Thoughts on Piano Recitals

This time, I will write about my thoughts on my third-year junior high school daughter Lily's final piano recital.

This is as dry as an Asahi Super Dry beer

Having watched six recitals over ten years, from the 20-second piece "Butterfly" she played as a kindergartner to the final grand finale, a Chopin Ballade lasting over ten minutes, I would like to write about these "piano recitals" from as objective a perspective as possible.
What exactly is a Reiwa-era piano recital?
I hope those who wonder this will read on.

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◇ Choose a music school by watching their recital

The piano school my daughter attends is a typical local "privately-run piano school." She started in her final year of kindergarten, so she has been attending for ten years now. Her first recital was a few months after she joined, and as I wrote above, she played "Butterfly." When I heard all the other students' pieces there, I thought,

I'm glad we chose this piano school

The level of the students was high for a piano school that doesn't aim for music college. There were upper-elementary students playing Chopin waltzes, junior high students playing etudes, and even a few high school students. Honestly, I thought that once you reach this level, playing the piano must be fun.
"Can my daughter do this too?"
I didn't know yet at that time.

◇ Piano playing improves with every recital

My daughter hasn't always loved the piano.
Honestly, seeing that she hadn't improved much even after three years, I told her many times, "Why don't you just quit?" My daughter also said, "I'll quit at the next recital." When she had made that decision to quit, the piece the teacher suggested for the recital was,

Debussy's "Arabesque"

It is a very famous piece that everyone has heard at least once.

For my daughter, who could only play pieces around the level of Burgmüller at the time she was in fourth grade, this piece was highly difficult, and she practiced it for over half a year.

Then, when she finally took on the recital, although the tempo was slightly slow, there were no noticeable mistakes, and it felt like she had truly played it through to the end.
When I said, "Good job. You worked hard," she replied,
"Mom, I really worked hard. Ah, the recital was so much fun. Can I continue piano a little longer? I want to try playing many, many more pieces."

I felt that was the moment she overcame a major hurdle in piano.
I suspect the teacher could see this hurdle and intentionally chose a difficult piece for my daughter to play.

Since then, my daughter became positive about the piano, and by the time she was in sixth grade, she could play Chopin, and by her first year of junior high, she could play Brahms.

◇ The mother's role

Having watched six recitals over ten years,

I can tell they are being forced by their parents

I have seen many children who I thought, "They are being forced by their parents."
Usually, those children don't show up at the next recital. Even if they continue, perhaps because they aren't focused on practice, they stumble and make mistakes throughout the recital, which is quite painful to listen to. (Sorry for being harsh.)

Maybe the mother used to take piano lessons and wanted her child to do the same, or maybe having a child take piano lessons is a status symbol for the parent, or they say things like, "The child said they wanted to do it, I'm not forcing them at all!" A recital is a place where you can see such ego from the mothers.

Sorry for going beyond harsh to being sharp-tongued, sweat.

I never once interfered with my daughter's piano, but I made one promise.

"If you are going to continue, you must practice every day. If you don't want to do that, then quit."

Taking lessons without practicing is disrespectful to the teacher, and above all, it is a waste of money.
My daughter kept that promise, and no matter what happened—whether it was playing or club activities—she continued to face the piano every single day, even if only for 10 or 20 minutes.

If you want your child to continue playing the piano, it seems best for the mother to take a stance of not interfering at all and leaving everything to the teacher.

◇ The child is the star of the duet

In Reiwa-era recitals, it is mainstream to play classical pieces in the first part and jazz or popular songs in the second part, and "parent-child duets" are often recommended.
I once performed a duet twice myself, but as my daughter's level improved, the level of the duet naturally rose as well, and since my presbyopia is quite bad, I decided against a third time.

"Parent-child duet"Here, too, the mother interferes again.

From here on, please enjoy a conversation between a mother and daughter who once performed a "parent-child duet." (It's quite sharp, lol)

"There were mothers who were interfering during the duets, weren't there?"
"Yeah, there were. There were definitely two pairs."
"Like, even though they were the accompaniment, their sound was way too loud."
"Right, even though they should have kept the volume down since the bass resonates."
"And the tempo kept getting faster, too."
"Exactly, the sound was too loud and the tempo was too fast, it was unbearable to listen to."
"The star is the child, so what's up with that?"
"Haha, it can't be helped. They're just getting carried away, trying to show off their old skills."
"Seriously, that was unlistenable."
"Yeah. And then, during the final bow."
"The mother's smug look!"
"That's a staple of recitals, isn't it? Everything, including the mother's smug look, is part of the recital."
"I see. Mom, you say such wise things."
"That's right! How many years do you think I've been watching?"
"I've been watching other kids besides my own, too."
"Of course, it would be a waste not to."

If I write any more, I won't be able to stop, so I'll leave it here lol
(Please note that there were also parent-child pairs who played wonderful duets...)

Sorry for being so long-winded and sounding arrogant.
I wrote this because the 10 years of piano recitals were so much fun.

My daughter's piano journey was supposed to end here, but...

"I still want to try playing pieces like 'Fantaisie-Impromptu' or 'Moonlight,' and it's hard to break the habit of playing piano every day, so maybe I'll continue for a little longer?"

W-wait, you're still continuing?

It seems that for my daughter, the piano has become a way to "relieve stress" and "take a break," so I don't think it's a bad idea for her to practice in between studying for entrance exams, and I will continue to watch over her for a while longer.

I ended up being too harsh because I thought she was quitting, oops.