A question I get a lot when I have students interested in both guitar and piano is,
"Which instrument should they learn first?"
In my studio, the answer is actually often, "Both!"
How does that work?!
Well, for one, it does not mean you need to immediately purchase both instruments, and it does not mean that students have to take two different lessons. What it does mean is that the student has a special opportunity to explore: taking a hybrid lesson featuring both instruments!
Since I know and teach both guitar and piano, your child can benefit from crossing musical concepts from one instrument to the other with the same teacher, within the same lesson. Since the piano, keyboard, guitars and ukuleles are all in the same studio space, this makes it very easy to switch from one instrument to the other.
Here, students are welcome to explore an instrument even if it's not their primary. Nothing is "off limits". Thus, we can do hybrid lessons, even if it's just one time (say, a piano student who is curious about guitar one day), in which your child would learn two instruments instead of just one.
When the student gets to explore these instruments, over the course of time they may realize they gravitate toward one more than the other. And that should be their main instrument. (This does not mean they can't still play the other!)
Some might think that learning two instruments could be confusing, or perhaps limit learning. But learning two instruments doesn't hinder musical learning, it expands its possibilities. Students can begin to understand the difference between communicating in the language of music and mastering the physical techniques of each instrument.
We explore every musical corner we can, and leave no stone unturned.
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