Piano Recital

By
The girls put together a private piano recital. We invited their grandparents to watch and listen via Zoom.




This recital was a nice way to mark the progress they have been making.

Now we are making some adjustments to their piano schedule, so they can continue to progress:

We're increasing the amount of time they each spend with their teacher. 

Thus far, they have been sharing one hour once a week with the teacher, because our budget is limited. We are able to increase that to three thirty minute sessions. So they will each be with their teacher thirty minutes a week. While I see the value of time spent with the teacher and realize they could use even more time with their teacher, we are doing what we can.

I am making them each practice ten minutes more everyday. 

So their practice time has increased from thirty to forty minutes daily. Note: Adele, who is just beginning and only eight, went from ten minutes to twenty.  (We usually end up skipping one day of practice a week for various reasons.)

We're not doing piano lessons so anyone will become famous. We're just stewarding God's gift of music.

Several encouraging ways I have seen (and heard) how piano lessons are changing my daughters' lives:

They don't like pop music anymore. They complain when they hear it, ask me to turn it off, call it "noise," etc. (If nothing else comes from piano lessons, this makes the money and time spent on lessons worth it, so far as I am concerned. Not that I hate all pop songs, but a lot of them are noisy and filled with trashy, base ideas represented in their lyrics.  So this development shows me hard, fast proof that the lessons are shaping their musical aesthetic. I love that!)

They choose to listen to more and more Classical music on their own, requesting more and more Classical music on Alexa, etc.

They can sing in tune.

They sing together now while they play or work.

They simply sing more often.

They have started composing their own simple tunes.

They have started recognizing the notes or chords in songs they hear and figuring out the music for songs they don't have sheet music for.

They are learning the chords on the ukulele.

They have stared recognizing themes in Classical songs that are similar to themes in other songs.

I'm really grateful for what is happening in our home though piano lessons. It was several years ago now that we started dreaming, planning, and working towards the goal of brining more music into our lives. Back then, we didn't even have a piano!  God is faithful.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By
Image
"...the child should have a set time everyday to read for fun. Begin with half an hour for first graders, and build up to an hour of reading time daily... This is an important part of the child's education: it improves his reading skills, teaches him the habit of sitting still with a book, and reminds him that reading is fun... free reading ought to be spent on literature at or slightly below the child's present reading level so that he can simply enjoy himself. The easier reading will help him increase his speed." The Well Trained Mind: The Guide to Classical Education at Home by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
Read more

Andrew Peterson's Songs That Celebrate Marriage and Family

By
Recently, I got to go to an Andrew Peterson concert at the Community Coffehouse in Danbury, CT. My dear friend and I didn't realize the show was sold out when we arrived.  But luckily, the lady at the door showed us pity, let us pay for tickets that didn't exist, and go in. We were willing to stand at the back, but we were able to find space on a bench at the back of the hall. I knew a few of the songs he sang that evening, but many of them were new to me because I have a hard time with new music.  I'd rather sing a song I already know by heart a hundred more times than hear a new song through even once. I know it is a problem that I need to work on if for no other reason than for the sake of my poor husband and daughters who have to hear the same albums everyday for a year. No, really. A year. At least. I have been giving myself permission to buy new music for this reason. So I came home that evening or maybe it was the next day and I purchased three of hi
Read more

Astronomer Shoe Boxes for Challenge B

By
Image
  Avril finished her astronomer shoeboxes for Challenge B.   The Challenge B students have all done research and projects on astronomers throughout this first semester.  Now, students choose two (or more) astronomers in secret and provide clues to the astronomers' identities in their shoeboxes.   For instance, if an astronomer made telescopes, sang opera, played piano, discovered binary stars or Uranus, studied eclipses, lived in a simple, log cabin, or made a map of Washington D.C., you might include some of those items to your shoe boxes as hints.  Student bring in their shoeboxes, and classmates get a chance to guess who the astronomers are based on what's inside the boxes.  Can you guess who Avril's astronomers are based on the pictures above?  Hint: Her two boxes actually represent three astronomers total.  
Read more