Comments

I love the stars Idea, I wish my parents had done it when I was younger, though I practiced a lot on my own.

I think it is great that your son wants to play. I loved the suzuki Method, until recently that is what I was trained by, until my new teacher took me off of it. Though, I think that learning to read music first is important.

Richard, It's great that you practiced on your own. That's my experience too: my parents aren't musicians and they did their part by paying for and driving me to lessons. They never supervised my practicing at all, not once. And when my mother sat through the occasional lesson with me, it was stressful for both of us. This was good for me in terms of attitude: for example, I think it's been helpful for me as an adult to realize that I play for myself and no one's going to be there to spoon-feed me. But it took me a lot longer to figure out how to practice effectively--if I even have, now. I wasted a lot of time when I was younger, just playing through stuff without defined goals. I'm hoping I can spare my own kids that, at least. Karen, reading about your children brought back memories of my, uh, sibling rivalry with my brother. He was seven when he started piano lessons, and I was three at the time. My Mom, an excellent amateur pianist herself, hired a grad student to come to the house once a week to teach my brother.

I was so willfully obnoxious (and jealous) of his lessons that I was banned from the room while he played!

P.S. I started piano, wisely, at six. I switched to violin at ten. My brother quit piano at fourteen, but he can still pick out "My Old Kentucky Home".

Nice motivating technique, Karen! I'll try it with my older daughter, who is addicted to a particular DVD. Wow, I thought I was the only one who threw violins...I remember throwing my half-size a long time ago...my mom was totally ticked off cause the bridge fell out and the soundpost moved and we had to get it fixed...and now I want to go professional...funny what the years do to you.