Parents Ask Pam About Toy Piano - Mozart’s Memo - Volume 66

When your child lights up at the sound of music, that spark is worth exploring.
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Parents Ask Pam

Have a question for Miss Pam? You can email, text message, or message on Facebook your questions. She will respond immediately to you, and your question might be featured in future newsletters.

Q: We don’t have a piano at home, just a toy keyboard (photo attached). Will that be okay for him to practice what he’s learning? Do we really need to get something better if he’s just trying a few online lessons? I’d really prefer to wait before investing in anything big, just to see if he continues. I think he’ll enjoy it, but it still feels like a lot to spend right away.

A:  I completely understand your hesitation. It’s natural not to want to invest a lot of money until you’re sure your child is truly interested.

Here’s a way to think about it that might help. Imagine you want your child to learn to swim. You might not want to invest in a pool membership right away, but you do have a bathtub where your child loves to splash and pretend to be a fish. It’s fun play, but it’s not quite swimming.

Now, picture signing your child up for swim lessons at the local pool once a week. During those lessons, your child gets real experience in the water, but between lessons, there’s no opportunity to practice or build confidence. Progress is slow because the experience is limited. Without that ongoing connection to the real thing, it’s hard to tell if your child isn’t interested or simply hasn’t had enough of a chance to explore.

This is very much like learning piano on a toy keyboard. While it may be fun to press buttons and make sounds, a toy keyboard just doesn’t create the beautiful, full sound that comes from a quality instrument. Part of learning to play is about discovering the joy of making music that sounds rich and inspiring. Just as an out-of-tune piano would make playing frustrating, a toy keyboard can make it hard for your child to really connect with the music.

A simple keyboard with full-size keys and good sound quality gives your child the right foundation to explore and fall in love with music, without needing a big investment up front. It creates a positive experience that builds motivation and joy from the very beginning.

I hope this helps you understand why using a toy piano, even for a free lesson, let alone a month of lessons, will not work.  It would be like trying to teach your child how to swim in the bathtub.

Our in person classes can be taken without a piano or keyboard at home. But you get out of the class what you put in.  With no practice or even fun playing around between classes, progress is very slow.  I would never expect a child to play on a toy piano.  Instead it would be equivalent to not having a piano at home at all.

If money is the factor, you would find out more about your child's interest by getting them a quality instrument without lessons than you would by signing up for lessons without an instrument.

*For those interested, here is a link with more information about purchasing a keyboard or piano.
https://www.moveovermozart.net/newsletters/purchasing-a-keyboard-or-piano-part-1-of-2

Your Comments And Questions

We want to hear from you!  What questions do you have? What do you like best about this memo? How has our online lessons benefitted your child? Please leave your questions and comments below or email Pam directly at misspam@moveovermozart.net