Reasons You Should Thank Your Music Teacher

From a young age, we’re often reminded to say “thank you” after someone has helped us. After all, a little appreciation goes a long way. For musicians and aspiring musicians, the people who are always there to offer a little of their time, wisdom, advice are music teachers. Virtually every musician has had a teacher or a mentor that’s inspired them, pushed them to be better, and guided their understanding of music or of their instrument.

Without them, many spectacular musicians would’ve given up, gone a different direction, done something else. We should all be thankful to our music teachers, not only for showing us the beauty of playing and creating music, but for teaching us about dedication, hard work, responsibility, and what we’re able to accomplish if we just set our minds to it. We thought we’d take this opportunity to highlight all of the reasons you should be sure to thank the music teacher in your life.

Your Music Teacher Kept You Going

Part of the reason it’s so necessary to thank your music teacher is that, without them, you most likely wouldn’t be as good as you are today. There are very, very few self-taught musical geniuses in the world, but there are many successful musicians. Without the guidance and knowledge that music teachers offer their students, many, especially younger children, would give up on learning to play an instrument. Learning music, learning to play an instrument is difficult. It requires a lot of effort and dedication.

Great music teachers inspire, instruct, and even challenge their students to push through those difficult early periods. They show them what they can accomplish with an instrument, and as a musician, through hard work. Though you may have found yourself frustrated at times with assignments, with instructions, and with your own progress, you can probably look back and realize that your music teacher was helping you become a real musician. They helped you to progress, rather than to stagnate, develop bad habits, or give up altogether. For that, you should definitely be thankful.

Your Music Teacher Taught You Valuable Life Lessons  

In addition to teaching you the valuable skill of playing an instrument, your music teacher taught you about discipline, dedication, responsibility, and the value of hard work. After all, it takes discipline to practice with your instrument when you could be watching TV or out with friends. It takes dedication not to give up when you hit a wall with your musical development. It takes responsibility to care for an instrument. All in all, it really takes a lot of hard work to learn to be a musician. All of these valuable life lessons serve you well, even beyond your musical education. A good music teacher instills her or his students with the skills to succeed throughout adulthood.

Your Music Teacher Gave Their Time For You

It may not have seemed like it at the time, but being a music teacher requires a lot of time. A great music teacher makes sure to give each of their students the time necessary to help them improve. Often, this means staying after lessons, guiding you through practice, even scheduling time over the weekends. Giving individual attention to a group of students is no easy task, which means music teachers sacrifice a lot of their time so that each of their students can develop their musical talents.

Your Music Teacher Actually Made Your Life a Little Easier

Even though you might have had difficult times while you were learning to play your instrument, it’s a fact that learning music at a young age is correlated to increased test scores in both reading and math. Taking music lessons has even been shown to increase a child’s IQ. So, while your music lessons may not have seemed like a walk in the park at times, it turns out that they probably gave you an advantage that you wouldn’t have otherwise had. In life, it’s often true that advantages are few and far between, so be sure to thank your music teacher and everyone else who supported your music education.

Your Music Teacher Helped You Build Character

The importance of music in our society is often understated. Learning music, with all of the valuable life lessons it affords you, along with the intellectual and social benefits is a strong character-builder. Undeniably, your music teacher played a huge part in helping you to build character and become a better person. Did you know that students who are part of a band or orchestra are less likely to abuse substances and more likely to stay engaged in school? Truly, learning music helps young children develop into productive members of society, increases coordination, improves emotional development, builds imagination and curiosity, and countless other benefits.

How Can You Show Your Music Teacher Appreciation?

Like we said in the beginning, a little appreciation can go a long way. If you’ve had a music teacher that inspired you, that taught you and pushed you to become a better musician, maybe even helped you to become a better person, it’s probably a great idea to show your gratitude. The best place to start is with a simple “thank you.” If you’re still in contact with your music teacher or if you’re still taking lessons, thank them and tell them just how much the opportunity to learn music means to you.

Music teachers have dedicated their lives to improving the lives of their students, and they’ll undoubtedly be touched that you recognize all their hard work. Perhaps consider writing your music teacher a thank you note. If you really want to show your music teacher how much you appreciate them, you can nominate them for Music & Arts’ Educator of the Year award.