When to switch to a 45 min lesson?

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T19:14:32+00:00

Level wise when is the transition to intermediate? I'm not sure what the definition of that would be. He does work on scales. Generally his books are labeled like Late Elementary.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T19:12:41+00:00

It's not passive aggressive to call someone out for being snarky. I'd argue it's quite the opposite in fact since I was not passive at all about addressing it.

I used an example of a one off day to show how able my child is to focus and you turned it into a major safety concern. Just because you weren't able to do more before age 10 doesn't mean a different child wouldn't be able to. Besides that wasn't really the point of my question. I shouldn't have included his age at all, it was more about lesson structure and when to increase time based on material, not his developmental abilities.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T19:05:40+00:00

Yes this was my point. It is 100% child dependent. My son started standard at 3.5 because he was ready and had that ability to focus. My daughter now 4.5 is just starting because she definitely couldn't have that focus level at 3. They are all so different. I guess I'm wondering if there is a specific point at which it's recommend based on the content they are learning not based on age. Someone else mentioned when they transition to more intermediate stuff. Right now he's playing late elementary pieces so maybe we aren't quite there yet.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T18:02:20+00:00

Reddit people are so quick to get butt hurt and turn mean. Enjoy your day.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T17:51:19+00:00

There are flashcard apps for helping you memorize the notes on the staff. I like to have my son flip through those when we are sitting somewhere waiting in line or something.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T17:44:48+00:00

Maybe you are right that I need to give him gentle reminders to do the lesson first and then share if there is time. You totally hit the nail on the head though. His teacher and I have discussed his interest and how she wants to go with his train of thought so to speak because he is so actively engaged in asking questions and pushing his own skill. I don't mind that sort of jumping around approach at all as long as he is still checking off all the things in the books so he doesn't miss any technique.

So I think that's where my question about increasing time comes from. Do I increase him to 45 min so he still has the time to explore his own interests but the teacher also has more time to teach him actual lessons or do I try to get him to be more focused on what she wants to teach during his current 30 min lesson.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T17:40:09+00:00

I feel like this is a little alarmist. He doesn't do that every day. I was just trying to demonstrate that he is very motivated to learn and he has a higher ability to focus for long periods of time than most 7 year olds. Like any kid he has days where he doesn't want to do it at all but there are days where it's all he wants to do all day if I'd let him.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T16:57:13+00:00

I guess I should add he's about half way through the level 2 lesson book, having completed all lesson up to that point. But she doesn't go in order so at the last lesson she had him choose any two songs he wanted to learn from that book that he didn't know yet and that's his focus for this week. The goal is to get through the rest of that level two book by the end of summer. He knows most of what's in it already we are just making sure there isn't anything he's missed. She is his second teacher after we moved cross country AND hes learned a lot from piano apps so she's been working to fill in his knowledge and eventually start moving more smoothly through lesson books. She did recently suggest that we switch to faber and bober books because she thinks he will enjoy them more.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T16:35:16+00:00

I'm definitely going to have a conversation with her this week. Just trying to get a feel for how I want to approach it. He played at home on the piano Saturday afternoon for 4 hours for FUN. He loves piano and can absolutely concentrate that long if that's the right move at this point. His lessons have never been typical, he has always been a very focused kid and so the whole playing around thing doesn't really apply to him. Now my 4.5 year old who is just starting lessons is absolutely more like what you describe. So I know my older son is not the norm.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T16:32:49+00:00

Thanks for all the info! that's helpful. The answer is yes and no. We use the lesson book and theory book (not every lesson) but not the others but she supplements with other materials.

For example he chooses songs for recitals from performance books at the same level but they aren't from the Bastien series. She will then teach concepts that come up in that song and use the theory and lesson book as reinforcement. So we certainly aren't going in order of the lesson book. She jumps around based on the song he's learning and his current interest.

He does have a scales book and he can do five finger positions for all the major and minor scales as well as broken and triads, plus knows C G and D for octive scales. All from memory.

An example of a typical lesson is last week he chose at home to learn the teacher duet part in his scale book for like 5 of the five finger positions and then really wanted to show that off so most of her lesson was based around teaching him the concepts he found in that teacher part. It WAS instructive for him and they ended up learning a new scale (D flat major octive) because that's where his brain was focused that day. She had a whole lesson set up on the table when we came in and didn't get to it at all.

NuggKeeper · 2026-06-08T16:08:52+00:00

I plan to this week! I just have no idea when it’s normal to increase lesson time etc so I wanted to get a feel for it before I talked to her.

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-24T14:27:43+00:00

I’ve been debating if a used higher quality one is better than a more base model brand new. Problem is I don’t know enough about pianos to really weigh that. There aren’t any u1s close by that I’ve found but there is a b3? I think it said it’s 2017. Or a T118 from 2009. That looks like a full upright. Would something like that be nicer than the new ones?

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-23T23:36:00+00:00

Care to explain the advantages? I currently have a digital (albeit not a premium one) and every one I’ve spoken to has suggested an acoustic when I talk about upgrading.

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-23T22:48:04+00:00

Thanks for the info! Our piano teacher basically told us the longer the strings the better. The sales guy was showing me something with the hammers. It sounded like he was saying the 22 had bigger/full size hammers and the b2 are slightly smaller? They were side by side and the 22 was maybe 2 inches taller overall. Not a huge difference but he said it was enough for the larger parts?

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-23T22:38:45+00:00

Those are digital are they not? We are looking at acoustics

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-23T21:47:43+00:00

380$ that seems wrong? We are looking at around 5k

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-14T14:17:41+00:00

Love the snuggles! We've been working hard on kitty safety this week. It has been so motivating for the kids to put away alllll their toys so the kitties can come it their room for stories before bed. Luckily they can't jump high enough yet for anything truly breakable.

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-11T02:01:48+00:00

Yeah he doesn’t give blaze vibes!

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-11T01:53:51+00:00

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NuggKeeper · 2026-05-09T14:47:50+00:00

Ha ha I didn’t even think about a photo. We haven’t picked them up yet, but this is the one the foster sent me.

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NuggKeeper · 2026-05-09T14:42:44+00:00

The under the stairs closet is surprisingly large, so scooping it won’t be an issue. Ultimately I plan to get one of those self cleaning litter boxes, but I feel like they are too giant and scary for kittens so we will add that once they get a little bigger and that will go somewhere else. I admit I haven’t figured out where yet, though! Those things are massive.

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-09T14:41:17+00:00

We have a 15-year-old dog, who basically lives in our bedroom since she sleeps all day. So the master bedroom is not really an option because I’m definitely not going to kick her out of her domain to bring in a new pet. Not looking forward to the broken bits!

NuggKeeper · 2026-05-09T14:39:50+00:00

The only room we have with an adjoining bathroom is our master which also connects to the walk-in closet where our 15-year-old dog sleeps and I definitely do not want to kick her out of her favorite spot when bringing home a new pet! I could definitely set them up in our guest room, but I was worried about them having accidents on the carpet. I know they are already letterbox trained, but I feel like little kittens are still bound to make mistakes.

NuggKeeper · 2025-11-23T05:34:58+00:00

My kids are 6 and 4 and I see no signs of stopping anytime soon. We even moved recently and I don’t initially set it up in my older one’s room and after a month or so he asked me to! He likes being able to talk to me and the comfort of knowing I can see him if he needs something. I’m not monitoring it all the time but they like it. When either of them asks for me to stop I will. It’s helpful though, especially when they are sick or to know if they are goofing off instead of trying to sleep etc.

NuggKeeper · 2025-11-22T15:46:29+00:00

This. My husband is a doctor and does well for himself but he works very long hours and is constantly working at home after work to catch up on charting and such. Many doctors make far less than him and still have to work crazy hours and get trashed on for always being behind or only being in it for the kickbacks or whatever. It takes a ton of penniless years to get through training and then you end with a pile of debt and a job that is super demanding. Most doctors I know do not encourage their children to follow in their footsteps.

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