Is it Ok to Take Lessons on More than One Instrument?

Photo Credit: wenhsien7

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween last week! Whether you were out with your kids as they went trick-or-treating or were giving out candy from home like I was, I hope you had a blast. I certainly did but am embarrassed to say that I underestimated the amount of candy to buy and ran out before the end of the night. Oh well! I will certainly buy more next year, but at least I wasn’t stuck with a ton of leftovers that would have wound up in my belly. Lol!

Today I’d like to discuss something that we get asked about frequently…. is it ok or even a good idea to take lessons on more than one instrument?

Quite a large number of our students do and others have wondered about it. In my mind it totally is ok under the right circumstances. Personally, most of my music lesson life I did take lessons on two instruments at once. Soon after I began my piano lessons, I picked up the clarinet at school where I had a group lesson. A few years later, I switched from clarinet to oboe and began oboe lessons. All throughout high school I took piano and oboe lessons. In fact, when I auditioned for music school (college), I auditioned on both piano and oboe and was accepted on both! So even during college, while I was officially considered a piano major, I took lessons and studied from both the piano and oboe professors.

For me, it was never a question of if I should take lessons on more than one instrument. I just always wanted to and made it a priority. I was also very serious about music and outside of academics spent the bulk of my free time on music related activities rather than sports.

To help you decide if you should take lessons on more than one instrument, I suggest the following:

Taking lessons on more than one instrument is a good idea if the following is true:

• You are extremely interested, excited, and equally passionate about both instruments.

If you aren’t really excited about both instruments, you’ll never have the motivation to put the necessary time into learning both, which is why this one is so important. I always loved playing piano and oboe (and still do). I couldn’t imagine life without learning them both, so that’s what I did.

• You have enough free time to adequately practice both instruments, so you’ll be prepared for your lessons.

If you don’t have the time, I wouldn’t recommend trying to study two instruments at a time. You’ll just end up feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, which is not fun for anyone. Quite honestly, learning an instrument requires a significant amount of time to devote to lessons and practicing. If your free time is lacking, it’s better to just stick with one instrument.

• You are committed to both instruments.

If at any point you start really enjoying one instrument more than the other and not wanting to practice the other one, I don’t recommend continuing lessons on both. It is always possible to keep playing one of your instruments (for example in band or orchestra) while not formally taking lessons on it.

While I truly loved playing two instruments very seriously and couldn’t imagine doing things differently, I often felt like I wasn’t nearly as good at each instrument as I would have been on just one had I selected just one to focus on. That thought often plagued me, but I loved piano and oboe so much that despite that worry, I wanted to stick with both instruments for lessons.

Now I want to hear from you. Have you taken lessons on two instruments at once? How was your experience? Did you want to take lessons on two instruments, but decided to only stick with one? Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts. Thanks so much for reading! If you feel inspired now to begin lessons on another instrument, don’t hesitate to contact us about starting a second lesson. If you haven’t already, please “like us” on Facebook and subscribe to our newsletter. Have a lovely fall day!

Sincerely,

Cassie