The Biggest Investment

Not my piano. . . my student's piano.

Bill and I bought a new car. I'm in a bit of buyer's remorse. I've only had a couple new cars my whole life and it's always a really big deal. Did we make the right choice? Will it be a good value? Will I still like it in five years?

It's just a car.

The Fall semester is starting and the families are returning to lessons and tuition is due. I ask for the sixteen lesson semester's tuition in one or two installments.  It's due at the first lesson of the semester.  Then I don't have to be chasing around collecting checks all semester and we can focus on the music.

I raised my tuition this Fall. Four percent. Believe it or not I'm still about 30% cheaper than Suzuki Piano Lessons at MacPhail in Minneapolis. At MacPhail you get a beautiful building and performance space and a lovely community, but there are also some administrative costs. I'm my own secretary. . . and banker. . and everything else. . . there are trade-offs.

Like MacPhail, I have expenses. Piano tuning. Office supplies. Self employment taxes. Childcare. And there are many, many days of my time for meetings and graduations and festivals and recitals that all have to fit into that tuition payment.

I was reflecting on some of the families in my studio and how much money they have invested in their children's piano lessons over the years. Thousands of dollars.

Did they make the right choice? Was it a good value? Will they be glad they played the piano in five years?  Will they have buyer's remorse?

I feel a tremendous responsibility to these families. When all is said and done they better have a child that can play the piano very well!  Of course they have a responsibility too. They have to practice. A child can learn to play the piano by showing up at the lesson every week and never practicing at home, but it takes a very very long time.

Whether they practice or not, no matter how fast or slow they learn, it is a big investment.

It's not a car or a piano or a house or a boat or a cabin.
It's a child. The potential of a child.

The real investment? The biggest investment? The investment with the highest return?

Your time at the piano with your child.
You get--a kid who plays piano really well.
You get--to know yourself and your child very intimately.

I can't put a dollar amount on that.
Best wishes on the new semester, and thank you to all my families for your investment in your children and in my studio.