Shoemaker's children
You know the story about the shoemaker who made shoes for everyone but his own family, right? That is always a bit how I've felt about my own children and piano lessons. I teach other people's children to play the piano, but teaching my own children often has fallen by the wayside.
Today, I woke up and decided to turn over a new leaf and begin piano lessons for my children (again). I was glad everyone was so excited when I announced the news, but also felt a little badly that this is something they are all (well, except for B.) interested in and something I can easily do, but just haven't.
The first step today was to figure out just where everyone was at. Some have had more actual instruction than others and some have taught themselves quite a bit, so it was a matter of matching books to ability. I will be teaching five of the ten. A. is much farther than I remembered and remembers more than I expected. P. and TM are of the 'teach myself' school, so I need to spend a little time filling in blanks that have been missed. D. started a long time ago, but it was too long ago for him to remember, so we are beginning again. And H. has loved to play on the piano since she came home and seems to be very musical, so I've shown her a few things. It's a bit trickier with H. because of the language differences and the fact she doesn't read. I will be teaching her things by rote for a while and not worry so much about reading music. She was thrilled to have something to 'really' play like everyone else.
My plan is to do lessons for them on Saturday mornings because I am already teaching and since I am still rebuilding my studio I have the time. I'll worry about coming up with plan B when I get more students.
I have to say part of all this is self-defense. My children need to learn new songs on the piano because I don't think I can take many more repetitions of the few they are currently playing.
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In unrelated news, I will be speaking with Nancy Turner on her program This is the Day on Moody radio on Monday, May 7 at 10am central time. You can listen online if you are interested and don't have it broadcast locally. I'll be speaking on the topic of joyful parenting.
Today, I woke up and decided to turn over a new leaf and begin piano lessons for my children (again). I was glad everyone was so excited when I announced the news, but also felt a little badly that this is something they are all (well, except for B.) interested in and something I can easily do, but just haven't.
The first step today was to figure out just where everyone was at. Some have had more actual instruction than others and some have taught themselves quite a bit, so it was a matter of matching books to ability. I will be teaching five of the ten. A. is much farther than I remembered and remembers more than I expected. P. and TM are of the 'teach myself' school, so I need to spend a little time filling in blanks that have been missed. D. started a long time ago, but it was too long ago for him to remember, so we are beginning again. And H. has loved to play on the piano since she came home and seems to be very musical, so I've shown her a few things. It's a bit trickier with H. because of the language differences and the fact she doesn't read. I will be teaching her things by rote for a while and not worry so much about reading music. She was thrilled to have something to 'really' play like everyone else.
My plan is to do lessons for them on Saturday mornings because I am already teaching and since I am still rebuilding my studio I have the time. I'll worry about coming up with plan B when I get more students.
I have to say part of all this is self-defense. My children need to learn new songs on the piano because I don't think I can take many more repetitions of the few they are currently playing.
____________________
In unrelated news, I will be speaking with Nancy Turner on her program This is the Day on Moody radio on Monday, May 7 at 10am central time. You can listen online if you are interested and don't have it broadcast locally. I'll be speaking on the topic of joyful parenting.
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