January 2024 Newsletter — The Reluctant Student

Happy New Year!! I hope your holidays were enjoyable and this letter finds everyone in good health.

Piano Lessons Begin…

Piano lessons for all students in group and private lessons will begin again the week of January 7, 2024. All lesson times will remain the same as December unless we have discussed a change. Please let me know ASAP if you need to change your lesson time. We will be making adjustments to the schedule as well as scheduling new students before we begin January 7th.

Group Studio Recitals

All students in hour-long group lessons will have a studio recital the week of March 22nd. This is two weeks after Spring Break for the Lawrence Public Schools.

Spring Recitals

We will be having our Spring Recitals at the Lawrence Arts Center for all students (both group and private). These recitals are scheduled for Sunday, May 19th – Wednesday May 24th. I will be sending recital sign-up information at the beginning of April.

The Reluctant Student

I wrote this article about 23 years ago, but it is still applicable today as parents and students continue to discuss the path they will take.

On December 15th, 2001, I was sitting in the Lawrence Arts Center watching my 15-year-old daughter play the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. As the beauty and majesty of the piece filled my ears, I reflected back on the years of lessons that had led up to this point.

I started Michaela in piano lessons when she was in kindergarten. She started out like any student, having fun playing folk tunes and participating happily in the group activities. However, in her second grade year she decided that piano wasn’t much fun anymore. Soccer had taken over as her main interest in life. She told me that she wanted to quit the piano because she hated to practice.

I have always felt that studying piano was not only a great introduction to music, but also piano helped with fine motor skills, worked both sides of the brain, and taught students study skills by having to take a piece apart, work on it, and then put it back together again.

In years past I had taught students who “hated” piano, but their parents thought it was an important part of their overall education, so they asked me to keep their child going without pushing too hard. Even though their progress may not have been as fast as I would have liked, to my surprise these students would often “rediscover” the piano in their later junior high or early high school years. They would request classical pieces and have the skills to master them.

This was my plan for Michaela. Over the years there would be tears over the injustice her father was inflicting upon her. I would be concerned about her being sufficiently prepared for recital so that she wouldn’t be embarrassed, while trying not to push too hard.

As a 9th grader, Michaela stopped taking group piano lessons because her schedule was too hectic. Soccer was still her main interest, and she was singing in the junior high honor choir and playing in the band. In the summer before Michaela’s junior year of high school, I asked her if she would like to try some private lessons beginning in September. To my surprise and delight, she said she had been thinking of the same thing. Even with her schedule of soccer practices, marching band rehearsals, and college prep courses, she found the time to practice the piano and because of the previous years of study she didn’t have to “start over”. Michaela will now have piano as a lifetime skill. I hope she will play for her grandchildren and encourage them to study even when they “hate” it.

During the first week of December, my 9-year-old son was very upset about having to take piano lessons, “How could I inflict this injustice on him?” Ahh, the saga continues…

Have a great 2024!

— Eric