Music Lessons: Part I

I grew up playing the piano. I started when I was 5 and took formal lessons until I was 13. When I was 13, there was a natural stopping point (I finished the 7-grade Music School). I kept on playing for fun after that – and if ever had any questions, I could always ask my mom, who is a piano teacher and a very gifted musician.

I was not really pushed to practice as a child. I knew I was supposed to practice every day, and my parents would ask if I practiced (and my mom could always provide extra help if needed) but no one stood next to me, monitoring what I was doing. Mostly, the amount of practice, and what to focus on during practice – that was up to me.

Now-a-day, we got 3 kids. The 12-year old plays violin (his 6^th year), 10-year old plays the piano (5^th year), and the 6-year old just started taking piano lessons this fall. I insist that they practice every day (except on the day they have their lesson – then it’s up to them and they usually skip practice that day). Other than that – it’s very much hands-off for the older 2. The youngest needs some help (luckily, both my husband and I can help her) and likes it when someone sits next to her when she practices.

The 12 year old daily practice is probably about 30 minutes. However, he tends to get distracted easily, so some of that time is spent playing random things by ear, looking out of the window, reading a book, arguing with a sister, etc, etc. Not enough practice, but…. He is making (slow but steady) progress. He is enjoying playing violin. He loves playing for other people. He is really proud of the skills he has acquired over the last few years and how nice the music sounds.

The 10 year old daily practice is 20 to 25 minutes. She is hyper-focused on her work. Her teacher has provided some additional suggestions to improve her practice habits – I hope she is implementing them. I do my best to stay out of it. I tried to talk to her about the satisfaction one could get from working on a tricky section – she wasn’t too receptive. She tends to fly through her assignments and I worry that she doesn’t put enough good-quality work into them (just playing things through instead of actually taking time and care to work on difficult passages). On the other hand – I can tell she enjoys playing the piano. She found the music she loves playing (jazz and blues), she is (slowly) getting better, and she only rarely talks about quitting.

The 6-year old practice time is closer to 30 minutes. It is difficult for her to get started, but once she gets started – she keeps going and going… And most of the stuff she is playing is fairly easy (so just a bit of a challenge, but not too frustrating). She loves it when I record her and send the video to grandparents and other family members. She has already said that she wants to play guitar or ukulele when she gets older, but for now she is OK with learning how to play the piano.

 

Dear reader: do you have fond memories of practicing musical instruments? Or did you hate it and only practiced because you were forced to?