Now that you have decided to take your first try-out piano lesson, it's probable that you're thinking: "how long should my piano lesson be?". This question is not a simple one since the length is not only based on which level you would like to reach.
Of course, there are no short cuts if you want to become that outstanding piano player – having half an hour lesson every other week is not going to make it!
Even if you would like to play the piano just for fun, knowing more about this topic will help you in achieving your goals faster. Your teacher will help you to make a more educated guess.
The factors to take into account
There are different factors to take into account while thinking about the length of your piano lesson:
Of course, if you would like to become an incredible piano player, you need longer lessons than a person who wants to play just for fun. Even if you’re a piano beginner who would like to play only with one’s friends, this doesn’t mean that you need the shorter lesson available. As you will learn afterwards, other reasons can determine the length of your piano lesson.
Whatever level you’d like to reach, a piano lesson can be 30 minutes to one hour long. There are even music schools in which you can take 20 minutes lesson, something I don’t recommend. The problem is, just for spending less money, beginners think only about the time/cost ratio without thinking about the long-term learning experience. My suggestion for beginners is to start with 45 minutes, which is perfect for:
As you can see, to do this in just thirty minutes, is impossible! What teachers usually do, especially if you plan to have only 30 minutes lesson, is to skip some of those aspects I wrote before.
“Why should I have other subjects rather than simply play the piano? – I’m not interested in other stuff!” I know you’re now thinking about that. For beginners, playing the piano is just about pressing the right keys; they don’t realize that it’s like a puzzle: a sum of different pieces which compose a bigger picture.
Of course, every person has his or her own amount of time available. In our music school, students are people already retired, part-time workers, full-time workers or PhD students! For adults, one of the biggest concern is the time and how to deal with the lack of it.
What’s hard to realize is that when we want to add something in our life, we have to CREATE time for it. All the people have 24 hours free per day; the difference is that some people commit themselves to create some slot of time for coming to lesson and practice.
For example, beginners think they have to practice hours and hours (and for this reason they don’t study); in general, starting with 15 minutes per days give better results!
Everyone has its attention span, meaning the time before you start losing your concentration. As a rule of thumb, attention lasts for 45 minutes in adults. If the teacher notices that 45 minutes is even too much, then having 30 minutes of piano lessons it’s the right choice. If attention is a problem, it’s more beneficial to concentrate on just a few things; the teacher will work together with the student to increase his/her attention span. Even if you have no problem in keeping your attention for 45 minutes, your next goal is to expand it and bring it to one hour.
Bonus point: increasing your attention span is not only a piano-related thing; it’ll affect your productivity in whatever area of your life. With so many distractions present in our life, to be able to keep the focus on one particular thing is a requested ability in every field!
You now have a clearer idea of how long your piano lesson should be. Knowing this sets you apart from other beginners who randomly start to take piano lessons. You’re also aware of how your piano teacher should help you in choosing how long your piano lesson should be.
That’s the philosophy of our music school Studio MusicalMente: we want first to make students aware of what is happening “behind the scene”, whatever the subject. Click here to discover more about our piano lessons.
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