So far, bringing the mother front and center into the lessons, has been an eye-opener for her. Dropped off by a baby-sitter, she felt like piano was the next care-taking station, but even worse there was another assignment lurking. These parental absences in my opinion strongly factored into the student’s inertia. She was overloaded with full-time job obligations.Īnd dad, a University educator had no way to check in, due to his involvement in Department matters. Well, I invited mom in to observe one of her daughter’s lessons, since this parent had not been present from day one to see what was playing out at lessons. So how did I finally deal with the student who plodded along without much if any practicing? We just want to give them the music education they deserve if they would meet us half way. Piano teachers are not asking their students to conquer competitions in international venues or make a resounding impact in a universe of musicians. Jonas Salk may have had a passion for experimenting as a child, but he had to DO THE WORK, to make a contribution to the world down the line. Hearing the word fun applied these days to nearly every activity minus any work, is growing old and tired with me. She would grow “bored” with the piece we were working on, and eventually complain to her mother, that lessons were just not “fun.” If she decided otherwise, I knew the handwriting was on the wall. She was spoon-fed a meticulous practicing process in the hopes she would follow through. This was between lessons after we together focused on step-by-step ways to obtain lovely phrasing and expression. Just READ, READ, and finish your homework in each grade up to college and beyond.īy example, I had a very gifted 9-year old music student, who winged it from week to week. NO Baby Einstein tapes here, or Baby Can Read early exposures. Now she’s a world class writer/editor having done the WORK even as a child to develop her language skills. My daughter used to grimace when I broke out the carrots and peas, but at the same time she was bathed in Handel’s Messiah excerpts that I blasted on a cassette player. These folks may be “My Baby Can Read” subscribers whose diapered tots were raising their tiny hands to letter prompts on a big screen, while Gerber’s mashed carrots dribbled down their mouths. They’ve read articles in the news media about right and left brain development. Some moms and dads have the idea that the Mozart Effect will filter from piano into school work without much effort. In a spirit of collegiality and sharing, I admit that I experience the same with younger students who are enrolled in lessons by their parents. If they just practiced once in a while, they’d be happy!” It’s been frustrating as a teacher because the kids are too young to understand that the reason they are not doing well is because they are not practicing, and the reason they don’t enjoy piano lessons is because they are frustrated. “I do have the odd students who don’t practice and never improve, and then get frustrated at their lack of progress. Here’s the spark for my current writing and it comes from a music instructor in Vancouver: A timely comment was posted at my blog site which echoed my own frustration at times about teaching piano.
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