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I've extrapolated for myself that a lot of things in modern life are boring because they are so superficial, and that they don't need to be.
I think you may be right. I also suspect superficial can be external (how badly it was taught) or internal (you chose not to engage fully).
gotta go practice
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I think there are some bigger myths, at least here in California:
1) Piano lessons must include some sort of testing in order to PROVE that lessons took place and that the student gained a certain "level" of proficiency. Skipping many levels in a short amount of time will make the student look like a genius!
2) Piano lessons creates "accomplishments" such as passing (all ten levels of) tests and winning piano competitions that will look good on a college application.
3) Piano lessons make kids smarter.
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Personal fact: I love to practice and I love playing piano.
Reality: But it would be naive of me to assume (project) that just because I like it, then it's somehow also fun for all of the common people to do.
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Personal fact: I love to practice and I love playing piano.
Reality: But it would be naive of me to assume (project) that just because I like it, then it's somehow also fun for all of the common people to do. Who's naive enough to think that way?
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I think there are some bigger myths, at least here in California:
1) Piano lessons must include some sort of testing in order to PROVE that lessons took place and that the student gained a certain "level" of proficiency. Skipping many levels in a short amount of time will make the student look like a genius!
2) Piano lessons creates "accomplishments" such as passing (all ten levels of) tests and winning piano competitions that will look good on a college application.
3) Piano lessons make kids smarter. AZN, those are important points and I'm glad you posted them. And of course you teachers have to contend with them. In regards to no. 3, that is actually being used to promote piano lessons, and in the long run I think it may do teachers a disservice.
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Personal fact: I love to practice and I love playing piano.
Reality: But it would be naive of me to assume (project) that just because I like it, then it's somehow also fun for all of the common people to do. Who's naive enough to think that way? Is it more naive to think that everyone will like it because you do than to think that no one will like it because someone else doesn't?
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Personal fact: I love to practice and I love playing piano.
Reality: But it would be naive of me to assume (project) that just because I like it, then it's somehow also fun for all of the common people to do. Who's naive enough to think that way? Is it more naive to think that everyone will like it because you do than to think that no one will like it because someone else doesn't? Fortunately nobody expressed that last opinion.
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Joined: Apr 2009
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Personal fact: I love to practice and I love playing piano.
Reality: But it would be naive of me to assume (project) that just because I like it, then it's somehow also fun for all of the common people to do. Who's naive enough to think that way? Is it more naive to think that everyone will like it because you do than to think that no one will like it because someone else doesn't? Fortunately nobody expressed that last opinion. Is that not the opinion expressed in the article quoted in the OP? 1.) "Reality: Real practicing is very, very tedious and boring...But please be clear: practicing is NOT FUN."
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It was confusing because you were responding to someone else, so my impression that you were referring to the opinion of that member, or member(s) in this forum. In regards to the original article, he does not say that no one likes it -- there is no everyone or no one. The writer is expressing broader ideas, and we have been trying to get behind them - in music teaching they seem fairly important. I wouldn't want to get hung up on such absolutes because they seem to miss the point.
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I think there are some bigger myths, at least here in California:
1) Piano lessons must include some sort of testing in order to PROVE that lessons took place and that the student gained a certain "level" of proficiency. Skipping many levels in a short amount of time will make the student look like a genius!
2) Piano lessons creates "accomplishments" such as passing (all ten levels of) tests and winning piano competitions that will look good on a college application.
3) Piano lessons make kids smarter. #3... that depends on how you define 'smart'. No, piano lessons will not raise your IQ, but it will certainly stimulate your brain, enabling you to make the best of what you've got, so you may SEEM smarter than before. And not only kids will benefit, even late(r) in life the benefits of piano playing are profound. Better people than I have studied this at length, and here is one of many many articles on the subject. I also beg to differ with anybody saying piano practice (and I consider each time I touch the piano 'practice') isn't fun. I happen to think it's great fun. I practice 1-2 hours per day as time allows, and I can promise you I wouldn't do it if it wasn't 'fun'. Fun in my book means 'enjoyable', and although it's often 'hard work', it's incredibly enjoyable. Nothing beats the tiny little victories you get daily when conquering a difficult task.
XXXVII-XXXVIII I pray, that tomorrow I may strive to be a little better than I am today - and, on behalf of everybody else, I give thanks for headphones.
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#3... that depends on how you define 'smart'. No, piano lessons will not raise your IQ, but it will certainly stimulate your brain, enabling you to make the best of what you've got, so you may SEEM smarter than before. And not only kids will benefit, even late(r) in life the benefits of piano playing are profound. Better people than I have studied this at length, and here is one of many many articles on the subject. Part of the problem is that such exaggerated claims are very difficult--if not impossible--to prove. So much depends on the depth of involvement in the music-learning process. Some kid who plunks out 4 notes for fun every week (I got a couple of students like that!) is not going to get the same benefit as those who can play Chopin Etudes.
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I see a different problem with no. 3. When a student takes piano lessons, the purpose should be to learn to play music on the piano. Parents of young children must play a supportive role, and show a certain level of commitment. The rewards start to really kick in after a number of years when a lot of skills have been absorbed, more knowledge is there etc. - assuming consistent practice and of the right things that have been given by a good teacher. ** If ** a parent has been lured into piano lessons through the "your child will get better at math." then that commitment is less likely to be there. You don't take math. in order to become a good pianist, and you shouldn't study piano in order to get good at math.
The "academic" argument mostly looks like a sales ploy to get more people to sign up for piano lessons, even if there is some truth to it.
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Some parents promote their kids' education in hopes of the child growing up to become a decent human being.
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Some parents promote their kids' education in hopes of the child growing up to become a decent human being. That is undoubtedly true. However, I can't see what you are trying to say about how this may impact piano studies (in case you were responding to my post).
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The practicing thing is very, very true for me. I dislike true practice. The sheer amount of energy and concentration it takes for me to play the right notes, the right rhythm, with proper technique and relaxation is exhausting. It's fun to play a song that I've almost learned, to hear it become better with every repetition. Both are practice, but the 'fun' level is very different.
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The "better with every repetition" part is what I like. If what I am working on isn't getting better, then I am trying to do too big of a chunk or my mind is elsewhere or both.
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The "better with every repetition" part is what I like. If what I am working on isn't getting better, then I am trying to do too big of a chunk or my mind is elsewhere or both. Yes, I suppose that is true, although it seems when I first start learning a peice, the progress is agonizingly slow at first, then when I'm just finishing up memorizing it and starting to polish it that the real magic seems to happen. A lot of that is probably due to me being a poor sight reader though.
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Yes, I suppose that is true, although it seems when I first start learning a peice, the progress is agonizingly slow at first, then when I'm just finishing up memorizing it and starting to polish it that the real magic seems to happen. A lot of that is probably due to me being a poor sight reader though. You might want to work on easier material for a longer period of time, until your sight reading ability catches up to your repertoire. I do a lot of sight reading, but there also comes a threshold for me when the material is simply WAY too difficult to sight read. Just yesterday something possessed me to pick up Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka. I glanced at it, and then I put it away. Maybe in four years I can come back to it, and (just maybe) by then I'll be able to read through it much faster, so that practicing it won't be such a chore.
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Maybe in four years I can come back to it, and (just maybe) by then I'll be able to read through it much faster, so that practicing it won't be such a chore. You meant your sight reading is still improving even at your current level as time goes on? I thought it would be like your reading skills in a natural language, your reading speed will somehow reach a ceiling somewhere in your early life, improvement after that would be marginal at best. Of course that ceiling is different from person to person. Not true?
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You meant your sight reading is still improving even at your current level as time goes on? I thought it would be like your reading skills in a natural language, your reading speed will somehow reach a ceiling somewhere in your early life, improvement after that would be marginal at best. Of course that ceiling is different from person to person. Not true? Sight reading is hard to measure. It's more of a feeling than anything. I can tell you that my sight reading definitely improved after college, and it was already very good to begin with. Teaching a variety of unfamiliar music and teaching theory really helped me get better at sight reading. I hope there's not a ceiling in sight, because I'd love to be able to sight read Stravinsky at some point in my life, before the effects of aging settles in.
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:34 PM
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:23 PM
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