There are so many options for Piano lessons in Frisco! This is written with a desire to share some observations which hopefully will provide some insight to assist in your selection process…for you, or for a member of your family.
Parents who highly value education, while having never received piano lessons or personally studied any musical instrument themselves, often decide their children will receive piano lessons because as parents, they are cognizant of the many benefits derived from music study.
Their parental desire to provide for their children the best education possible, is truly ideal! When parents bring their children for piano lessons, they often tell me their child has studied piano for three or four years.
When I determine the extent of their child’s learning is barely akin to that of a child who may have had lessons for merely a few months, I am astounded that such low levels of student development are even possible.
While investing in our children’s education, parents should expect significant progress and substantive advancement! It is not acceptable for a student to chronically remain at the "beginner level.”
Unfortunately, there are some teaching materials which are so "dumbed down,” they bring forth student progress which at best is only minimal…for years.
Learning that after studying piano for some years, a student has never been taught how to play even the basics of the C major, G major, or F major scales, nor the chords in those keys, how to use them, and have not been taught music is written in both major and minor keys, and additionally learning they possess no comprehension of how to accurately count the music he or she is playing, …is for me as exasperating as it is outrageous.
A few have the misplaced notion that to play the piano, one only needs to receive a few piano lessons. They do not understand that what propels a student forward is what happens immediately AFTER his or her lesson, when they return home to their keyboard, and apply at home what they learned in their piano lesson.
Daily practice on one’s instrument, represents essential preparation for the next lesson. The foregoing represents the protocol which must be present and adhered to for the pupil to consistently advance. Progress does not happen in a vacuum or by accident. Progress is planned for and is sought because we value the beauty found in great music!
Sometimes piano students are enrolled in group classes for their lessons, as opposed to one-on-one private lessons. Group classes may provide enjoyable social time. However, group classes may serve to prevent students from taking ownership of what has been taught, simply because he is "Part of the group.”
In today’s learning climate, we owe it to our children to raise the bar for what they are capable of doing and becoming, and to identify those opportunities wherein what is truly expected of them, ultimately represents their best work and achievements.
The foregoing approach may well represent the only way to ensure students will not find themselves ensnared by an ever increasing and culturally pervasive state of societally fomented mediocrity.
To me, there is nothing more inspiring and exciting than hearing and observing a piano student perform his or her music with conviction, precision, and authority.
What a joy and honor it is to provide piano students with the opportunity to enjoy and realize the fruits of their studious labor. Such fruits, which are derived from their own learned pursuit of excellence, are rightfully theirs to have and to hold in a state of ‘fully actualized potential,’ all while being shared in a ‘performance based’ arena, where ‘completely turned-on power’ thrives!
Together, let us all commit to "Making Music in America, Great Again!”
Andrea Marsavonian
10909 Paisano Dr
Frisco, Texas (United States) 75035
http://www.marsavonian.com
(214) 387-7703