Pursuing Piano as a Hobby or Something More?

Understanding our own goals and expectations when we sign up for a new pursuit can go a long way to smoothing the road ahead of us, and ensuring that we are working to achieve those goals. When children sign up for piano lessons, it is often to try it out and see if it sticks. And sometimes, somewhere along the way, we realize it will stick. We might even love it and want to pursue it at a higher level. Or we may learn that we love music, but career and higher education goals are pointing a different direction. 

Both of these are great outcomes, and our goals and time investment can be updated to suit the level of mastery we are looking for. 

It is 100% ok to pursue music or piano study as a hobby. And hobby players can find ways to perform and share their music in meaningful ways just as easily as professional musicians, because music fits both into the formal and informal parts of our lives. It's baked into our culture and celebrations, and it's for everyone to participate in however we are comfortable doing so. Regular practice is still important for growth, but the demands may not be quite as high.

And if you want something more, a higher level of mastery, maybe to pursue music at a college level or beyond, to make a career of music, the requirements to reach that level are going to be different. There's more practice time, more repertoire to cover, more theory and history to learn, more of everything. So if you realize that this is a direction you're wanting to head, it is important to share that with your music teacher so they can help coach you to that level of mastery. 

I think Episode 2954 of the piano parent podcast sums up these concepts pretty well. So if you want to think about this concept, and what pathway your piano kid is taking on their musical journey, you can listen to it here.

And if you're thinking it's time to update some current goals and expectations, be sure to have a chat with your piano teacher today!