Piano Forum

Hello Piano Street,

I'm new here, in fact it's my first time ever posting, so please bear with me if my post is not in the right form, or if my question is not a good one. I am a parent of a young piano student, and I myself don't play any instrument or have any musical background, so I may sound naïve. My son, age 9, has been studying piano seriously for 2 years now. We love his teacher and think she is wonderful for his growth, both technique and musicality. We have been told that my son is quite talented. The teacher does not follow a set curriculum (no specific beginner books), and does not have her students participate in any assessments or exams (she does have her students participate in regular recitals). So, naturally, I wonder if my son's progress is adequate. So my question is - where does one expect a child to be after 2 years of study? Is my son doing well, average, below average? That said, I do understand that everyone progresses at their own pace and there's no one path.

My son is good at note reading and deciphering new pieces, first separate hands, then together. He is still working on his technique (and patience!) and his ability to memorize the pieces as he is learning them (he relies a little too much on note reading). His recent pieces include Beethoven's Sonatina in Gmajor, Ecossaise, Kabalevsky's Clowns, Maykapar's Lullaby, and Schumann's Soldier's March, among others. The Clowns and Soldier's March were easy for him; he was able to learn them in about a week each (by learn them I mean playing by memory with the right strokes, etc.). Lullaby and Sonatina are about the right level of challenge, they require several weeks of work each. His summer homework includes Bach Little Prelude in Cminor and Chopin Waltz in A minor, and I would guess both are fairly challenging for him. In addition to those, he is also working on Czerny etudes (the simpler ones) and scales (Cmajor, Gmajor) in 16s.

Thanks in advance!