So, I decided to teach my kids piano rather than finding a teacher. Mainly, because I don't want to add another thing to the schedule that will take us out of the house. Plus, it is hard to find piano teachers here. It has been nice to save the money too.....
but....it hasn't been that easy. At first Micah fought against it. He wasn't too interested in starting in the first place (although he wants to learn guitar.) Also, it doesn't help that he is a perfectionist, who likes to give up when something doesn't come easy. Over the last year, he has complained a lot, given up many times, and openly rebelled when it came to practicing. Rather than relying on my teaching experience, I resorted to bad parenting techniques.....like threatening him with "getting a German teacher," if he didn't start practicing.
After a year we have made some headway. We are finally finished with the primer book. He practices on his own now, without me nagging him. Also, he commented to Greg that he favorite song, "is a real treat to play."
I have been waiting for the interest to spark and I am hoping it has. We are now waiting for level one books to come in the mail.
8 years ago
8 comments:
I could never teach either of my kids.. Oh dear.. they are horrible when I even help w/ practice. Glad we didn't go to Germany... oh wait, if we were in Germany, you'd be their teacher... never mind, that would have been good. :-)
E seems interested. Drew thinks I should teach her. I'm not sure I could have the necessary patience.
What is this primer book you mentioned? Maybe I should give it a try?
I'm so glad that he is enjoying it more! How funny that German teachers were a threat!
My grandmother taught her boys (during the depression). Not their favorite thing, but then again, since they knew not learning wasn't an option, they eventually put up with it. Same expectation when I was growing up, but niether Mom nor Dad were up to teaching us. Keep at it, they'll thank you for it eventually!
I started teaching my kids because it was hard to find a teacher in France but we've been back 2 years and I'm still doing it :)
way to persevere! my attempts at teaching calvin lasted for about a month.
oh, and my grandmother told me she had a german piano teacher as a child. she had a silver pencil and would whack my grandma's knuckles if she messed up. if german teachers are still the same, that was quite a threat. no wonder he's practicing now. :)
Seriously, there are few things I hate worse than teaching my own kids piano. It always starts out ok . . . mostly, though I just didn't set aside a time for the weekly lesson, and weeks would go by without practicing, just because I was lazy. And since a teacher lives two doors down and teaches at 8 a.m., I signed Jeffy on up. Annoying, since I still have to fight with him about practicing, and I feel like I'm STILL the one actually TEACHING him. So basically, I'm paying $40 a month for a motivator. (Which isn't much, and apparently, is worth it to me.) Still annoying.
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