Playing a Role in Piano Playing
Both the teacher and I are so pleased with Sienna’s progress. One more lesson, we are finishing up with the first book of “John Thompson’s Easiest Piano course”. It was not all smooth sailing. We officially started in late March even though we had a quite official party to start the lesson earlier in February. She picked up the hand positioning amazingly fast. And her ability to read notes was very good to start with. On top of these, she is so tuned in with the music. The difficulty was with the attitude — her reluctance to go into something she has not enough confidence in.
After a couple of weeks of fresh start, she started to reject it. She only wanted to play the tunes that she was familiar with and the not all random number she improvised. I sat there like a rock, no ruler for spanking, but some rules for her to follow. The rule was that she couldn’t have the snack without finishing practice. And yet, I didn’t know what would be the right amount of practice every day. She wouldn’t run away either, which is really a good thing. Just wasted of time being cranky. At one time, she complained, “I wish we don’t have a piano at home.” See, even then, she didn’t blame mommy. Thanks, honey!
The stage following it was a bit different. Seeing there was no way of getting to snack without getting through the piano. She started to accept. She giggled, made funny face and teased. Yiga suggested she needed to play 5 times for each of the two pieces everyday. In cooperation with that, I supplemented with time limit. These rules again worked like a chime. If she went over time, she couldn’t have the snack even she did those 10 times... She always managed to get there.
In the past three weeks also, we entered a brand-new stage that Yiga and I both anticipated. She started to feel so proud of herself. I used to play with her by turn. It helped her in two ways. First she could listen. Second, I was also the target of her criticism. She would not miss a wrong note that I made from anywhere in the house. When the things become smooth, I stopped. It was not necessary. And most of all, I couldn’t catch up with speed.
I just put these words down to have a rough record of what we went through so far. There have always been debates as what role the parents play to help their children play piano. Again each child is different. Like anything else, it’s always a balancing act. With an open mind, I am quite happy about what three of us have been doing, Sienna, the teacher and me.
After a couple of weeks of fresh start, she started to reject it. She only wanted to play the tunes that she was familiar with and the not all random number she improvised. I sat there like a rock, no ruler for spanking, but some rules for her to follow. The rule was that she couldn’t have the snack without finishing practice. And yet, I didn’t know what would be the right amount of practice every day. She wouldn’t run away either, which is really a good thing. Just wasted of time being cranky. At one time, she complained, “I wish we don’t have a piano at home.” See, even then, she didn’t blame mommy. Thanks, honey!
The stage following it was a bit different. Seeing there was no way of getting to snack without getting through the piano. She started to accept. She giggled, made funny face and teased. Yiga suggested she needed to play 5 times for each of the two pieces everyday. In cooperation with that, I supplemented with time limit. These rules again worked like a chime. If she went over time, she couldn’t have the snack even she did those 10 times... She always managed to get there.
In the past three weeks also, we entered a brand-new stage that Yiga and I both anticipated. She started to feel so proud of herself. I used to play with her by turn. It helped her in two ways. First she could listen. Second, I was also the target of her criticism. She would not miss a wrong note that I made from anywhere in the house. When the things become smooth, I stopped. It was not necessary. And most of all, I couldn’t catch up with speed.
I just put these words down to have a rough record of what we went through so far. There have always been debates as what role the parents play to help their children play piano. Again each child is different. Like anything else, it’s always a balancing act. With an open mind, I am quite happy about what three of us have been doing, Sienna, the teacher and me.
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9:46 AM
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