Music lessons

[Twoboos]

DDs INSISTED they wanted to take violin lessons. DD2 especially. She demanded DH call teachers - she stood next to him and watched him make the calls. I did not want this, but DDs and DH were really into it so let it go.

Fast forward 4 months. They love the teacher and the 30min lesson once a week. Teacher has asked that the practice 10min daily, or at least a few times a week. Getting them to practice is like pulling teeth. If I get them to do it once a week, it's a miracle. And the 10min of practicing turns into 25min with all the "Are we done yet?" "How much longer?" "When can we stop?" "WHY do we have to practice?!"

THEY wanted this, and now I am the bad guy for having them practice. Well, I am DONE. Dh says we have to give it until June, so a full 6mos. Of course he's not the one dragging them to lessons and listening to the complaining about practicing. $400 to rent violins for a year (I think they will prorate if we stop), and $50/week for lessons. Yup. D-O-N-E.

They want to switch to piano. HAHA, not on my watch. I think they don't understand piano requires practice, too.

Ahhh, thank you for letting me get that off my chest.

[ett]

I feel your pain! DS1 just started violin lessons last year and does not like to practice either. I'm not sure how old your DDs are, but DS1 is 8.5 so while he doesn't like it, he doesn't complain as much during the practice but getting him to start is the hard part. He takes free lessons at school so we only have to pay rental for $20/month. We just keep reminding him no practice; no lessons.

[zag95]

Here's a thought. Talk to the violin teacher about some of the struggles that you are having with practicing. Maybe you should back off totally and not enforce the practicing- then the teacher can ask the girls how much they have been practicing, esp if they are not improving as quickly.

It might be pretty interesting for your girls to have to be accountable to the teacher, rather than mom nagging them. (In other words, they may respond differently to her)- and maybe after the teacher commenting about how they need to practice more, they will be more inclined to work on it at home.

Good luck! I played violin and viola from 4th grade thru soph yr in college (was in the school orchestra at my college) and my teachers knew when I didn't practice enough.

[sarahsthreads]

Here's a thought. Talk to the violin teacher about some of the struggles that you are having with practicing. Maybe you should back off totally and not enforce the practicing- then the teacher can ask the girls how much they have been practicing, esp if they are not improving as quickly.

It might be pretty interesting for your girls to have to be accountable to the teacher, rather than mom nagging them. (In other words, they may respond differently to her)- and maybe after the teacher commenting about how they need to practice more, they will be more inclined to work on it at home.

:yeahthat:

But be sure to let the teacher know that you're not going to enforce practice so she can look for that. I found that DD1 didn't practice as much as she should during the week for her piano lessons...but the material was easy enough and progressed slowly enough that she could fake her way through the next lesson. The teacher would never have noticed if I didn't tell her that DD1 hadn't practiced that week. She reminded DD1 that she needed to practice to make the skills second nature, even if she could do it without practicing. I backed off, DD1 started practicing without being asked - though still not as often as she should - and she only had one week that the teacher decided to re-assign the same pieces because she hadn't progressed enough.

FWIW, I did this as a child with every instrument I learned as well, until I got to high school and they gave me stuff that was too complex to easily sight read. I now accompany the local high school musicals, and practice more in a week than I did in a whole year of lessons as a kid! :rotflmao:

Sarah :)

[lizzywednesday]

Wow, I understand the need to practice between lessons/rehearsals all too well!

I only started practicing outside rehearsals for chorus when I was a senior in high school.

I should have started sooner because I'd have known my music a lot better, but I didn't have anybody to ask about key signature (which was why I couldn't bang out notes - key signature didn't click for me until Senior year and then I felt stupid that it hadn't) and why when I played the notes in my music they didn't sound the same as when the chorus director played them.

I had wanted to take voice lessons, but we couldn't afford them.

In college, I was better about practicing if the dorm common room had a piano.

These days, I use the piano app on my iPhone and MIDI sites.

[karstmama]

i like the 'make the teacher the enforcer' idea. how about 'make the timer the bad guy'? get buy-in from your dds that practice is a part of lessons, and no practice means no more lessons. agree on 10 minutes a day or every other day or whatever.

you set a timer for the 10 minutes. they (or one at a time) practice. any break in flow of practice, any 'are we done yet?', any fooling around - 3 more minutes. when the timer dings, done. if they keep going, great, if not, ok.

then the timer is the bad guy, procrastinating is not rewarded, done is done.

at least you aren't the nag in the scenario this way.