Elise, who has jumped back into piano and (so far!) needs no prompting to practice. Yay!
When I prepared the program a day before my recital this spring, I paused at the wording atop the page:
Piano recital
Students of Jennifer Hatch
...
I thought about adding:
... plus her children, who haven't practiced for months but who taught themselves something a week ago, by picking a random book on top of the piano and leafing through it until they found a page they liked.
Sadly it would have been completely accurate. The stinkers -- their pieces were memorized!
What do they say about the cobbler's children? That they have no shoes. Around here, the piano teacher's children do not take piano lessons. (In my defense, who uses the word cobbler these days anyway?)
The adage makes us think that the cobbler is too busy. I have another theory: those little cobblerettes just complain too much. "I don't want to try this on. I HATE this color! It hurts. You can't make me. You don't know ANYTHING!" At least that was the unpleasant experience with my spirited middle child, pictured above. Piano lessons were straining our relationship. I recognized her musical aptitude, however, and so three years ago we started her in violin lessons to remove the piano drama. (Side note: my cousin taught violin lessons to the children of well-known violinist Jenny Oaks Baker. A similar mother/child challenge? Hmm.)
Yet I truly love the piano and want to give my family the joy of playing it themselves. It's a big part of my life. It can be a strong foundation for the study of other instruments, not to mention the opportunities for church service. My June project, then, was to recommit to weekly piano lessons with my children. I figured summer would be a great time to do this.
This T-shirt is perfect on my brother-in-law, a junior high band teacher.
I have tried many, many times before to do regular lessons with the kids. I want my children to have the same benefits my students do, namely a dedicated time slot. For years I have had Monday afternoons reserved to teach my kids. For years it has been too easy to put off their lessons because someone calls or comes to the door, or because errands need to be run or dinner to be made -- or, probably the most likely reason of all, Mom is tired.
I realized I was unprofessional! No wonder my children didn't take me seriously. I have made new rules: I will not answer the phone during my children's lessons, just as I wouldn't for a paying student. I will not schedule orthodontist appointments and the like during our family lessons. As I do for regular teaching days, I will plan slow-cooker dinners that can be made well ahead of time. If we do have a conflict on Monday, I will schedule a make-up lesson later in the week, just as I do for my other students.
I thought this project would require delving into my children's personalities and adapting my teaching accordingly. That will come, I'm sure, but right now we're ironing out the basics. The number one improvement? A bag for each child to hold his books. We keep the bags between the piano and the wall. Who knew that something so easy would foster regular practicing?! I have so many books in flux around the piano as I play (the piano is one of my main stress relievers, and I have been playing a lot). I can see now that not being able to find their own books was a real obstacle to my children's self-guided practice.
We did June lessons with my three youngest. As I typed this my 15- and 18-year-olds (the two oldest) each walked in and declared their interest in doing more with piano again. Whoo-hoo! The funniest part of our piano-playing month was my 10-year-old identifying the note A sharp (# before the note symbol on the staff) as "hashtag A." Yes, we have a long ways to go, but I'm pleased with our progress establishing lessons. Next up will be transitioning practice sessions into the tighter schedule of the school year. It's a challenge to get six people practice time on one instrument, especially when it is also used for my lessons during the week.
If you're really bored, click here for a little ditty I wrote about deciphering Mom's moods by what she's playing on the piano. Hoo boy!
My July project is Conquering the 20 percent -- mapping out how to finish all the little details of home improvement jobs that have been ignored all these years while we moved on to the next big thing.
3 comments:
Hashtag A... that's hilarious! My mom was a piano teacher and she taught me piano, and we had the same type of problems. I love that you targeted different things that needed improvement, and something as simple as each having their own bag made a big difference. My boy is six and I've been realizing this last little bit that I need to get him started in piano! Now to just convince my husband that we need a piano ;). Great job!
I can't believe they have pieces memorized in a week. No wonder you want them on the piano--they have raw talent! My mom gave us practice times during the summer and school year--and I remember vividly practicing early before my shower and getting ready. In my pajamas even. Way to set standards for the future, that can only help. Good luck.
I have tried off and on to teach my oldest piano but it always peters out....thanks for the knew perspective and best of luck!
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