To the point: 17yo teen hot on the trail of pursuing his dreams in modern music - probably in production. Dad working hard to keep up with him in a foreign world and launch him well in general. I (dad) would be interested in some thoughts from professionals (defined as those actually making a comfortable living solely from music) on our latest hot topic.
Hot topic: piano lessons. I want him to finish well and have the benefit of some solid foundational piano skills in his career. Son does not see the point in spending time doing anything that he determines isn't directly and immediately relatable to his current vision.
So what do you pros think? Is there anything for my son in continuing traditional piano lessons considering the type of music career he's pursuing? He only has one more year of lessons. (He is planning on striking out at 18 yo). I am looking for wisdom from pros and the types of things that they wish they had done to prepare for their career. I am here to get those kinds of nuggets that might be useful to my son.
While I'm always open to it, I'm not really here for parenting advice. Nor am I here to show something to my son from a future peer and say hey, told you so. I am here for anything encouraging that can be offered from people who've been there, done that. The same type of help that I would give a youngster coming up in IT today (which I do on a daily basis as an employer now). Frankly if the responses to this come back as traditional piano being a waste of time, with a reasonable explanation attached, I very well might reconsider my position.
Dad: I'm a 50+yo, IT pro, trail blazed myself when I was 14 yo and no one knew what a PC was. Started my business at 16 yo. Partnered with my Dad for 17 years. My business is now at 35 years and has been successful. I never attended college. My dad taught me the hard topics well (discipline, diligence, business, sales, etc.) I would characterize my run as a great ride but I do not recommend it to the faint hearted. Why does this matter? To establish that I am not a stranger to the non-traditional career style my son is about to step into. I believe he has what it takes but I don't think he quite realizes what a tough row it will be. But that's OK.
Son: 17 yo. His granddad was very musically talented (professionally). Apparently it skipped me in favor of my son. Son has the talent, creativity and grit to make things happen. I'm not concerned about that. I am concerned about him being too imbalanced toward those things and not having enough structure and discipline - the dirty words. The trick has been to give him some practical skills he will need without messing up his momentum or driving him away.
Son started with beats and is now producing more complex sounds, loop kits, etc. He has developed his hardware/software and skills well over the past couple of years. He's running around 40K+ YouTube subscribers. He has done collaborations on a small scale. A few of my rules/goals have been for him to not monetize yet, build his brand, teach him about intellectual property law, and business topics, prepare financially to convert his tools to professionally licensed versions.
As far as piano, he's only been playing for just under 2 years and plays highly complex pieces at the top of his class. While there's no doubt about the talent being there, at the same time it is quite easy to see the foundational holes - narrow style selections, lack of sight reading, issues with remembering pieces a month later, etc.
Thanks for reading. Any thoughtful responses mean a lot to both of us. And maybe they can be helpful to others also.
Hot topic: piano lessons. I want him to finish well and have the benefit of some solid foundational piano skills in his career. Son does not see the point in spending time doing anything that he determines isn't directly and immediately relatable to his current vision.
So what do you pros think? Is there anything for my son in continuing traditional piano lessons considering the type of music career he's pursuing? He only has one more year of lessons. (He is planning on striking out at 18 yo). I am looking for wisdom from pros and the types of things that they wish they had done to prepare for their career. I am here to get those kinds of nuggets that might be useful to my son.
While I'm always open to it, I'm not really here for parenting advice. Nor am I here to show something to my son from a future peer and say hey, told you so. I am here for anything encouraging that can be offered from people who've been there, done that. The same type of help that I would give a youngster coming up in IT today (which I do on a daily basis as an employer now). Frankly if the responses to this come back as traditional piano being a waste of time, with a reasonable explanation attached, I very well might reconsider my position.
Dad: I'm a 50+yo, IT pro, trail blazed myself when I was 14 yo and no one knew what a PC was. Started my business at 16 yo. Partnered with my Dad for 17 years. My business is now at 35 years and has been successful. I never attended college. My dad taught me the hard topics well (discipline, diligence, business, sales, etc.) I would characterize my run as a great ride but I do not recommend it to the faint hearted. Why does this matter? To establish that I am not a stranger to the non-traditional career style my son is about to step into. I believe he has what it takes but I don't think he quite realizes what a tough row it will be. But that's OK.
Son: 17 yo. His granddad was very musically talented (professionally). Apparently it skipped me in favor of my son. Son has the talent, creativity and grit to make things happen. I'm not concerned about that. I am concerned about him being too imbalanced toward those things and not having enough structure and discipline - the dirty words. The trick has been to give him some practical skills he will need without messing up his momentum or driving him away.
Son started with beats and is now producing more complex sounds, loop kits, etc. He has developed his hardware/software and skills well over the past couple of years. He's running around 40K+ YouTube subscribers. He has done collaborations on a small scale. A few of my rules/goals have been for him to not monetize yet, build his brand, teach him about intellectual property law, and business topics, prepare financially to convert his tools to professionally licensed versions.
As far as piano, he's only been playing for just under 2 years and plays highly complex pieces at the top of his class. While there's no doubt about the talent being there, at the same time it is quite easy to see the foundational holes - narrow style selections, lack of sight reading, issues with remembering pieces a month later, etc.
Thanks for reading. Any thoughtful responses mean a lot to both of us. And maybe they can be helpful to others also.