Should I give up on piano lessons ?

My son is learning his grade one pieces and has been for nearly  a year. He takes an hour to have a lesson as he goes back and forward from the piano. Thankfully his teacher works at a special school and is v parent with him . When he gets anything wrong he gets v cross. He doesn't take on challenges well and sees a new piece and automatically says it is too hard 

It is so hard to get him to practise as he gets so easily frustrated and what should take ten minutes can take up to 40 .

I teach piano and want him to have the same skill. Am I being selfish ? I already gave up my dreams of having a West end star for a son !!! 

When I ask him if he wants to stop he says no and gets v upset. He loves his teacher but the whole thing just causes so much grief.

  • Haha, that's just like me! I'd stubbornly sit and try to learn the first one, even if it was a nightmare. The other alternative is to print sheet music (there are some sites that sell individual songs fairly cheaply). Maybe that'd help with the order situation. Alternatively, you could get one of those books that starts off easy and gets progressively more challenging, or a book he's less likely to get fed-up with (e.g. if he likes most of the songs).

  • That is brilliant advice !

    Problem is if you give him any book he insists on playing every single piece in order!

  • My mum let me stop piano (she's a piano teacher) because I was losing the love of it. I got stressed about graded exams and didn't enjoy practising the set pieces.

    Given time and space, I went back to it on my own, even paying for lessons for a couple of years when I had the time (as an adult). Maybe you could find out if there's anything he'd like to play (e.g. his favourite songs) rather than the set pieces for grade one.

    I understand why you want him to enjoy playing - maybe it's a case of relaxing the routine a little and letting him choose the kind of pieces he'd like to play (without the pressure of grades). If it still seems like he isn't enjoying it, maybe there's another instrument he'd prefer... or even another hobby.