Piano lessons often get the feedback loop backwards

It’s really common for piano teachers to use rewards (like stickers, points, and earning game time) to build positive feelings after a student has achieved something on the piano. Generally the hope is that the positive feedback loop teaches that good feelings are associated with piano lessons.

I see this as a kind of chicken-and-egg scenario. Which comes first? The achievement or the positive feelings? I think the positive feelings should come first. Here’s why.

When rewards are used to foster motivation, notice the direction of those good feelings. When the good feelings follow the reward, lessons start with hard work and good feelings follow. I think this is backwards. In my experience, if piano lessons start with good feelings, the hard work naturally follows without any need for external motivators.

If you want to learn piano, there will be good feelings towards lessons to start with. And lessons that are well-paced and well-planned for the student will build upon the good feelings that are already there, so that the tools of reward are not needed as much. They’re certainly not needed to create positive associations in piano lessons. 

When do you need to start offering external rewards? When a student doesn’t have that much interest in learning piano. In my experience, students who rely on reward systems for motivation are students who don’t really have any real feelings at all about piano, whether good or bad. They rely on these motivational tricks to feel good and inspired in taking piano lessons. (Students who really hate piano lessons typically aren’t motivated by rewards.) But this is not a productive place to start from.

I don’t think anyone should take piano lessons if they don’t already have good feelings towards it. Life’s too short to mess around with stuff you’re not really interested in. 

If you want to take piano lessons and have a teacher who will help you achieve your personal musical goals, you will have a lasting source of motivation that will only ever grow as you build your skills!

So the bottom line is, no one should need stickers to generate good feelings in piano lessons. If you feel you’re relying too much on external motivators to foster positive associations about piano lessons, I would encourage you to consider: what’s your starting point? Are you starting from a place of joy and delight? Or are you trying to infuse feelings of joy and delight that aren’t already there? 

I hope that if you take piano lessons, it’s because learning piano itself makes you feel good. Good luck in your piano journey!