Being Nick, he became attached to his teacher, so when the young man announced his departure to return to school, Nick took it hard. And then when the school announced that it was closing it's doors for financial reasons, I took it as a sign to find someone else.
I still haven't found anyone else.
I need to, because not only did I explain to Nick that he needs to give it another year, but Nathan really needs to take lessons.
In the meantime, I have a number of books and I have been sitting down with the boys for a few minutes each day, trying to teach them a little bit myself.
This is hard. For one thing, even though the boys are excited about it, they don't want to learn from me. Even Nathan gets frustrated when he doesn't get something right away. One mistake, and instead of a quick "try it again!" I need to coax the child back into the chair because he has slumped to the floor, then I need to remind the child that it was just one mistake, and then I need to point out where the mistake was, and show him where to put his hands again, and by the time he starts playing he forgot what it was he did and makes the exact same mistake again. Most of Nick's practice time is him sitting and crying and saying "I can't do it! I can't do it! I hate this and you can't make me!"
I'm fine with mistakes. It's not trying that gets to me. Nick seems to be allergic to effort.
So I need to reconsider this whole thing. I think giving a child the opportunity to understand music is important. But I refuse to do this for much longer.
1 comment:
Have you thought about asking around (esp at church choir) to see if there might be a piano-playing teenager who would want to make some summer cash teaching the boys? Maybe the the young man who returned to school has an idea?
PS And now you have some insight into your Mother attempting to get 5 kids to practice violin! Sometimes even I thought one of you might explode during those practice sessions.
Post a Comment