on forced instrument learning (and only piano/violin, nothing else)

[acroyear]

Renewable Music: Piano and Violin: Blunt Instruments of Bourgeois Education:

But I do wish to add two caveats. The first is that the orchestra (professional or amateur) relatively rarely uses pianos and though there can be many violins, we need violas and bassoons and horns as well. A world full of "Chinese Mothered" violinists and pianists will be a world in which violists, bassoonists and horn players will be valued more highly. (The "Chinese Mother" appears not always to be wise about economics.) The second caveat is that I want to work with and listen to musicians who are not only mechanically competent, but are honestly interested in the music and, generally speaking, cheerful rather than fearful about music-making. Unfortunately the tactical application of fear appears to be a major element of Prof. Chua's pedagogy; in all my experience of music, I have never seen any necessity for fear as an element in its production.

Comments

[vconaway.livejournal.com]

You're right as far as demand goes, but when it comes to pedagogy violin and piano are pretty much the best bets. It's a LOT easier to learn winds and other strings from a piano/violin background than vice versa. Piano is an excellent introduction to music theory, and violin's emphasis on intonation is a very good basis for further music education.

Also, piano and violin are among the most difficult instruments to play, so their learning is also a very good exercise in practice and discipline.

[sestree.livejournal.com]

Odd I never found piano hard to learn but rather hard to master. I learned the concepts easily but we still have a love/hate relationship. When it's good I love it. When it's a struggle I want to leap from a building onto a mattress of nails.

I should have read your comment before I commented mine because I said basically the same thing.

oops

off topic - do I recognize you? if so I think I have a couple of your CDs

[vconaway.livejournal.com]

You might recognize me (I'm a dulcimer player), and if you have the CDs I hope you're enjoying them! And you're right about the piano being harder to master than to understand, but getting both hands to do different things is tricky.

[sestree.livejournal.com]

Yes I do - and yes I enjoy them. I have 2 I think.

I didn't have problems teaching two different hands to do two different things (percussionist at heart I guess) or reading two lines of music at once. Mine is I over analyze it. I can't be free with the piano except very rarely and then it's beautiful. The rest of the time I sound like a drummer who's been accidentally cast as a pianist.


Mind if I send you a friends request on here? I've missed you at faire the last year or two. If you say no I'll understand :)

[vconaway.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! I haven't been back to Maryland in a few years, but I'm hoping to make it back someday. I'm glad you like the CDs, that's always great to hear :)

[sestree.livejournal.com]

ahhh but piano is a great leaping off point to other instruments. It can be a useful tool to go into percussion (me) or oboe (Shannon G) or even bassoon (from flute - a weird transition but ok - Michaela).

Of the 3, none of us played proficiently at piano. I was closest and I'm not good. However, it was through piano that my instructor noticed I had a flair for understanding rhythmic changes and could keep a surprisingly steady beat. Being able to read both bass and treble clef (along with being hideously organized) lead to an amateur symphonic career (tuned percussion) that paid for my college.

I liken learning piano to learning beginning algebra. While not everyone will use it in their professional lives, it teaches a useful skill. If nothing else, it teaches discipline.

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

I started on oboe and taught myself flute, recorder, and tin whistle. I sucked at piano and never could get my hands coordinated.

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

I have a friend with that problem; he can play the right hand at speed, then the left hand at speed, but putting them together completely baffles him. In his case, I think he just hasn't hit the Ah-HAH! moment of figuring it out; the piano's an excellent teacher of ambidexterity, and he's ambi-sinistrous. ;) (Ambidextrous, left-hand dominant.)

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

i've always thought that what one eventually chooses for a career is what they do that maximizes both brain halves equally and makes the most of the connections between the two halves.

i also would guess that the problem your friend may have is actually physical. such coordinations can't necessarily be trained (question: how good a typist is he?).

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

IME, put a musical instrument in front of a small child and they will enthusiastically explore it. A piano is the ultimate instant-gratification toy for a 3-month-old; Himself went into paroxysms of ecstatic glee when he first slammed his pudgy little fists on my piano. :)

Forcing learning, however, is a good way to sour anybody on the subject matter, be it music or math.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

every time Costco has a keyboard turned on, I'm always amazed at how easily children can grasp the harmonic systems that Schoenberg took 20 years to create.

[uncle-possum.livejournal.com]

I was forced to take piano for 6 years, starting in 1st grade. It's a long story, but the basic reason was that my father inherited a piano. I sucked at it, although I caught on to reading music early.

I was able to get out of the lessons late in 6th grade because a music man came to the school, and I was able to convince parents to get a cornet. I was decent at it, not spectacular. Things changed a little when I was able to get a teacher who actually used things like the hit Parade (this was way before Top 40)--so for the first time since the 1st grade I was learning music I had ever heard anywhere.

But, in high school I discovered my instrument was the tuba/Sousaphone. Again a long story, but in short, a friend joined the Marines and the band needed a tuba player, and I could read music and had played brass. The tuba had been an option back in the 6th grade, but my parents felt it was not a real instrument, rather some kind of clown novelty (in other words, the bourgeois impetus for making kids take music lessons is there in the raw).

Made state band, played in the college marching band, and otherwise had fun with the tuba. But, that involved doing something that I actually wanted to do.

(Oh, just for an example, at one point my parents actually used a timer to insure I practiced piano enough. For two weeks, I deliberately did nothing but hit keys, and I knew enough to avoid actually making any kind of harmony or melody--and for two weeks, neither parent noticed that there was nothing but noise coming out. It was clear that music had nothing to do with the whole thing. But we were one of only two families in the neighborhood who had a piano and could afford to make the kid take lessons. Thorstein Veblen would have been proud)

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

I know that when I was a kid, violin was the only option offered at first for learning an instrument in elementary school. (I think it was 3rd-4th grade.)

Funny you mention bassoon, since a coworker of mine has a daughter who used to play clarinet, but switched to bassoon because it gave her a greater chance to get some play in the school orchestra. Course, she's going to go on to work in the music business side of things rather than as a musician.