Not an audition

Another holiday-related post, apparently… Every December my mom’s side of our family gathers around my aunt’s piano to sing carols.  When my cousins and I were young, the gathering was Christmas Eve; my mom, her sisters, and each of their families.  Now these families are stretched thinner at the holidays, with several spouses’ worth of [...]

How do I get my child to…

How do I get my child to __________? I hear this question a lot, with varying contents filling in the blank.  For example, …hold her pencil right? …read more? …practice his violin? …keep her room clean? …spell better? In some ways these are all really different questions.  The bedroom and violin and the spelling are [...]

Instruments of choice

Several years ago I tried to teach myself to play the guitar.  I got good enough that I could strum my way through a few songs, but I couldn’t ever really make sense of the chords, so eventually I stopped playing.  I’d learned to read music as a child playing wind instruments, but you can’t [...]

Reference can help the brain do its best work

The other day I was sitting with an 8 year-old as she wrote out the date.  At one point she turned to look behind her at the analog clock on the wall.  ”I always look at the clock to make sure my 9 is going the right way,” she told me. Kids who know they’re [...]

Gandhi and the piano

Be the change you wish to see in the world, said Gandhi.  I assume he meant that it works better to start with yourself and let that be an example, an inspiration, an opportunity for others to try it for themselves.  It doesn’t work as well to start by trying to get other people to take [...]

Really little steps

So let’s say a kid wants to learn something big.  And by big, I mean something that could take a long time to master – something like speaking a language fluently, playing the piano, having a book published, competing in the Olympics, reading Harry Potter.  An accomplishment that will mean a high degree of mastery [...]

Something obvious, frustrating, usually unavoidable, and often worth the effort

Now that’s an appealing title for a post, isn’t it?  But if you decided to read it anyway, you’re probably someone who will tolerate frustration if you believe the payoff will be greater than the cost.  I spoke with a mom recently who’s looking for someone to work with her daughter on her piano playing. [...]

Absence…

…makes the heart grow fonder, or so they say.  It can also make the plants seem like they’re growing faster, if you leave at the right time of year and the weather cooperates. . … and 11 days later…    Things can happen when/because you’re not micromanaging them.  My elation at the size of the [...]