Part 1: The Journey and the Goal with Music Lessons: Setting Expectations, Knowing Your ‘Why’ and “How long does it take to be ‘good’ at music”?
“How long does it take to learn to play the piano, flute, or really any instrument to a point where one is ‘good’ at it?”
Many students and parents of students in music lessons ask this question at some point in time. There’s really not a simple answer. First of all, what do you mean by ‘good’? Good is a very general term that could encompass a wide range of meanings. ‘Good’ is subjective to the person asking the question. When I get asked this question as a teacher, I first of all seek to get a student or parent to more specifically articulate what ‘good’ means to them. For me, as a professional musician, ‘good’ means something that it most likely doesn’t mean for the majority of others taking lessons currently. Not everyone wants to reach the same level and I am of the strong opinion that is okay! Despite my own level of playing, I don’t believe one has to become a professional musician to be good at music or to enjoy playing an instrument.
Clarify your goals. Whatever ‘good’ means to you, an important step to reaching that level is to clarify what your goals are and to understand your ‘why’. When clarifying your goals it is important to ask whether your goals are achievable and realistic. To determine whether your goals are achievable and realistic in studying a musical instrument means that you really need to understand some things about the journey that a typical musician takes to develop their craft. If you don’t understand that journey at all, you might have unrealistic expectations. Having unrealistic expectations might mean that you don’t persevere long enough to achieve your goal. Another really important question to ask yourself when setting out on this journey is whether being ‘good’ at music is a goal that will sustain you through what the journey to ‘good’ requires. So, maybe a bigger and more significant question to consider that relates to your goal of being ‘good’ at music is your ‘Why?’
Why study music? I don’t mean ‘Is it worth it?’ I mean, why do you want to study music? (If you have never explored the question ‘What is your why?’ then I recommend that you do a search for ‘know your why’ - not specifically related to music, but for you to gain understanding about motivation that leads to perseverance).
There are lots of valid reasons to study music and lots of great “Why’s”, however I am not going to get into those very much here. What I want to do is share with you some of what I know out of my own experience as a professional musician about what it takes to get to the level I have, and that many of my peers who would be considered ‘good’ at music by most standards have. I didn’t develop as a musician in isolation. Rather, I grew up alongside other developing musicians, and went to college with them, and now many of us are professional musicians in a variety of settings.
There is a lot written on the internet about the topic of “How long does it take to learn to play the piano?” If you search out there, remember that everyone writing online has a target audience and their answers and advice may or may not be relevant to you. Are they writing about children or adults studying music? Is the writer selling something and hoping to entice you to buy their product?
Besides sharing my own point of view here, I will also share some things that other professional musicians and teachers have written. I hope to show you that there is some consensus out there in the music world as to what kind of time and commitment is really involved with reaching various levels of skill at an instrument. There’s a lot to learn!
“How long does it take to learn to play the piano?”
When I hear this question in my studio, whether from an adult student or a parent of a student, I always think about the image of the musical ‘child prodigy’ that is collectively embedded in our culture’s mind, especially when we think about children and music. But very few musicians started off as that kind of prodigy and even the lucky few who are prodigies still have to put in years of hard work with hours of practice, and they are certainly highly motivated (I hope intrinsically!) Does that mean everyone else shouldn’t bother with studying music? Surely not! You can easily search online to find lots of reasons to play an instrument, and at a heart level, if you want to do it, then you know it is worthwhile. But, it is valid in some ways to wonder whether the time and money that you invest into musical study is going to get you or your child to a specific level or goal and to wonder about in what sort of time-frame is that likely to happen.
Reaching your ‘good’ within a certain time frame has a lot of variables to it that are going to be really individual, so ultimately, no one can precisely pin down a time-frame for you or your child’s musical skill to blossom. However, I can give you some picture of what this road has looked like for many others and point you to some others who I believe have written useful and accurate things on this topic.
Before I dive into just a little bit of the answer to the question of ‘How long does it take?’ as relates to playing the piano (or another instrument), I would encourage you to think about ‘how long’ it takes to learn other things.
Some really good things to compare learning to play an instrument to would be 1) Learning to read as a child 2) Learning another language at any age to the point of fluency 3) Learning to play a sport with excellence 4) Learning math – if you haven’t learned basic math, algebra would not be possible. If you don’t know algebra, then calculus isn’t something that you can just jump in and do.
Music learning works the same way as learning in other subject areas and also has many parallels to sports.
I believe that it is generally accepted in the music world that to play at an advanced level it more than likely takes at least ten years worth of study with teachers and then additional diligent on-your-own practice. If you are a beginner at something - anything - not just music, I don’t think it is realistic to expect that you are going to become ‘good’ at whatever that is without some sustained time and effort. It’s also worth noting that while time and effort are requirements to learn an instrument, pros at any activity (not just music) probably didn’t start off at a young age intensely diving into their interest area for hours on end, sustaining that with unbroken intensity. It is more common that study ebbs and flows over the course of years before one becomes ‘good’ at something, and that the journey will include longer hours spent practicing as one matures.
We need a realistic view of the road to mastery and an understanding of which part of that journey you are in. Most people will enter into a more intense time commitment towards a goal in some sort of a curve. There can be real interest in a subject area before a person becomes dedicated to mastering it. I believe this is frequently the case with musical study. As we grow as people in all ways – developing greater capacity cognitively, emotionally, socially and physically - we grow in the capacity to pour ourselves into the intense study of any particular subject. I state this obvious point because I think it’s easy to burn out (or give up) in the early stages of learning music if the length of time for the journey is not kept in mind or if we have an unrealistic expectation about the amount of time we (or a child) needs to spend practicing - over the course of years - to arrive at a certain level of playing. Then it is important to note again that the amount of time we expect to spend practicing really also needs to be set in context. Time spent practicing needs to correlate to the whole of a person’s development cognitively, emotionally, socially and physically. It is especially important to remember that no child, and no quality in a teacher, is going to outpace something that is developmental, and to remember that all children develop at different rates in different areas.
This is why for beginner students or parents of children in music lessons, the most important thing to do is to cultivate a love of music while at the same time cultivating a positive attitude that you CAN do this! We need to give ourselves grace and be patient with our growth and ability to play music ourselves. We need to recognize that for most people the journey to play an instrument at even an intermediate level takes quite a bit of time and isn’t a straight path forward. It’s going to have ups and downs. But we can also inspire ourselves and our children to continue on this journey by developing a love of music that will sustain the journey.
I believe that music is valuable. I believe in that inherent value aside from what proofs the science community is giving us about that through various fields of research (including education, neuroscience, medicine, early childhood development, psychology and more). I believe music is valuable to humans, and that ALL people will benefit from participation in music and experience greater flourishing in life due to that participation …when the study of music is approached appropriately for that person. Not all people are going to play an instrument to the same level, for any number of reasons (including the amount of time it takes and one’s ability to sustain that commitment) and THAT’S OKAY! It’s still worth participating in music to whatever extent you can!
Below are some quotes from other online sources about ‘how long’ it takes to learn to play the piano. You’ll start to notice some consensus around my statement that musicians generally accept that it takes at least ten years of diligent study to arrive at an advanced level of playing. I chose these sources because I see that their answers correspond to what I know from my own journey, which started with private lessons at age seven on the piano and led on through two degrees in flute performance. During my college studies, I was alongside many others studying music or who already had careers in music. I am still in touch with other professional musicians today and most of us are continuing with professional development in music on through our adult years. My own journey parallels the journey of most others I know in the music field, which includes personally having spent about ten years in music departments in academia, in more than one state in the U.S. (The Ohio State University, University of Minnesota, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, University of Arkansas and Ecclesia College to be precise), first as a student and then as faculty and then also performing professionally including for a season with a paid professional orchestra on the flute. (I have been alongside a LOT of other ‘good’ musicians!) Ten years of study to reach an ‘advanced’ level is a long time! But the advanced level is not the only level at which it is truly satisfying to play an instrument and derive many of the benefits of playing an instrument. I am focusing here on the piano, however most instruments will require a parallel amount of time to master.
From the Hoffman Academy (founded by a pianist):
“The real answer to “How long does it take to learn the piano?” is: it depends!
First of all, the amount of time required for learning to play the piano depends on what level of playing you want to achieve. A person with no experience can learn to play the melody of a short song in minutes.
If you want to be a professional classical performer, you’re looking at a minimum of 10 to 15 years of concentrated study with a master teacher, and hours of practice every day. Most people who want to learn piano to play for their own enjoyment can get great results within three to five years of study and practice.”
From: https://www.hoffmanacademy.com/blog/how-long-will-it-take-to-learn-the-piano/
*Please note if you read at the above link, that Piano Safari, Faber, Wunderkeys and many other good piano methods are not set up in 10 grades. Every method is set up differently.
From Cheri Sykes (she’s a pianist with a great bio, if you want to know who is saying this go to the link below and read her bio!)
…“learning this skill is a JOURNEY that takes years. In this age of instant gratification, learning piano is rather counter-cultural.”
“My hope for every piano student is to reach intermediate level skill. "
“How long does it take to reach intermediate level? Of course, this is highly dependent on the student, and consistency with home practice, but here are some generalities. For a child beginning in the primary grades 1-3, intermediate level is reached in the early teen years. It can be a process of about 6-9 years.
Starting in the primary grades 1-3, after three years of lessons, a young student typically will be a solid elementary player, able to play simpler music with both hands. The student will retain a knowledge of the rudiments of music, which can be a foundation later if the student starts another instrument, or sings in a choir.
…In my experience, very little is retained long-term with only one year of lessons.
So, learning piano is a long journey.”
From: https://cherisykes.com/how-long-should-my-child-take-piano-lessons/ Emphasis in bold added by me.
From Pianotv founder Allysia Van Betuw (who has a lot of focus on adults):
“How long does it really take to learn piano?” In the 10 or so years I’ve been teaching, this topic is one of the most misunderstood, especially by adult students. The short answer is: A long damn time. Longer than you think. Many assume you can spend time casually learning piano for six months and be good to go – but that amount of the time barely scratches the surface.”
…"Two popular systems of measuring piano ability levels are the RCM, popular here in Canada, and ABRSM. The RCM uses grade levels, 1 through 10, and assuming it takes the average person 1 year per grade, you can expect to spend about 10 years getting to one of the highest skill levels, grade 10 (roughly equivalent to ABRSM level 8). Teenagers and adults might move a little faster than this pace, but as usual, it all comes down to how much time you’re willing to commit.”
My hope in writing this blog post is to help students, and parents of students, to be better equipped to set appropriate expectations for the results of musical study. I hope this also helps both groups of readers to consider whether their practice expectations are realistic for the current stage of the musical journey that they are on and their goals. It’s important to consider both our goals and what it takes to reach those goals, because our vision of the process can really be a large contributing factor in one’s overall success or failure at working towards the level of playing that is ‘good’ to you. Setting appropriate goals and expectations, as well as knowing your ‘why’, and then understanding what lies along the road to reach those goals, including how long it takes overall and what should practice look like at each stage are important parts of sustaining the journey and getting the maximum benefit from participation in musical study.
I hope that these quotes from other teachers, my sharing a bit of my educational philosophy about music study in the context of human development, and knowing some facts from my own journey on the path to musical excellence, all help you to understand this journey a bit more, and to appreciate each step along the way as a valuable step of its own. (“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”)
Follow my blog for more insights about music study and specifically on the topic of ‘how long does it take’ as I plan to write more on this topic.
Best wishes for your musical flourishing!
Christine, FFMS Owner/Teacher
