Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Experiences of HG, EG, PG children learning music

I'm curious to hear others experiences with their children learning instruments/ reading music.

Did you share with the music teacher their intellectual giftedness? Was their learning rate fast? How did they deal with the frustrations of learning an instrument (fingers need to build strength and coordination)? How do you balance musical talent with academic talent? Also curious, does anyone have thoughts on how a significantly stronger VCI or stronger PRI could impact how a student learns music?

We had to talk a guitar teacher into taking on our DD at 6, and we mentioned her intellectual abilities as an argument in her favor. He'd never had a student that young. She learned very quickly. Unfortunately, she didn't have the discipline to practice or tolerate failure, and she ended up dropping it after several months. The maturity factor wasn't there yet. There's plenty of time yet for her to pick it up again later, and I'm sure she will.

My personal thought is that music naturally lends itself to the visual-spatial mind, because of the way it's written (the symbols are largely visual), the way it employs patterns, and the way it's underpinned by mathematical constructs.

We were trying to get into a group piano class and were being pushed to give DD lessons before she was 3.5. We said no. Her birthday is end of Sept so when the group piano started in Sept, the instructor pushed me again and DH and I decided to start. She had perfect pitch and her coordination and ability to move her fingers quickly was extraordinary. She did a concert at 7 but she didn't love it enough and the work for the concert was tough on her. The pieces were very fast and very strong, so she had a lot of pounding of chords with one hand rapidly scaling down the piano. And for a concert, where people are paying, it has to be really good or you cannot play. We took a down year and now she is with a jazz pianist and starting to get into it again. I want her to enjoy her talent. So DD has the piano ability/math combo that some gifties have.

I think it is VS since I was able to pick up the piano much easier (you sort of try it again when they play) than DH, who thought he would be couldn't. He was a verbal kind of guy.

Ren

DD7's virulent perfectionism almost disappears when he practices piano - it's a bit eerie. He will repeat as necessary to reach perfection without the tantrums/quitting/bad attitude that can occur in other pursuits. For that reason, alone, we'd stick with it, but he also genuinely enjoys it. He chose the instrument and has played for 3 years. We haven't shared any testing information to date, but he's switched music schools and I'm considering doing so to help his new teacher understand his strengths and weaknesses. That seems a kindness to both of them. He picks up the concepts very quickly and the beauty of piano is that he doesn't have to learn how to make the note, he just has to learn the right key to press, which mitigates some of the frustration of comprehension outpacing fingers.

No, we let that be its own little surprise. LOL DD is in year 8 of piano lessons. She also took violin in a group setting (with me) when she was 7. That didn't last, for reasons I'll elaborate upon later.


The thing that made the biggest difference I think was that her cognitive ability has made learning to read music effortless. It's been osmotic-- and I get the sense that is NOT the case for most piano students who study theory and technique. She also sight-reads amazingly well-- nearly pro level, and always has done, right at the limit of her technical skill level.


Yes, dramatically-- at least for the first three years (piano). Yes also with violin, though not nearly so dramatic as with piano, and the challenges experienced by not yet having a sense of absolute pitch made the challenge unacceptably high for my DD. Also-- Mom was better without practicing (having had 12 or so years of additional experience with a treble clef instrument, mind). Unacceptable.
She has now decided that she'd like to try a string instrument again at some point-- so who knows?

Piano again: she still practices about half what someone at her level "should" in order to make progress the way that she does. If she were to double her practice time, I think that her skill advancement might well triple. We insist on a minimum and don't really fuss about it. Piano is for a lifetime and for learning task persistence/frustration tolerance/etc. Not for competitions in the here and now.

She does things for fun that many students never attempt-- like introducing a steady swing into something like.... one of the Bach two-part inventions, for example. She likes to just "tweak" things like that, just to amuse herself. She improvises during about 15% of her "practice" time daily.

Practice: what this means to my DD is something quite different from what her teacher (or myself, truthfully) have in mind. But there's no moving her. She practices by: a) warming up for 2-5 minutes with Hanon, Concone, or something similar then b) 5-10 minutes playing each of her "in progress" assignments through, with the instructions her teacher has given her-- unless they've slipped her mind or she doesn't like them, in which case she ignores the advice on fingerings, etc and just plays them through the way she pleases, and c) 10-15 minutes of playing whatever she fancies... often improv on piano standards, or tinkering with show tunes, sometimes sight reading. Yes. She practices (at most) 30 minutes a day. Late intermediate, why do you ask?



Piano: badly-- but raw talent and aptitude was enough to make it tolerable until she had enough invested that it made no sense to quit and start something else. (See above note on sight-reading). We also "fed" her desire to master with a steady stream of the types of material that she personally preferred (Russian and eastern European folk, ragtime, jazz, and FAST paced baroque-through-classical). Now it's Broadway standards, and has been for several years. It's a serious shame that she doesn't have an emotional connection to Debussy, because man-- she can move a listener to tears with it. In a good way. She can also move a listener to tears with how lackadaisical she is when her teacher is trying to tell her something.

Violin: This was the kicker, ultimately-- she couldn't develop hand strength and skill without practicing, and muscle memory never developed. Mental skill was fine, but didn't ever match the (more anemic) physical skill set. Intolerable. She quit.


I tend to think that this is generally the same TYPE of problem as with any other extracurricular. That is, for most of them, they find a point of balance with it. For those who are prodigy-type talent or who are OBSESSED and using it as an escape from an otherwise intolerable educational setting, parents may have to put limits on things to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It's never been a problem here.


No idea, really.

Both our kids learned to read music without specifically being taught- they were in group cello lessons in school and the teaching was primarily by ear, but the kids did for some reason get sheet music of the pieces. The group lessons were frustrating, as they did learn faster and were ready to move ahead way before the group. The hand strength required for cello was frustrating for my DS, but he was able to see the benefits of regular practice. Still, after a year both kids switched to individual lessons on woodwinds. Again, both have found it easier than their peers seem to; DD earned first chair in her All-county orchestra at the youngest age eligible to try out. DS is still in the early stages and braces have added some frustrations to his initial progress.

As far as balance, the only issues have been the occasional major conflicts like science olympiad tournaments and all-county on the same weekend kind of stuff; you learn to prioritize and work it out (remarkably, the same kids are usually involved). Overall, it has been a great escape and relaxation tool, particularly for DD, and both enjoy the camaraderie of band, even if the music is not particularly challenging for them.

ETA: forgot to mention that although DD refused formal piano lessons, she has always been able to play her band and orchestra music on the piano, and has taught herself to play fairly well things which she finds interesting enough to work at- usually minecraft music she finds online, or Journey songs😊.

Also, our experience with sight-reading is like that of HK; my DD is very, very good at it. DS is hard to tell yet- he's crafty with his skills

Thanks for all the input. I ask partly because of an interest in the impact of early musical education on a large scale (think Venezuela and El Sistema). Is early music education a key component in shaping certain cognitive abilities?

I also ask because DS7 is drawn to music and after a few years of cello, he asked to add piano. After three piano lessons, his progress struck me as fairly rapid- sight reading music with both hands (though fairly easy pattern to recognize). I think we understand his strengths and weaknesses fairly well, but we are still in that phase of discovery (and in all honesty, disbelief at times). How different is our child's learning style, rate? He is also very hard on himself in the initial phase of reading a new song- he pushes himself through it, but I've witnessed him hit himself on the head with his fist in frustration when he struggles. My husband says not to worry, if he hurts himself, he will stop the behavior. Once again, he struggles the first few times through his songs, but by the end of the week they are fairly polished (and he is all smiles and proud of his work.) Since he seems to push himself so hard, having some references from other parents of gifted children helps me shape what is "normal" for him.

DD6yo just started piano this August. She practices maybe 3-5 times a week, weekly lessons, and seems to be picking it up quickly, according to her teacher. The teacher discussed realistic expectations (just a standard discussion of a bunch if stuff before starting lessons) and noted she had one gifted student before, but his hands still had to grow before he could do everything his mind would let him do. But even when we called she said six was on the young side and asked about sitting and focusing, reading, so those were two times we had an opening to mention DD's typical abilities. I reiterated that we wanted something challenging for DD, we didn't care about what she could play by what time, as long as she enjoyed it. DD has been very dedicated to practicing and figuring out how she likes to study her note flash cards. She can definitely see how going through practicing multiple times takes her from rough to competent, so I'm very happy that it is something to counter perfectionism.

My ds6 has been taking private violin lessons for 6 months. He learns quickly, but gets frustrated with "not sounding as good as his teacher". In the last few weeks, his teacher has changed the lesson to be half "book work"- learning to read music, and half on the instrument. We have also made 10min daily practice part of his homework. This has made him feel better as his "sound" has greatly improved. His teacher recognizes his natural talent and strong memory. I had eluded to his intellect, but not forth right. My ds is eager for more and faster, but things are working for now. He just can't wait to start playing a song. Last lesson, the teacher mentioned that maybe ds would want to play his own song. Overall, a good experience.

Mr W has taken piano lessons since he was almost 4. The first three months he just played along. Then, one day it clicked and he sight read the music, played the notes, and sang the words on key. We still have the email from his teacher about this saying she was stunned. She still talks about him.

At age 5, he knows hundreds of songs and can dance pretty well, too.

She did not know about him. He pretty much sold himself. His PRI is very high. He did large puzzles at 12 months and was able complete the SET game between 2 and 3 years.

He can sing back a song on key after hearing it once. Then can play it on the piano. Nearly perfect recall of anything he hears even a year later. He loves musicals - he sat through the full wizard of oz at 8 months of age.