Piano Forum

I find it extremely hard to think about learning in terms of how long it takes to get there. ... I don't feel justified in giving ... time estimates.

How do others here do it?

Yes you need realistic goals and achieve them within a noticable timeline but that has nothing to do with the question "how long does it take to get there". This seems to me to be a long term goal question but if there is no direction as to how to get there and an understanding that the direction may change and follow a pathway which the student can manage, the student will often be trapped in their thinking and eventually give up. They should be able to answer that for themselves as they get on with a lot of work. It is a trap question and if answered from your perspective rather than their own realization it can add mental obstacles in their way.

I have found students who think like this on a surface level only never progress as effectively as they could. They are so focused on how good they are overall getting every moment they study, it is a bad distraction. It is like watching water boil or bread being toasted, you mentally waste energy waiting for something to happen where you could use that time to focus working to get there.

You can prove to a student their progress after a number of months studying with them, just go back to someone that you studied with them earlier on and it should be done much easier than the first time they tried it. Reviewing ideas and making them more solid also a clear path for them to become more familiar with the piano and gain more confidence in problem solving and coordination.

I encourage my students simply to "get on with the job" and not compare themselves too much. The personal music journey each person takes is different, some people might start out playing the piano dreaming to play very high level music but that may never be possible for them, so they must learn to change their perspectives and find a pathway which is just as enjoyable and actually possible for them to live in. Most people who start out at the piano really don't know where they will end up, they may have some idea where they would like to go but it isn't that easy to achieve for the vast majority. As a teacher you can help them overcome a lot of hurdles, clear the way for them so they can take that journey. It is just no good looking at a dense uncleared forest and then estimating how long it will take for them to make it through, we don't even know what direction they will take, we don't even know if they can hack dealing with the work loads. So just tell them to get on with the job, dreaming about long term goals is fun and inspiring but you really need to come back down to reality and deal with the work that you need to master now.