To teach a child piano

To teach a child piano is to teach them how to master their environment.

This, in turn, teaches them how to master the self.

It can be argued that the piano is the most autonomous of the instruments and, therefore, the best tool with which to teach autonomy of the self. I disagree with this argument, having known many musicians who have demonstrated equal mastery of themselves and their instruments. The soul can develop just as well behind a cello. That said, the pianist is fundamentally integral—and because of this, the pianist must be taught to integrate their work with others. The accompanist learns to follow a soloist and, if the soloist is less well-trained than the pianist (as is often the case), to subtly guide the soloist towards more cohesive choices. Working among a trio of equally trained musicians can be a joyous experience for a pianist, as can playing among the members of an expert orchestra. Even a solo recital must be prepared with an audience in mind, in terms of repertoire and remarks—and so the pianist, as they build their understandings of the instrument and the self, must also build a coherent, intuitive understanding of other selves and other instruments.

You do not need me to extrapolate these metaphors, in part because they are less symbolic than literal. A skilled pianist will in fact become a skilled person, which is one of the reasons why parents push their children towards the piano bench and set timers to ensure they stay there.

Some of the other reasons include a vague sense that the piano is a gateway towards mathematics, engineering, or other forms of applied technology; that a shy child can develop a more outgoing personality through the rewards of performance; that a child who is taught to persevere at something they might consider difficult or dull will, at the least, have learned something useful.

But it is useless to spend time with that which is dull—and, in many cases, wasteful to spend time with that which is difficult, unless one is trained to approach the difficulty with ease. This is why teaching a student how to practice a musical instrument is, in all cases, equally as important as teaching the fundamentals of music.

The most important reason to teach a child piano is, as stated above, to empower them to master both their external and internal environments (nature and nurture, if you will). This, in turn, frees them from relying on emotion as their only capitalizable resource. The child throws a tantrum precisely because they have no other tools with which to influence the outcome of a given situation. The adult says “I feel” for the same reason; if they are a clever adult, they say “I think.” The autonomous person may say “I do,” although in most cases they don’t need to; the action speaks for itself, and the self listens.^[1]

This is why the pianist must be taught to listen before they are taught anything else—and that is where we will begin.