Kids start learning musical instruments at very young age in Asian societies nowadays, like 4 yr old or even 3 in some cases. As a piano teacher, I would say only 1 out of 20 or 30 such young students would really practise on their own, which actually makes sense as they're just too small. So it's hard to use their initiative to practise as a way to judge whether they're really interested in the instrument or not. In fact, many long lasting interests are actually ACQUIRED with efforts instead of like 2 people falling in love at first sight.
Even those eventually very bright students, they all got very persistence parental guidance, practising day by day at home. And this is the hardest part as it requires great patience, understanding and EQ from parents. And there's always a cost for it, like less time for other games and fun, tension in the parent-child relationship. I personally think if daily home practice is creating huge pressure at home, just wait until the kid gets older. If it's some school requirement, then pick up something relatively easier to start with, like percussion, harmonica, etc (I'm not saying they're easy to master. All musical instruments require hard work for advanced study.)
Afterall, our hope should be helping our kids build up self-confidence through this music learning process instead of telling them they're not good enough for this and that. But it's hard, I know, especially when the "student" is our own kid. 加油！ All dear mommies!作者: ikub08 時間: 2010-11-24 17:50
