Anyone ever STOP the piano lesons?

[freestyler]

Has anyone here ever opted to stop the music lessons? I'm feeling burned out on helping the little guys practice, after 5+ years of lessons. And I'm SO tired of spending the money, too, when finances are really a disaster right now. $400 a month, ouch! (Two kids taking a lesson every week.)

I worry about regretting stopping the lessons down the road, I worry about their wasted gifts (they are wonderful at it and sometimes love it), I worry about letting go of the only thing we do that really really works and trains their minds in a great way. (We are unschoolers and aside from reading a lot, well, you know!) But I am so sick of trying to get them to practice, trying to fit in practicing in an already tight schedule, being house-bound part of every day (albeit not for long) because of practicing.

I dunno, I'm just stuck. I don't think much of taking a "break" from it, because that just translates into wasted and lost time, if they do go back to it. Either they keep going or they stop. The kids are 8 and 10, by the way. They don't really care either way, I asked them. But then, kids are not known for making long-term-ramification decisions at this age, either.

I'm so stuck and cannot decided what is right. The $$$ is a huge thing.

[3momkmb]

If it was me, the $$ was a big issue and the kids truly didn't care then I'd drop it.

[chfriend]

What would they love to be doing during lesson time? What gets them fired up?

[eclipse]

Is there anyway to reduce the number of lessons? It sounds like they already have a good background in it - do they need to go every single week? Maybe every other week, or even once a month, and less frequent practice. If you play, maybe you can do lessons for them when you have time to squeeze them in?

[Lillian J]

My son found it easy and was doing fine with little practice, but he really wasn't interested enough to bother practicing. So we just dropped it, and he never missed it. He took up violin, which also came easily to him, but he didn't maintain an interest in that either, so eventually dropped it too. In his late teens, he took up guitar, and never pursued that either. Then, as a young adult, he got interested in guitar and did pursue it, and I think that's a minor interest that will come and go in his life. My son's best buddy, on the other hand, was quite musically driven and spent a lot of his spare time just messing around with a piano - he got very good at it. And another of his best buddies pursued piano to the point where he got very good at it too, but he didn't retain an interest in it. I think it's really like anything else - playing an instrument is simply not going to be something everyone is particularly interested in. $400 a month could, as you realize, go a long way toward things they really are interested in. I have a friend who made her son take piano lessons until he was a teen and just couldn't bear anymore of it. He got good at it, but has not touched a piano since she let him quit, and he still resents the time he had to put into it. You're not forcing yours, I realize - I'm just saying that it's just not something that's all that important for a lot of people.

I, on the other hand, very much wanted to learn both violin and piano, by the way, and my parents couldn't be bothered to find a way to bring a beautiful upright grand to our home from the woman next door who wanted to give it to me, and they wouldn't spend less a pittance a month to rent a violin when I was offered free lessons. They loved to listen to music, but just didn't see any reason for me to learn to play it. As weird as that sounds, they weren't otherwise that weird about other things... - Lillian

[CharlieBrown]

I stopped my children's piano lessons for 10 months. It was a great decision for our family. They started again last fall with the same teacher and have progressed rapidly. All, including me, have a better attitude!

[Fuamami]

Wow! I can't believe how much they cost! Is that normal? Could you find someone who could do it for cheaper? A music student, or a retired lady? How long are their lessons? $200/week for four lessons...whoa. When I was a kid (in the 80s), it was $5/lesson.

[isaberg]

Around here, in our little town, there are several homeschooling families with older children (highschool & college age) that have started their own businesses teaching music lessons. And they are charging something in the range of $15 for a half-hour lesson. Or are there any colleges nearby with music students who might be willing to teach for a little extra cash? I know I would have practiced harder if I'd been working with a cool college student, rather than a cranky old man.

[LilMamiBella]

Wow, I thought $80 a month (for a weekly lesson and at 30 minutes) was a lot of money!

[beansricerevolt]

We've started a few different music lessons and dropped them.
DDs had piano, drums and guitar. Nothing has really interested her enough to keep up the lessons.
IMO $400 is ALOT to pay for lessons. We live in a pretty pricey area (Chicago) and my DH gives private lessons for Bass guitar. Both he and I think the $400 is alot to spend. We of course are assuming the weekly lesson is somewhere around an hour a week. right? If it were 2 hours, then I could see the $50 per lesson per child.
If your DC really want to pursue piano, I'd call around and see if you can find a cheaper rate. Look for a private teacher and I'd bet the fee would be cut by 30%.
Do you get a discount for your second child? If not, I think I'd ask about that.

[elizawill]

$400 a MONTH!!!! WOW!!! that is so steep! or i'm super poor - lol. i only pay $30 a month to a retired lady who is so gentle and kind to my dd. she is excellent! my dh gives private guitar lessons and he charges $30 a lesson, and i am floored how many people actually pay him that amount! $400 a month though - that is A LOT!

[chaos_pie]

Take a break. Then see how you all are feeling.

[Mama Shifra]

Originally Posted by chaos_pie

Take a break. Then see how you all are feeling.

Many people do take a summer break from music lessons, so this may be a good time to stop and see how much all of you really want lessons.

When my daughter wanted to learn guitar (a classmate learned, and she got it into her head that she wanted to learn too), we searched and searched for affordable lessons. We finally found a group lesson situation (it's the Childbloom Guitar method www.childbloom.com if anyone is interested), which is about $80 a month, with ocassional registration and book fees added). Since so many children take piano, you may have an even easier time finding a group piano class. Sometimes local recreation centers offer group piano classes, for example.

Good luck!
Shifra