Piano Lessons

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  • October 15, 2008 at 2:59 pm
    csmamma
    Participant

    HI Everyone!

    Two of our boys are taking piano lessons. Our oldest son has been taking lessons for about 2 years. Shortly after he started playing we noticed that our middle son (who just turned 8 )would simply hear his brother play and be able to figure it out by ear. He would also listen to worship songs and be able to play parts of them. Hmmm…we thought maybe we better get him into lessons too. 🙂

    So, he’s now been playing for almost a year. However, now lessons are getting very challanging with two hands, etc. He seems to forget everything the teacher taught him at his weekly lesson and complains about practicing at home. He gets frustrated and seems to do everything to get out of practicing. He says its too hard and he doesn’t want to do it anymore.

    I know he has a musical gift but I also don’t want to fight with him to try to get him to practice at home. He enjoys going to the weekly lesson because his piano teacher is young, fun and witty. So, I’m not sure what to do at this point. I have no musical talent to help him out when he gets stuck…..

    Do you have any suggestions. Maybe he’s still to young and maybe I need to pull him out for awhile. What would you do?

    Thanks for any thoughts or experiences with you own dc you’d like to share.

    Heather

    October 15, 2008 at 6:00 pm
    Misty
    Participant

    Heather,

    I feel like I am reading my own thoughts about a year ago. My oldest and next had started lessons. My oldest can listen to or watch our keyboard (which the keys light up) and play it in about a day. But when it became 2 hands as you siad he got all upset and fustrated.

    Our teacher at the time said this is very “normal” and to set like you have to try for 2 more weeks and if you are still upset put out. So that was what we did and yes we did have to pull out.

    Now 2 months ago we started again (but with a new teacher) and he is loving it. I don’t know what others say but I only require 15 minutes of SOLID practice a day and weekends are extra. He doesn’t complain and is doing the same thing he was doing. Go figure.

    That was just our experiece but I thought I’d share, maybe just giving him a break might be all it is, otherwise one other thing I have heard is just the lesson books they use might not be working for him, maybe they could switch to a different book?

    Good Luck

    Misty

    October 15, 2008 at 6:13 pm
    caroline4kids
    Member

    Have you looked at the home study courses Piano for Life and Simply Music? We just ordered Simply Music through the homeschool buyers co-op and have been using Piano for Quitters and Piano for Life for some time now and really like it. My son is doing it right now. Basically, they teach the student to play the piano the same way Mozart and company learned to play. It is painless and fun. It really sparks creativity and a love of music that I never had with piano lessons!

    October 16, 2008 at 1:02 am
    Misty
    Participant

    Caroline, Do you have a website for this product? And do you feel the cost is worth it?

    Also, I have never had lessons do you think that someone who doesn’t know how to play could still give it to the kids and expect them to learn, I mean I would not neccesarily be able to help if they got stuck?

    Misty

    October 16, 2008 at 3:31 pm
    csmamma
    Participant

    Thanks so much, Misty for sharing your experience. We can’t switch books because he is being taught the Suzuki method which is first learning to play by ear. He only needs to practice like 10-15 minutes a day so i’m not sure where his frustration is. Thank you for sharing.

    Caroline, I checked out the simply music and it looks alot like the method they are using now which is called Suzuki. It teaches them first to play by ear and then to read. Is this how it is with simply music? It would be much nicer and cheaper if we could do this by video at home. I checked out the intro videos and will show them to my dh and see what he thinks. Please let me know how it goes once you begin.

    Misty, I found the website here http://www.simplymusic.com I clicked on the “learning at home” and found the video there.

    Thanks both of you and blessings to you and yours!

    October 23, 2008 at 12:32 am
    caroline4kids
    Member

    Sorry, I haven’t been on the board lately. We have the Simply Music right now and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. My kids like the Australian accent of the teacher and the songs are great right from the beginning. I still love Piano for Quitters and Piano for LIfe, but I think SM is better suited for smaller children.

    Simply Music teaches musical “sentences”–small groups of notes that are carefully introduced finger by finger. Once they master the “sentences” they can integrate them together and play a two-handed song! The first DVD ends with the children playing the Star Spangled Banner with two hands. It is really neat.

    BTW, I got mine from the homeschool buyers coop http://www.homeschoolbuyerscoop.com and I got both levels for around $50. It was a great deal and I am having a great time with it.

    Caroline

    October 23, 2008 at 12:13 pm
    csmamma
    Participant

    Thanks for sharing, Caroline. Simply Music looks like a great program! The only thing Im concerned about is the fact that my son will still have to go to piano lessons at a later time inorder to learn how to read music. But maybe Simply Music would be a great break for him or even an encouraging supplement. 🙂

    Misty, have you watched the intro video yet? What do you think?

    Blessings to you both!

    October 23, 2008 at 8:38 pm
    csmamma
    Participant

    Misty,

    Incase you’re interested in Simply Music, I just found it at our library. Yippie 🙂 Now I get to try it before I buy it. Maybe they’ll have it at your library too.

    Hugs!

    October 27, 2008 at 12:14 pm
    Misty
    Participant

    Heather..

    I will look at my library. The price for the DVD’s is great considering I have 3 going. But yes I think that learning the notes to play is very important to. Cause that is the tough part putting the notes to keys. So that concerns me for long term playing. At least now if he sees something simple he could attempt to play. With this approach he wouldn’t have a clue?

    Something to think about.

    Misty

    November 14, 2008 at 9:06 pm
    csmamma
    Participant

    Caroline, I wanted to thank you for recommending Simply Music. We just got the videos from the library and have tried it out. WOW! From the very first lesson, I’m sold. I can’t wait to purchase this- its on my wish list! With this, I will get to learn too and I’m the one who thinks “I don’t have a musical bone in my body!” 🙂 The boys are really excited about this since we have decided to take a break from our weekly piano lessons. Anyway, thanks a bunch once again!

    Misty, did you find Simply Music at your library? Its really great and I think you’ll love it. It seems like it’s really worth the price compared to weekly lessons! Also, the founder talks about the fact that with Simply Music, you will learn to read notes eventually- which was my main concern (and yours I think too). 🙂

    Blessings to you all!

    Heather

    March 30, 2009 at 4:24 pm
    kelsymomof3
    Member

    IF you guys have a VHS player look for those programs on Amazon. You can get used ones for like $10-$15. Thats how I got mine.

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