Is it just me, or does this author have no idea about the enriching qualities of the arts?
I'm gong to force my kid to take a few years of piano. She can quit after two years or so but I want her to get a chance to develop her ear and lean how to read music on a harmonic instrument. I know a few professional musicians (commercial and mercenary touring) most of them cut their teeth on piano early.
Not that I want my daughter to grow up to be a concert pianist or even just a shiftless musician but I would like the joy of creating beauty cooperatively to be easily open to her. Music seem like one of the most assessable ways to make art in groups, it's a grand fun thing to do.
I would be surprised if she doesn't play some sort of instrument at some point in her life after piano, we listen to a lot of music in our house and have a few different instruments sitting around. I've also bought her a variety of 'kid' instruments that she really gets a kick out of (recorder, bongos, harmonicas, glockenspiel, wood blocks, a little accordion and various whistles).
Our daughters are roughly the same age. I recently took my daughter to her first violin lesson. Suzuki. It was a nightmare. She had started daycare for the first time that week and it was at 5:30pm and she hadn't yet eaten. She was rubbing her eyes and was grouchy prior to entering the class. -I could just tell from the look on her face this was going to be challenging.
She was the youngest in the class and by the end had spent most of it in the hallway with me because she was being so disruptive.
Long story short, she's not even close to being ready. I'd say three or three and a half will be the right time. But there is no doubt that she'll take a few years of violin lessons. Ideally, she will enjoy it and stick with it. Like you, I would be shocked if she doesn't play an instrument as an adult. There are so many instruments in our house and she voluntarily plays all of them. I can tell, she has the desire and potentially the innate ability. '
Good luck.
We recently bought a piano for our daughter, who is 18 mos. A piano instructor that we spoke to suggested that we wait until she was 5 years old. He said that he has found that many habits that children learn when they are very young need to be untaught. Specifically, he said that very young children must look at their hands when they play, because they haven't developed the ability to make the mental separation between reading and playing music. As a result, he didn't think there was much advantage starting beforehand.
The only reason I wanted to start so young is because the two favorite musicians I've ever played with were both violinists that started out playing around age 3. They learned via Suzuki Method and had the two best ears of anyone I ever played with. Could they read well? Not really, but they played with a joy and creative-ability that I found to be really inspiring. If I could choose what kind of musician my child was, that would be it. I'm not interested in her winning contests etc, but I am interested in her instrument being an extension of herself. But.... that journey will have to wait a year :)
congrats on the piano! They're fun to have in a house.
Oddly, the instructor made the opposite argument, which sold us: He said that he found that kids that learned too early played by rote, and it was the kids that waited a couple of years (5-6yo) that could play piano as an art.
At any rate, I think we are both looking for the same outcome.
I took piano lessons for about 10 years as a child. The first five I spent watching my teacher's hands and copying her, rather than reading the music which she thought I was doing. Eventually she caught on, and only then did I start learning the ability to play anything on my own. The first five years were by no means wasted--I learned a lot of physical technique--but I definitely didn't get as much out of those 10 years as I would have liked.
Although, I started at age 8, so maybe I was just a difficult child. :P
- He said that he found that kids that learned too early played by rote
I'm aware of it. This instructor said he is trained in the Suzuki method, and uses it. His point was that with very young kids, they need to look at their fingers when playing the piano, whereas they don't need to a couple of years later. He found that they needed to unlearn that behavior if they wanted to play freely and artistically. Maybe it's different for violin, which I think might make some sense.
- I was the only one who had not played an instrument for many years as a child.
That doesn't surprise me at all. Music or arts can be one of the most fulfilling personal pursuits even if it's just a hobby. I find it ironic the author would call Hebrew lessons useful and then dismiss the other two; it's not the way I would have ranked those.
The problem often seems to be that parents will pick some random classical instrument (what kid isn't dying to play oboe, huh?) and literally force their kids to play. If the kid has no interest in it, then they'll benefit very minimally from it. I would agree that making them learn something more relevant (like guitar) will be preferable to most things. Most kids will want to play guitar at some point.
I wish my parents had made me learn an instrument. If nothing else it broadens your horizon and gives you a basic understanding of musical notes, which I think is still a valuable skill.
I think there's something to this, but it's definitely a good idea to help kids understand how things like music happen and how skills take time and hard work to develop. I played sax for 10 years and the only real reason I stopped was that it's not a convenient instrument for apartment living. Also, I didn't go to a school with practice facilities, plus maintenance of the instrument cost more money that I would have willingly paid.
A lot of people forget that the voice is a musical instrument and that it's the one that all other instruments emulate on some level. Besides, the more able you are to sing something, the easier it is to figure out on your instrument.
Wish to god I'd been forced to stick with the piano. Incredibly glad my parents made me play baseball starting at age 5. Changed my life.
But it's not as simple as throwing your kids out there, because I'll never forgive my parents for forcing me to be a part of the Boy Scouts for my entire childhood.
Forcing kids to do things is never going to work. Rather parents should try to teach kids why they want them to do this or that. I was forced to be a competitive swimmer for my whole childhood. I hated it so much. I'm a damn good swimmer as an adult, but still, I'll never forget the horror of all those early mornings in the summer when my friends were all sleeping in.
And I'll never forget dreading weekends because instead of doing what I wanted I was going to be camping with people I didn't care about in freezing weather. Now? I love camping. It varies. If my parents had never forced me to do anything, I might not have done anything. You never know whether you're going to have a kid who actively picks their own hobbies, or a kid who sits and plays video games after school until they pass out.
So I disagree in part. It's true, by the time I was about 10 I had made my opinions very clear and dropping out of the church choir probably should have been an option. But in the long run it didn't do too much damage.
I'm right there with you. I took piano for 10 years as a child, but my mother had to bribe me every year to continue. I definitely preferred to be doing other things. Now, about 7 years after, I'm learning guitar, learning to sing, writing, composing and producing my own music, and actively using my abilities on piano. I'm quite thankful that my mother kept me going, even when I didn't want to.
It's not just you.
- [..] I propose an even simpler test. Go on Facebook and ask your friends to chime in if, when they were children, they took five years or more of a classical instrument. Then ask all the respondents when they last played their instrument. I tried a version of this at a dinner party recently. There were about ten adults present; I was the only one who had not played an instrument for many years as a child. All of them confessed that they never played their instrument.
Replace instrument with something like math. How many people still use the Pythagorean Theorem? Does that mean that math is useless and shouldn't be forced on children the way music is?
My parents have always encouraged me to play an instrument, and I've had drum lessons early on. I was quite good for my age, but quit after a couple of years. To say those were wasted lessons seems ridiculous to me. My understanding and enjoyment of music is much greater than it would be had I not played an instrument. I wouldn't trade it for the world, especially not for useless Hebrew lessons.
Yes.
In indulging in the art, one gains a greater appreciation. Even if it is for a few lessons.