advice for young child?

silverharp

I have a 6 year old who has been learning the Piano for the last year, he's reasonably good and self motivated, and for instance he started with another child but he moved ahead so fast the teacher had to split them. He's currently in the Leeson Park school of music where he gets about 20min of teaching time on the Piano. Now to be fair the teacher is requesting that he gets extra time and skip ahead in the books they use. Our objective is not to hot house him or push him in a particular direction but at the same time if he is soaking it up so easily I dont want him held back because he doesnt get enough face time with a teacher.
Has anyone been through their system and is it best to just let the school manage it or should we consider other options?

The Mad Hatter

To be honest, twenty-minute lessons won't keep any student going beyond the first year or two. Seems like his teacher knows what s/he is doing, and it seems like your son enjoys it, so I'd say go for the thirty-minute classes.

What other options do you mean?

wosheen

Hi Silverharp

I don't know of the Leeson Park school of music but I note from their website that they do "Singing; Listening; Musical Games; Percussion; Movement; Preparation for instrumental studies; Introduction to music notation for 5 to 8 year groups"

It sounds like a good programme, and I've found that children enjoy music and learn better in groups when they are that age; they associate learning music with having fun, and it's good for them to see other kids playing music too. Have you talked to the people who run the school to explore the idea of increasing his individual lesson time? If they cannot change their schedules to facilitate this, would it be possible to see if he can continue to go to the school for these activities - the games and social aspect so on - but do his individual lesson separately so he can get this extra time?

I taught violin, and agree completly with The Mad Hatter - 20 min lesson is good for the first year when they're at very young age (limited attention span and you don't want to overwhelm them), but this should go up to 30 min lesson pretty quickly. I've even gave 45 min lessons to some children aged 7 and 8 and it never seemd to overwhelm them, a lot of it is in how you structure the lesson and keep them interested. You're not hot housing him it he enjoys it and is self-motivated - some of that may come from being in the music school environment so you wouldn't want to pull him away from that completely just yet.

What has to school said back to you, or have you discussed this with them?

Best of luck to you and your son whatever you decide, hope he continues to enjoy the piano!

silverharp

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

To be honest, twenty-minute lessons won't keep any student going beyond the first year or two. Seems like his teacher knows what s/he is doing, and it seems like your son enjoys it, so I'd say go for the thirty-minute classes.

What other options do you mean?

Switching to the Acadamy in Westland Row when a little older?

wosheen wrote: »

I don't know of the Leeson Park school of music but I note from their website that they do "Singing; Listening; Musical Games; Percussion; Movement; Preparation for instrumental studies; Introduction to music notation for 5 to 8 year groups"

It sounds like a good programme, and I've found that children enjoy music and learn better in groups when they are that age; they associate learning music with having fun, and it's good for them to see other kids playing music too. Have you talked to the people who run the school to explore the idea of increasing his individual lesson time? If they cannot change their schedules to facilitate this, would it be possible to see if he can continue to go to the school for these activities - the games and social aspect so on - but do his individual lesson separately so he can get this extra time?

I taught violin, and agree completly with The Mad Hatter - 20 min lesson is good for the first year when they're at very young age (limited attention span and you don't want to overwhelm them), but this should go up to 30 min lesson pretty quickly. I've even gave 45 min lessons to some children aged 7 and 8 and it never seemd to overwhelm them, a lot of it is in how you structure the lesson and keep them interested. You're not hot housing him it he enjoys it and is self-motivated - some of that may come from being in the music school environment so you wouldn't want to pull him away from that completely just yet.

What has to school said back to you, or have you discussed this with them?

Best of luck to you and your son whatever you decide, hope he continues to enjoy the piano!

thanks your thoughts, as his teacher is taking an interest, we probably just need to see what the teacher's ideas are. My wife is able to help him at home as well so that's good. The group environment is good and we'd like him to possibly do a wind instrument when he's older to expand in his interest.

Doshea3

silverharp wrote: »

Switching to the Acadamy in Westland Row when a little older?

To be honest, as I mentioned just now in another thread, the problem with the Academy or DIT Conservatory, like any music school, is that you can end up paying huge fees for a service that is not necessarily any better than what any other teachers are offering. Of course, there are many excellent teachers in the Academy and in DIT, but unless you know who you're looking for you could end up with a teacher no better that who's available in the local music school. Your son's teacher seems to be really interested in his musical wellbeing, so I'd trust his/her opinions for as long as your son keeps making progress. Leeson Park have a very well-respected system in place...there naturally comes a time in which talented students advance to a point when they outgrow their teachers and can learn no more from them, as every teacher has his/her own particulal strengths and weaknesses, but until that time comes (and any honest teacher will be frank about this with you) then I'd trust the advice you've been given.

Taking up a wind instrument is a great idea! There is a recorder consort class in the DIT Conservatory, a sort of introduction to the wind instrument curriculum before the child picks an instrument like flute or oboe or clarinet. It's run by the very talented Laoise O'Brien...I'd even suggest inquiring about this for next September.