relate especially well to children.

Visions of rulers smacking wandering fingers, the terse repetition of the same hackneyed exercises and frequent looks of disapproval were all part of the standard curriculum.

Why couldn't piano lessons be fun? Why did recitals have to be boring and why shouldn't performing be something that not only built self-esteem, but also inspired creativity?

If someone took art lessons, didn't they create art? Why couldn't students create their own music if they took piano lessons? (Isn't music considered one of the arts?) ...So why hadn't anyone come up with a program encouraging that kind of creative expression?

All of these questions (and a few more) came into focus when we created Playtime Piano Instruction.

Besides the obvious convenience of our instructors coming to the home, the real issue has always been how to hold the interest of a child. What motivates one child may not work for another. Why will two children have totally unique ways of approaching the learning process? And what is the magic ingredient that makes someone want to stick with their piano lessons, while others their age have already given up?

The answer is in the teaching. A "cookie cutter" curriculum (one book fits all) has never been a reliable key to success in learning. Every student is gifted. A good teacher's job is to find out how to bring out each student's talent by working with their unique learning style and individual preferences. This applies to more than learning piano. It applies to learning anything!

The goal of education isn't just to memorize answers that will be spit back out on a test (only to forget the subject matter as soon as the test is over). Education is the process of learning how to think and use both sides of the brain to solve problems that apply to real life situations. Coincidentally, one of the best ways to stimulate and connect the two sides of the brain happens to be by learning to read and play music (with piano or keyboard being singled out as the most direct route to that end!).

Our brains are meant to work as whole units with the left hemisphere controlling analytical reasoning and the right one adding the creative component that allows for true genius and the vision that guides us to successful solutions.

Music education needs to reach students on a personal level or the chances of making some of those vital connections are lost due to lack of interest.

Our program not only begins by indexing the dominant learning style of each student, but also continues to hold students' interest by the introduction of learning to notate familiar tunes they'd like to play and later composing some of their own!

In addition to the composition component, careful attention is paid to individual music preferences so that each student will literally want to stretch to learn a favorite piece of music early on.

This combination of teaching targeted to learning style, hiring only teachers who genuinely love interacting with children and listening for what will motivate each student has made the convenience of our program the hands-down preference for busy area families.

Our key to success has been our individually tailored approach combined with our willingness to allow children to be children, having fun while learning to play.

Playtime Piano Instruction underwrites the keyboard program "Toccata" airing Sundays at 6 PM on WBJC 91.5 FM, Baltimore's Classical Music Station.

- Harlene McGowan, Education Director,
Playtime Piano Instruction

NOW CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
IN THE
BALTIMORE METROPOLITAN AREA