Kriston (and others) how did you approach piano lessons? Was it something optional "would you like to take lessons?" or more like "hey, guess what? you're taking piano lessons!"
Just curious.
JB
We sort of fell into it, but they both like it, so we stick with it.
DS8 needed music of some sort for homeschooling. I could manage it, badly, but I'm not my first choice for a music teacher.
DS8 was interested in learning to play the guitar, but he had no background whatsoever in music. Several guitarists I know recommended starting with piano so he could get the basics of reading music and music theory and because at 6 or 7, he was really too young for a full-sized guitar. We had the keyboard, so it made sense to start there, at least for a year. He liked it and made quick progress.
After DS8 had taken lessons for 6 months or a year, DS5 had become really interested in taking lessons, so we added a beginner class for him, too. Actually, DS5 is the kid who plays without being nagged. He stops by the keyboard probably 5 or 6 times a day without my saying a word. (I have to remind DS8 to practice, though full-on nagging has not really been necessary.) Sometimes DS5 stops by the keyboard just to mess around with the sound effects--something our piano teacher has encouraged, actually--but DS5 has also taught himself a couple of his brother's harder songs and has figured out harmonies and chords for songs he knows without being taught. Since he is really only supposed to be playing one hand at a time yet, I think that's pretty great!
DS5's playing around has taken him way beyond where the lessons are, and that's a little weird. But the two stages of development--what he does on his own and what he does in his lessons--seem to coexist, and the teacher is thrilled with how he's doing. I get the feeling that not many kids like to play and actually practice. LOL! She has asked me to let him mess around. Fun is good, she says, even if it involves "Ode to Joy" in sound effects.
So the short(er) answer to your question, I guess, is that it was a less-than-gentle suggestion for one child, but with his buy-in, and was his own idea for the other. I have threatened to take away lessons if DS8 doesn't practice, though, and he always gets upset and protests that he does want to play. So I feel pretty sure that both kids like to play.
I've always wanted to play piano and never have, but now DS8 wants to give ME lessons. I think that might be a good experience for us both, so I'm taking him up on it.
We're starting over the holiday break!
