The coronavirus pandemic has impacted everyone’s life. One of the most noticeable impacts is that everyone is staying home for longer periods, only leaving the house to engage in essential tasks like going to work or shopping for groceries.
However, being the resourceful bunch that they are, Americans have made the most of their time in quarantine by picking up and even mastering new pursuits. One of these pursuits is learning to play the piano, and piano schools like Oclef are helping make it happen.
Oclef believes that ‘Piano Every Day’ is the key to their students’ success. The school’s near-obsessive approach to improving piano education shows how effective it is in how dedicated their students are. Students practice piano between 6 to 10 hours a week and have opportunities to perform one of the 25+ recitals hosted each month. The average student at the school takes online classes 6 to 7 days a week, a frequency encouraged by Oclef to ensure they remain fully engaged with their learning.
The traditional model of learning piano involves once-a-week lessons with a teacher in-person. Not only is this method now impractical due to the coronavirus, but it was also already failing around 80% of students who would drop out within 3 years of learning piano in this way.
The teaching model used by Oclef engages the whole family, encouraging parents to work with their kids to create a class schedule that suits them best. The initial ‘Keynote Piano Class’ that kids engage with involves their parents, with the teacher helping them identify habits, level of understanding, and music reading ability.
This approach makes learning the piano something that kids will feel more connected to with their parents. Using piano as a means for bonding helps kids and their parents establish a love for music which is a core part of what Oclef aims to accomplish.
Even before coronavirus, piano practice at home could often be a lonesome experience for many kids. Oclef’s Kaizen Piano Class reinvigorates the piano practice experience by connecting with teachers and other students every day. This makes practice more efficient and more engaging.
All of a sudden, piano practice is something that kids can look forward to and can have fun with. Learning alongside and connecting with other children also helps stave off feelings of loneliness in kids, especially if schools are closed and they have less interaction with others like them.
It’s amazing how quickly the energy of being stuck at home can change for kids when they have an artistic pursuit they can improve upon. Instead of using the time at home as an excuse to binge-watch TV or play video games, they can escape the screen and engage their minds by learning how to play the piano.
While the coronavirus pandemic has slowed down the economy, it does not need to slow down a child’s development. Oclef is proving to be a fantastic means of keeping children occupied with a productive activity that will help them come out of the coronavirus pandemic improved, rather than diminished.
