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Background Experiences That Can Make Piano Lessons Easier

7 October 2021 by Ava Bailey

If you're thinking of taking beginning-level piano lessons as an adult, you may wonder whether it will be an uphill battle since you don't have much (or any) previous piano experience. However, you may have other experiences that could mean you can catch on more quickly than you think.

Here are some ways that your past could make beginning piano lessons easier.

1. Childhood piano lessons

Even if you don't consciously remember anything from your childhood piano lessons, they could still help you learn the piano as an adult. Early childhood is an important time for brain development, and musical experiences during that time may help develop your brain in a way that can improve your future capacity to become a musician. So you could have an improved ability to perform coordinated movements, allowing you to progress more quickly through piano lessons.

2. Playing another instrument or singing

Any prior or current musical experience with playing any instrument (or singing) can help when you start to take lessons on another instrument, such as piano. Some of the skills and experience that could transfer from these other instruments include:

• Having fine motor skills
• Reading music
• Knowing musical scales and harmonies
• Determining whether you're playing the right note
• Hearing the note in your head before playing it

You may have some of these abilities even if your only musical experience is singing in choir in school. So if you have any previous musical experience, be sure to let your piano teacher know so they can tailor your piano lessons to you.

3. Listening to music

Even if you have no experience with singing or playing any instruments, you can still develop some musical skills just by listening closely to different types of music. For example, listening to music on a daily basis can help you train your ear to distinguish between different notes, different harmonies, and different instruments. You can then use these skills in your piano lessons.

4. Dancing

Moving to the beat, as dancers do, is extremely important when you take piano lessons. And if you have that mastered, you can spend your piano lessons focusing on things like technique, music reading, and harmony. 

A history of dance is also helpful for beginning piano students because dance requires you to quickly memorize combinations, holding them in your short-term memory as you dance them out. During piano lessons, you often have to look up at your music to see the next few notes, then down at the keyboard as you play. So holding patterns and combinations in your short-term memory is a skill that you can use when you take lessons.

As you can see, your past experiences could help you to learn piano playing more quickly and easily once you start taking piano lessons. Your piano teacher can help adapt the lessons to your past and present experiences in order to capitalize on your strengths so you can make rapid progress. 

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