This is more a parental vent. I know some of the responses I am going to get on motivation and intiative. DD5 is showing motivation and iniative for things like math. Yes, it is summer, yes, she is on the beach most of the day, but DH bought these math workbooks at the dollar store and DD5 is picking them up after dinner and doing problems. Pages of them.
But we are spending the summer learning to read music. That is our goal for the summer so that she refrains from just memorizing pieces. It is somewhat frustrating and we tend to do it after lunch, after a morning at swim camp. But we are only doing 20 minutes a day and it is like pulling teeth. But I do not want to spend the good money on her piano teacher in the fall and do this when we can just get it done this summer. She is really doing well but hates it. So we decided she could decide on something she really wants and gets a star for everyday she really cooperates and after 50 stars she gets the thing.
It really isn't that hard, and she knows a lot of the basics, but trying to get her to change the habit of reading the music, instead of memorizing, is painful -- for me. We are using the easiest pieces in her book, but then she can play them easily and memorize them easily also. So then we have to move away from the piano and just get her to tell me the notes. But then by the 3rd day, I think she has just memorized what the notes are.
I just thought of when she was 2 and memorized 30 books we read to her. Soon after that she was reading. I hope for a similarly smooth transition this summer. What a pain.
Ren
