Not necessarily the kinds that make them financially rich, but things like piano lessons, dance lessons, Tae Kwon Do, etc.
A good friend from church was recalling a story that their new piano teacher told them about another one of her students. This particular teacher demands that her students practice on a real piano. (Aside: I didn't agree with this initially but I can see her point. I'm not aware of any electronic piano that can substitute for the action of an authentic piano, since regardless of how good the sound coming out of the electronic piano is, without the action of the hammers and the dampers, it won't feel and respond like a real piano.)
Anyway, the parents of this one student were pretty well-to-do, so they went all-out. They bought a Steinway grand piano — which costs as much as a luxury car — and built an addition onto their house to display it properly.
The student quit piano lessons within two years.
This was an extreme example, and more than a bit sad for the parents, I bet. My friend is running into the same issue, since they have an electronic piano and have about nine months before they have to go acoustic in order to keep going to this teacher. So on top of the expense of the lessons (not cheap) they will need to get a different instrument (also not particularly cheap, though they can probably get by for a few hundred dollars if they find a decent upright piano used).
These next nine months give my friends the opportunity to see if their daughter will stick with piano. She responded well to this teacher, and it may be true that all it takes is a good teacher that knows how to connect with the students and motivate them. If their daughter sticks with it and responds well to the teacher, that's great. They'd be doing a wise thing by nurturing that talent. If the interest falls off, that's also good. They'd be doing a wise thing to not spend money on an instrument that wouldn't be used that much.
Parents: Here are a few questions to ask yourselves about whether to spend money on lessons for your kids:
- Do they practice without being nagged? Being a self-starter is an indication of interest and a desire to get better.
- Do they forego other activities willingly to practice? This also indicates desire to improve.
- Can the same instruction be gotten more cheaply? If the child is a real self-starter, they may not even need private instruction. There are DVD sets for guitar and piano (for example) that cater to students who want to teach themselves. It's about $250, once, for all of the DVDs, and if they're followed properly the child will be a darn good guitar player. (This is true about many other things, including mastering a subject.)
It's certainly a good idea not to let your kids give up too early because they might just be in The Dip but when it's time to quit, it's time to quit.
There are tons of free online tutorials on playing with musical instruments. I myself play bass guitar in our church (www.cogdasma.com) and I learn solely from the internet.
If ever my son gets into music, I will try to save money by looking for nice 2nd hand instruments.
Pretty much all musicians will say that there's no substitute for learning from someone who knows how to do it.
Also, just because you need to practice on an acoustic piano, doesn't mean that you need to own one. I know quite a few people who practice on pianos in churches, schools, colleges, or even office buildings. And, for really, really technical practice, an electronic piano with headphones is awesome for everyone else.
My 7 year old son has picked up the bass guitar. He started out by grabbing my old bass and sitting down in front of a CD player. He's getting ready to start lessons with one of the bass players in our church who has a jazz background.
Although there is a lot of stuff on the internet and in books, I don't think there is a substitute for one on one training with someone who knows the instrument.
Hobbies that grow organically in your child really are the best, but it is hard to always know what you actually want to do as child. Often times your parents decide for you or you succumb to doing what everyone else does. Often times I see parents have a hard time understanding what their child needs from them in terms of hobbies. Either they force them to do something or they squash their desire because it would be too expensive.
It also pays to encourage your child to do things that could earn them money, like design video games, play music, or cook.
Seems to me that it would be less expensive to find another teacher that does not insist on archaic instruments. I'd say the kid has to put in several years before the minutely different actions between a piano and a modern electric piano becomes an issue. Besides, different pianos have different actions anyway, so this entire exercise seems a bit pointless/snobbish to me.
I don't think you can create desire for an instrument. If a child must be forced to practice, maybe a different type of endeavor would be a better use of the child's (and the parents' !) time.
For any of you who are running into the problem of needing a practice piano, I don't think a day goes by in my local craigslist where someone is not giving away a piano. The catch is that you have move it.
Note about piano teachers who INSIST that student must practice on a "real" piano, or find another teacher. Up until about 8-10 years ago, this thinking was probably "sound" enough to accept. It was (operative word WAS) true that no electronic keyboard came close enough to mimicing the "feel" of an acoustic grand piano's action. So the practice time becomes compromised because the student is exercising their hands and fingers in exactly the right way.
Is it still true? The answer IMO is somewhere between NO and "not exactly, but definitely no where NEAR the differences that used to exist, and definitely NOT enough to make so much of a difference as to justify this extreme an ultimateum." That is of course, if you obtain the right kind of electronic keyboard.
There have been many approaches over the years to address this very issue. Professional musicians who play piano have long been bothered by this. The ultra-light touch of many electronic keyboards (including all of the Casio's et. al. that are ubiquitously displayed in Best Buy, or similar consumer electronic emporiums and regarded by pros as little more than toys) are certainly completely inappropriate for developing the proper technique and finger strength. When one of these is the keyboard in question, I couldn't agree more that they're worthless for proper piano study. Additionally, most of the "toys" are not "touch sensitive", i.e. the velocity (or volume) of the note played is not a function of how hard the key is pressed, but rather, controlled (all keys at once) by a volume control (often in the form of an "expression pedal"). This too bears absolutely no resemblance to the reality of a real piano. One of the greatest beauties of piano playing comes from the fact that expression for each note played is "in the fingers",which creates a far more intimate connection between the instrument and the performer's musical "soul".
Some of the earlier attempts to remedy this situation and provide professionals with a portable instrument that played like a real piano were the Wurlitzer Electric Piano (fondly known as a "Wurly" in the pro ranks), later followed by the Rhodes (originally Fender Rhodes based on initial manufacturing finances and sales distribution being provided by the Fender Co.; of electric guitar fame). Each instrument had some form of actual "action" to cause an actual hammer to hit a modified tuning fork, the vibration of which was "picked up" by an electro-magnetic pickup similar in function to those used on an electric guitar. Granted, the sound is unique and very different from a real acoustic piano. But the "feel" is actually quite close to the "real thing", and they are touch sensitive like the real thing. In the case of the Rhodes, its action is actually far "thicker", heavier, and slower than a grand piano, and the finger strength required to play it is actually greater than a real piano. Hence, the proper kind of finger strength and finger independence will actually build up more so and more quickly. As a reference to the sounds made, much of the playing of popular recording artists like Stevie Wonder, or Ray Manzerak of the "Doors" was on one or the other of these instruments. Billy Joel's classic "Just the Way You Are" was done on a Rhodes, with the output passing through a type of signal processing called phase shifting, that gives it that kind of "swirly" texture. But these instruments have become vintage classics and are difficult and expensive to find.
The real revolution is in the so-called "fully weighted" MIDI keyboards currently produce by companies such as Yamaha, Korg, Kurzweil, and Roland. Huge advances have been made in the "sensing" of all manner of the physical movement of the keys, even now including "aftertouch" which is the manner in how the key is released after being struck. Coupled with the now universally accepted MIDI signaling protocol (M)usical (I)nstrument (D)igital (I)nterface which is capable of transmitting the entire myriad of signals to properly make use of all this available movement sensing, and the advent of the "fully weighted" MIDI keyboards, and you have something that is SO CLOSE to the exact feel and expression capabilities of a real grand piano, as to be hard to fault by even the most demanding and "picky" of professional musicians. Within each of the above mentioned companies product lines, there are usually different models available of the same basic keyboard. Often one will have a shortened keyboard (61 or 76 keys are both very common) that will have what are called "semi-weighted" keys. NO, STAY AWAY if you are trying to preserve the real piano feel. Abigger model will be FULLY WEIGHTED keys and will usually be a full 88 key, standard piano sized keyboard. This is what you want. All models will boast keys that are standard piano size. The best of the "fully weighted" keyboards do not rely on any sort of springs or stretch bands to work right. They are based only on an extremly smooth arrangement of mechanical levers, with very specific geometries, and placements of a lead or steel slug in the right position. Add gravity and you get a "feel" that is, for all intents and purposes, EXACTLY like that of a grand piano. Units such as these can be had NEW, for "street prices" of roughly $750. up to well over $2000. depending on features and the sounds provided. But even at the low end, any one of them will have a "grand piano" sound that will be uncannily accurate. Certainly some better than others. In addition, you'll need a suitable musical instrument amplifier; figure another $250. – $400. to be able to hear the thing. As an alternative to a single amp, you can use a pair of active (self-powered) recording studio monitors. A decent pair can be had for $400. – $600. By going stereo like this, you spread the sound wider and provide a more realistic presentation of the sound. Many of the keyboards have stereo outputs and the sound is configured so that the lower notes are stronger on the left side, with the higher notes on the right, which is the same presentation as a real piano.
There are also full "digital pianos" available from some of the same companies as the more professionally intended (more portable)keyboards just described. They have everything already configured with an internal amplifier, loudspeakers typically in a panel below the keyboard, and having what is probably a somewhat more asthetically pleasing appearance for permanent placement in a family room or den. Just ask to be shown that they have all the same ESSENTIAL characteristics as the pro keyboards; fully weighted keys for an action that feels like a real piano, and top level sound that is hard to differentiate from a real piano. Not impossible, just very hard. The prices should be in the same range as the pro keyboards. By limiting the available sounds to a few variations of piano, electric piano, and maybe a couple of good organ or "synth" sounds, and far less control features than the pro units, they're able to easily make up the cost difference of the included amp and better asthetics. But admittedly, they are FAR less versatile. It just depends on what's more important to you.
What you DO NOT need, is one of the very expensive pro keyboards that classify as digital sound "workstations". These are not only what is there in a pro keyboard, but also contain circuitry and features to do multi-track recording and mixing right there on the keyboard. Unless the potential student is already quite advanced and may be able to take advantage of these features to record their own multiple part tracks, this type of instrument would be a LOT of money for features and capabilities not really needed.
As a last possible alternative, but one that is truly EXCITING, you can get a fully weighted
88 note keyboard, that is strictly something called a MIDI controller keyboard. It has NO sound generation capability of its own. A good quality MIDI controller keyboard, with no sound "engine" can be had for as little as $250. – $400. You then interface the keyboard to a regular desktop or laptop computer via a MIDI interface device added to the computer (maybe $40. or $50. for a VERY good one with no more than 2 MIDI channels, 2 in's & 2 out's, even 1 channel is all that's really necessary, but the cost saving isn't that great versus 2 channel, and if a need for another channel arises, you're covered). The "sounds" to be made are now available as digitally "sampled" libraries in the form of software packages that are loaded to the computer. Actually, the power of personal computers these days is such that even a "budget" desktop or laptop computer would easily be up to the task. The one important factor is that a suitably fast and powerful "sound card" must be used. This is not really an issue with Macs. The native audio processing used in the Mac operating system OSX and onward, is known as "Audio Units" or just AU for short. It is very well up to the task at hand with no further modifications required. On Windows PC's, it is EXTREMELY important to get a sound card that has a dedicated, custom written "driver" (the specific software that controls the interface of a peripheral system to the computer's central processor) that uses a protocol known as ASIO (A)udio (S)treaming (I)nput & (O)utput. This is a proprietary protocol that was developed by the Steinberg Co. of Germany, that completely bypasses the rather cumbersome Windows MultiMedia interface processing and provides a far more direct path between audio signaling and the computer central processor. NOTE: most of the VERY common "SoundBlaster" and "Audigy" sound cards by Creative Labs DO NOT use ASIO. These soundcards, or generic clones of them, have become an almost universal standard on PC's. They're GREAT for computer "gaming", and heavy-duty 3D sound FX, but definitely SUCK for this application. What happens is that the "latency" (for this purpose, the time between striking a key, and hearing the note sounded) becomes uncomfortably long. Ranging from 50 or a 100 milliseconds up to as much as 750 ms which is 3/4 of a second. Imagine trying to effectively play a piano when each note you play isn't heard until 3/4 of a second after you press the key!! It's pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to deal with. The good news is that a perfectly adequete 2 channel (stereo) ASIO capable sound card can be had for as little as $60. – $75. And if you (or your kids) also want to do a lot of gaming on the same computer, in most instances, an ASIO based sound card can be installed along with a (likely already existing) SoundBlaster type, and the appropriate card can be set up for each required application. But it does take a reasonable bit of technical expertise; so if that does not describe you, let the service dept. of the computer dealer where you buy the card set it up for you, and make sure they know what you plan to do with it.
With this last approach, you still need either an amp, or the pair of studio monitors previously mentioned. Stay away from trying to run the thing through even great quality computer sound systems, or home stereo systems. These are just not typically robust enough to handle the huge dynamic range often created by a musical instrument being played live.
Then, with this last approach, the REAL excitement starts. Though you can get sound sample software that is VERY inexpensive, and sounds quite good, you can also get some really SUPERB sound sets for $200. – $500. that are so fantastic, you find it hard to believe what you're hearing. The $200. price point is typical for single instruments like perhaps a grand piano. Actually, the piano softwares will typically contain sounds for 3 or 4 "best in the world" concert grand pianos. Like maybe a Steinway Model D, or a Bosendorfer Imperial Grand D290, a Bechstein 280, and perhaps some unique upright piano for good measure. The sound software packages are available from companies like Native Instruments (Germany), IK MultiMedia (Italy), and EastWest Sounds (US) among others. You could then load a program that is a near PERFECT emulation of a Hammond B3 organ, or any one of the many Moog Synthesizers. You can even get a program that puts all the sounds of all the instruments of an entire symphony orchestra at your fingertips. The full orchestral programs are the ones that start pushing the $500. and up range. But once you're comfortable with using a setup like this, and providing you've got a sufficient quality playback monitoring system, you'll be nothing short of AMAZED at the sounds you can play in your own home.
You may even be sparking the creative fire of the next Mozart, or Paul McCartney, or Kanye West. But no matter what, if music runs deep in your soul, you'll sure be having a lot of fun.
This is one of the best blogs I’ve read for a long time. I’d recommend using online lessons first and then maybe using a real teacher once your child gets better.
As mentioned in a previous reply to this article, there are lots of resources online that can help you to gain sufficient skills for playing the piano. However, its important to note that you should be aware of all the useless resources and pick a place where the lessons have proven themselves time and time again!