rzberrymom
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Posts posted by rzberrymom
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Listening to my teacher play them was one of the biggest helps in me being able to learn to play them.
Hmm, that helps to hear that. Listening to them online has been good, but not the same as the back and forth with a teacher.
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Yeah, it's probably too big of a jump. But, it's her free time, it's what she's dying to do, it's what she jumps out of bed for in the morning. So, I let her do it, even though it makes little sense.Did you mentioned that your dd was tackling the Beethoven on her own, unprompted by the teacher? Sounds like the jump from the Chopin to this Beethoven is too much for now. There have to be other pieces that she can work on to gradually build up to the complexity of the Beethoven. Just like we don't jump from addition to calculus in math, it's probably not wise to attempt something similar in music. Trying to fix mistakes is often worse than learning properly initially.
I guess what to do about the polyrhythms is an issue for us either way since we're encountering them in easier pieces. I just wasn't sure how big of a deal it was.
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My kids have a teacher for theory and music composition. Another for the practical/playing portion. I have no luck finding one good at teaching both theory and practical. Could you do something like that since your daughter's teacher is good at theory?
My kids former flute and violin teachers are great at teaching playing but they don't have the patience for teaching theory. My former piano teacher for example could do one track of the ABRSM pianoforte exams but she is not competent on the other track at higher levels.
Oooooh, I love this idea! Is it hard for the kids to handle work from two teachers? Are the teachers ok with the kids having another teacher? How did you make that arrangement originally? Although, I don't really think this teacher would keep my daughter as a student if I asked her just to teach theory--she has close to 25 kids, she's always wanting to take more, and I think that might prompt her to dump us. :( But, I love that idea!!
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I would say that is a very big deal and I would do everything possible to find another teacher. DS just had a festival performance where his 3-page song was nothing but polyrhythms. Honestly, it just takes a lot of practice and I suppose your daughter could continue to muddle through on her own (I don't know how long she has been playing?) but they are so much easier when your teacher can play and dissect and give pointers on them.
You could find easier pieces now, but you can't run forever :) Maybe that's what the teacher has been doing...
Oh dear, that's what I was afraid of. :(
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Cool. My dd just started polyrhythms in her music theory. Her teacher claps the one rhythm and she claps the other, then they switch. The teacher pointed out exactly where the fewer beats (3) part fit between the 4 beats part. He also told her to stop counting in subdivisions, and just count aloud the pause. So, for example, she would switch from counting 1 e and a, 2 e and a, 3 e and a, 4 e and a, and just count the 1, 2, 3, 4.
Yeah, the clapping definitely helped a lot with the itty bit that was in the Chopin, but the Beethoven has pages of 4ths and 16ths over triplets and then just 16ths over triplets and then just 4ths over triplets--even with clapping it out and then making up funny sentences to help remember the pattern, I imagine she could be making mistakes here and there.
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I'm not sure how young your kiddos are, but I haven't found that it dissipates as they get older. If anything, I see the curiosity and questioning growing by leaps and bounds among my DD and her circle of homeschooled friends (age 11-13).
Ask a lot of "hmm, why do you think that is?" about everything. Everything.
And don't be afraid to look beyond a curriculum if it's not helping them think deeply. I love Joy Hakim's history books and her Story of Science, I love Beast Academy for math when they're little and the Art of Problem Solving as they get older (I feel like those programs have helped with deep, critical thinking more than anything else). Read-alouds of difficult classics have also been phenomenal here for getting at meaning (find an annotated edition to read together--they help with posing great questions). Have the radio on and discuss news and current events, always have a newspaper lying around, etc.
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Probably depends on the kid. I read oodles of abridged classics to my oldest when she was little, and then she refused to read the originals when she got older because she already knew the story!?!?
If I could do it all over, I probably would skip the abridged stuff. Although, I would absolutely do it again with Shakespeare since she really wouldn't have been able to appreciate it for quite a while otherwise.
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How big of a deal is it that my daughter's piano teacher can't do polyrhythms? Meaning, the teacher can't really play them, and struggles to teach them. She has a Doctorate in music, she is beyond fantastic at teaching theory, my daughter adores her, she's fantastic at helping my daughter interpret a piece. But, is it going to be an issue if she can't teach her polyrhythms? Or should I just not worry about it?
My DD first encountered them in the Minute Waltz, the teacher struggled to help her with the one measure that had 4 against 3 (I think that's what it's called). The teacher couldn't play the measure to demonstrate, but DD and I found tutorials online and figured it out at home.
Later, my DD started trying to teach herself the first movement of Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto (she gets bored, so this was just for fun and not for the teacher), and she realized that there are pages of polyrhythms. She found online tutorials, she's muddling through on her own, but she doesn't have anyone who can check her work and make sure she's moving forward correctly.
What would you do in that situation? Tell the kid to back off and find something easier to have fun with? Find someone online that might be willing to check her rhythm and make sure she has it right? (Is there even such a thing?) Find a teacher in our city that is more advanced with performing? (that is my last resort since my kid loves her)
Going forward, is this a big deal? Or not something to worry about?
You guys have really helped me with piano questions in the past, so I figured I'd see what you all would do. Thanks!
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Oregon. Almost every homeschooler I know is under the radar (and there are a LOT here)
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I thought of one more thing: this author really thinks about how to help kids gain musician identity, and here is one of his several books on practicing.
http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Revolution-Getting-results-between/dp/095819050X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Perfect--thanks!
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I think I'll let her give this a try too. She doesn't really seem to like pop or rock (she just wants to play the Romantics all day), so moving away from classical music probably won't solve things. But, trying a new instrument may be just what she needs!I was thinking let her start another instrument, totally unrelated to piano, like flamenco guitar or something. I'm assuming her love of music is real and this would also help her develop another aspect of her musical brain thing. (:)) IOW, something that relies more on listening vs playing? Having trouble expressing it here.
I remember taking piano 12 months a year when I was growing up, too. I loved it, but it does get a little stale. Unless, of course, you can find a teacher like the woman in another piano thread on here found. (Russian-trained teacher, sounded wonderful.) But since that's rare, I think it would have helped me to have begun playing around with another instrument or more - just for fun. She'd still be using her music, just in a different format which would stretch her a little.
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I think it's important to remember that music isn't a race. If her teacher is demanding so much that she has no time or energy for her own music, she is doing too much with her teacher. A small break could be good for now, but a longer term solution is also needed.
I've played cello and piano for most of my life. I had some intense seasons in middle/high school that almost made me quit. I had a mentor who made a suggestion that my "practice" only every take 50% of the time I played. So if I was going to spend 3 hours on music each day, no more than 1.5 hours on work I was learning and practicing with purpose. The rest was time to just play, and enjoy, and create. Sometime that was learning pieces for my own, sometimes in was improv, sometimes it was playing with friends. But it helped me keep a balance that has let me continue to enjoy playing music into my adult life.
Oooh, I like looking at it this way! Her teacher agreed to let her take a break, so I'll talk with my DD about using this approach.
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I gave her permission to ditch the educational Bach pieces, and now she's in the other room plowing through the Chopin she's been dying to get her hands on. I guess we're officially going rogue.
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Gosh, it varies so much by the day! Sometimes my 10 year old only does 30 minutes, but then sometimes she does 90 minutes and I practically have to force her to stop.
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That said, I think this article is on to something. I've seen the phases she describes play out among my own students.
(edited for spelling)
Hmmm, I think we're definitely at stage 5 (thank goodness homeschooling eliminated stage 4!) I wish she gave more advice about what to do--I can keep dragging DD through piece after piece, but it's starting to feel kind of awful for the whole family. She has tons of diligence, but intermediate pieces maybe do start to feel like drudgery after a while.
I feel encouraged though that a 4 month break didn't ruin your student. DD and I did talk about maybe going rogue just until Christmas.
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We generally take August off from piano and voice lessons every year. I do think it is beneficial. Dd still plays but she plays what she wants to play.
Also, if your teacher won't budge, why not add some fun music independently? Fun as defined by your kiddo.
We are not going for music scholarships or winning competitions so we are perhaps a bit laid back. However, if you kill your kiddo's love for the music she won't be winning scholarships or competitions either.
Yeah, I think it's unlikely there will be any music scholarships here!
We talked about just adding some fun stuff, but there's already sooooo much to do for the lessons that it feels like too much to my kiddo. Maybe I need to try something radical like proposing only having a lesson every 2 weeks, which would leave time for extra fun stuff.
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I don't know if this will help, but I found this book really helpful with learning to reframe things with my DD: http://www.amazon.com/Danish-Way-Parenting-Raising-Happiest-ebook/dp/B00R6PIXOW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1440110631&sr=1-1&keywords=the+danish+way+of+parenting
Everything was not quite right for her--homeschooling was not quite right, but the programs I signed her up for were not quite right either. Not that everything always has to be positive, but that there's always something positive that can be found in a negative situation. And then when you start to look at things that way, the attitude toward whatever situation you choose improves. That probably doesn't make much sense, but it really helped my kiddo find a way to be more positive and it cut way down on the complaining!
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Thank you for the feedback on the unschooling approach. I do have a kid that is highly highly self-motivated, but I think you're right that it's hard for them to keep it up.
I would change up what she is learning in lessons. Perhaps your DD doesn't like what she is currently learning, or perhaps it is too hard for her (thus becomes boring and discouraging to work on). I'd see if your teacher will let you change it up a bit.
This is a big part of our problem. The teacher is completely, totally inflexible about repertoire--it's her way or the highway. I've begged and begged to let my kiddo play something she loves, but her teacher is totally inflexible. It's too easy for my kiddo, it's drudgery for her to plow through it day after day after day, we've both let the teacher know, but she's inflexible.
But, I can't change her teacher. This is our 3rd teacher--first one was gentle and kind but really could only take the kids so far, second teacher was fantastic but pressured the kids to win competitions and my DD got anxiety around her. My DD looooves this current teacher dearly.
So, I guess I was clinging to the hope that some kind of break (2 months, 6 months, even a year?) would help, where I wouldn't have to break-up with the teacher but could let my DD just play her beloved Chopin and Mendelssohn all day long if she wanted to.
But, I may be dreaming that kids are capable of such a thing!
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Piano lessons have become such a bugaboo in our house. My 10 1/2 year old has been at it for almost 3 years, she has stuck with it and has gone pretty far. But, the love just isn't there anymore. She loves music, she loves her current teacher, but I think the monotony of practice and lessons has become a chore and completely sucked the joy out of it. She used to sit down and teach herself Chopin waltzes for fun, but that never happens anymore.
I guess the monotony is a necessary evil, but is there an alternative for a kid? Sort of like an unschooling approach to an instrument? Is it possible to just keep up sight reading and rhythm/counting work on our own, but otherwise just play for fun and joy? No theory, no recitals, just try to find the love again?
Or is this just a wall she's hit and we need to push through?
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DuoLingo is about both expression and spelling. I tried it with my daughter before she could write the answers herself, but it just didn't work well. We went back to it when she could spell at about a third grade level and she does well with it now.
Yeah, that's kind of what I figured. I'll try it again in a few years--thanks!
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If you had a detached studio apt., would you consider having a tutor live there? I'm thinking a college student or maybe an exchange student (to help with language). I have an overworked DH, I work part-time (very part-time), and I'm kind of thinking someone to help support my older kiddo's schooling might be nice. I think my kiddo would love the variety too. Downside, of course, would be that we'd have to share our backyard, and our privacy would take a hit even though it's detached.
Has anyone done this? Or considered it? Am I nuts?
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Can a kid use Duolingo before being able to write/spell?
DH speaks only German with my almost 6-year old, her comprehension is good, but she very rarely speaks back in German. I downloaded the Duolingo app thinking that she could use some extra practice. We did the assessment and she did fine with the translating, but then I realized that the only way she can show her ability to create a sentence in German is to write it out.
So, she composed the sentences and I typed them out for her, but I guess I'm trying to figure out if the program is checking her ability to spell or just to form the sentence? Of course, it's a waste of time at this age if it's about her spelling (since it's testing my spelling), but is it possible to use it to just help her along with forming the thoughts in German?
DH is overworked and travels a lot, so I'm trying to find a way to help her with this. If Duolingo isn't the best for a young kid who can't spell yet, any other ideas?
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Has anyone been able to use Amazon.de to watch German kid movies and shows from the U.S.? I use Audible.de all the time with my Amazon account, so I just assumed it would be possible to use the instant video option on Amazon.de but I can't seem to do it. It seems strange that my Amazon account works for their audiobook site but not the instant video site, so I'm hoping I'm just doing something wrong. Anyone have any luck getting to these movies from the U.S.?
Encouraging Inquiry - Kids Asking Meaningful Questions
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
This was such a great lecture!!! (although, I'm a secular homeschooler, I wasn't totally prepared for what I was going to be listening to, so heads up to any other secular folks) The 5 or 6 questions he suggests at the very end are perfect, and I loved the discussion about trust. And the part where he said "we don't want them to remember that 4+3=7, we want them to see it', reminded me of AoPS and the discovery menthod the kids learn to use.
I wish there were examples of working your way through a piece of literature or a unit in history with these types of Socratic questions for the kids. I feel like I need to see someone in action. Anyone know of such a thing?