History has a lot to share with children in piano lessons. Although modern piano education for children is supported by technology, there is still a lot to learn from piano lessons from the past. Heres some time honored keys to success from some great composers of the past that your kids can still rely on.

Ludwig van Beethoven - "To play without passion is inexcusable!"

Children have what it takes to bring their music to life. Once kids know that its okay to let their personality shine through in their music they discover an essential element of piano artistry. This takes a willingness to be vulnerable and to communicate each note as they would tell a personal story of interest to their best friend. It takes hard work and planning to learn to play the piano, but it also takes a little personal magic.

Franz Joseph Haydn - "Young people can learn from my example that something can come from nothing. What I have become is the result of my hard efforts."

Children need vision and perspective as well as talent to achieve their musical dreams. Having a plan for success means setting meaningful goals that will last and following through over the long term is how dreams are achieved. There is no such thing as a genie in a lamp waiting to grant your wishes. Success has a history a Beginning and a Follow-through to Achievement, where failure is not an option because you just get to try again. History tells us that the key to achieving success is planning and persistence.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - "Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."

All human activity is goal driven. Those who love what they do are more likely to be successful simply because theyre more motivated! Learning how to love what we do and to do what we love is still an important element of success. It takes creativity to make learning a difficult instrument such as the piano fun as well as challenging, but thats what the great composers knew how to do best. Learning to replace the words I have to with I get to is key to helping kids develop a creative perspective that has the power to overcome challenges.

Frederic Chopin - "Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art."

How many times do we overlook what appears at first to be simple. In the modern world kids get the idea that if something doesnt flash at them it isnt important! This is sad, because so often what creates complexity of beauty is simplicity.

History tells us that it only takes a few basic ingredients, for example, to create all the beauty and complex diversity that exists in the world. "Intelligent design" theorists can't belive that such diversity could come from anything so simple as elements. That's what modernity has done to our perspective. We just don't get it - complexity is simple! So take a lesson from the past and help your child in piano lessons pay attention to the basics, like hard work, love and sacrifice, and the big stuff will manifest itself when its supposed to.