Just when you thought you were making progress at the piano....

[adodd81802]

.

[visitor]

and likely with love, nurturing, discipline, fun, will grow to be a well adjusted and productive adult person.

people get these obsessions w raising 'super kids' and they lose sight of the fact the the goal is to raise a good/super adult, not a good super kid.  if lessons are learned such as, playing well with others, respecting those deserving of respect, that hard work can yield rewards, that [healthy]  competition can push you to be your best, that sometimes your best is not enough...that's ok, that bad choice have bad consequences, etc.

bringing up a balanced critically thinking and productive person with appropriate values is a rare thing. just look at all the neurotic self absorbed adult children running around out there.

i say grab a couple bowls of cereal and sit down and watch the episode with yours. that yours knows you love them and it's ok to just be kid sometimes, is more than alright, heck it's preferable to so much of the stuff other kids get put through.
*could be worse, kid could be chilling and listening to Schumann piano music...blegh!

[pencilart3]

Do not compare your 6-year-old to other 6-year-olds but rather to who you want your 6-year-old to be.

[mjames]

wow i'm truly doubting your parenting skills

if you were a good dad you'd make him watch better cartoons

spongebob sucks

[visitor]

... make him watch better cartoons

spongebob sucks

i never got into it, i don't feel i'm missing out.
now if an american/western cartoon, the classic looney tunes cannot be beat, and for something  newerish, animaniacs was brilliant.

[abielikesu]

i never got into it, i don't feel i'm missing out.
now if an american/western cartoon, the classic looney tunes cannot be beat, and for something  newerish, animaniacs was brilliant.

I'd recommend Shawn the Sheep. Really cool and funny.

A classmate of my son at Junior Conservatoire did Diploma last year(he was 11), and this summer is doing the next level up. Impressive stuff, but then again some parents/teachers like to ride the examinations train, nothing wrong with that, though.

[lostinidlewonder]

Look at the opportunity cost of having a childhood over dedicating to study piano, I just don't think piano cuts it even though I love it so much. What is the purpose of rushing a talented child through piano education? The parents I have met who do this almost always are "show offs" and love competing with other people and using their children for their own ego purposes. I see a big problem with ego as the child grow up themselves and having always felt like they were the best at what they do but can't even cook or look after themselves or others just that damn piano.

[outin]

What is the purpose of rushing a talented child through piano education?

Maybe to keep them out of trouble? Piano can be as good a baby sitter as TV and there's less risk of bad influence.

[lostinidlewonder]

Maybe to keep them out of trouble? Piano can be as good a baby sitter as TV and there's less risk of bad influence.

-_- sorry my brain exploded from the misinformation there lol.

[indianajo]

My parents tried art lessons.  I was a mechanical draftsman at heart.
They tried swimming lessons.  I was a miserable failure until I grew fat age 19 when the Army taught me to swim.
The parents tried piano lessons.  I was a great success.  It cost them $3000 fees over 8 years, but I'm still doing it.
My teacher concentrated on flashy repretoire I enjoyed, not on *****y  alphabet exam programs.  
I still don't have a Master's degree in piano performance.  I'm a miserable failure.
I haven't worked since 2008.  I lived off the stock market until SS starts soon.  
I've just finished learniing Pictures @ an Exhibition, on to Rhapsody in Blue. Plus various pop tunes that don't impress any judge.    Last winter it was Candle In the wind/Funeral for a Friend.  I sight read 80 hymns out of the book cold at a charity dinner last March for singers, there is no certificate or award for that.   Chairman Mao would rise out of his grave to see me punished for capitalist frivolity.  Not to mention I'm a capitalist investor.  I have the grave western error of religion, too.  
Wonder if the Chinese or Russians have found a drug that improves the performance of their piano students, the way their athletes are so superior to ours?  

[bronnestam]

and likely with love, nurturing, discipline, fun, will grow to be a well adjusted and productive adult person.

people get these obsessions w raising 'super kids' and they lose sight of the fact the the goal is to raise a good/super adult, not a good super kid.  if lessons are learned such as, playing well with others, respecting those deserving of respect, that hard work can yield rewards, that [healthy]  competition can push you to be your best, that sometimes your best is not enough...that's ok, that bad choice have bad consequences, etc.

Yeah, why these sick obsessions with progidies? Let children be children. Everyone has his/her own path in life. A parent's most important task is to let the child understand he is perfect and loved just the way he is. That will give him strength to endure the most demanding challenges later in life.

And then we have the opposite situation, a child who early learns that all that matters are his achievments, that he gets points and grades and praise from strangers.
In worst case that will bring up a very empty and miserable person. Look at all these "successful" people who have collapsed totally later in life, even though they looked as if they had it all. Suddenly they try to kill themselves. Or they kill themselves slowly by using drugs, or by living a self destructive life in general.

While there is nothing wrong in encouraging and supporting a child who shows interest in something, I think it is dangerous to push it. And again, FIRST comes love, the unconditional love and acceptance.

It is fine even if the child prefers to watch cartoons instead of pursuing a fantastic piano career at the age of 8.    After all, I don't think Walt Disney was much of a pianist either, but he did all right anyway.

[ted]

No prizes for guessing how I think about this. All this angst and competition in the arts generally is getting too stupid for words. Art has nothing whatever to do with comparison, competition or age. If Elgar and Delius had died in middle age we might never have heard of them. But in any case, at the deepest level, fame is irrelevant and music is not the beginning and end of everything in life. It has to be seen as all right not to pursue music if the enjoyment is not there. My son had no drive toward music. I let him pursue his own interests and he has excelled at them because he likes them.   

[romancatholicpianist]

I just find prodigies entertaining. Sure they can do that, but will they have a love of music later in life, or will they shove it aside because it's old news to them? I just played my Gr. 10 (RCM) two weeks ago at age 18, but I'm glad that I took the time to enjoy my pieces and play them musically, not mechanically or like I was forced to.

[iansinclair]

I'm completely with Ted on this one!  And not just in piano, but in all branches of music.  I can't tell you how many young dancers or singers I've seen crash and burn after a nice competition "career" in high school or even early college years -- teen age, anyway.

Not that some brilliant young people can't go on to become brilliant mature performers -- they can, and I've seen that, too -- but only if they are able to recognise that they are most assuredly not mature, great performers in the earlier years (and, in the cases of singers and dancers, they don't ruin their bodies by the time they are 20 -- less of a problem for pianists).