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Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

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Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#251

Post by GlenTheMachine »

worldsavior wrote: post #166
GlenTheMachine wrote: post #96

My mom made me and both of my brothers take 9 years of piano lessons. Today, not one of us plays - I don't think any of us even has a keyboard in our houses. The reason for this is simply that we were never allowed to play the kind of music we liked . Which was, of course, rock. Or blues, or country. Or, really, anything with a beat. Nope; it was all classical all the time. And piano lessons were the only time we wer…

So why don't you play rock blues or whatever now? Is it because of trauma?

It's because I never got good enough at piano to play anything for fun. I hated lessons and I hated practicing. That's why the time was so wasted; I was so I invested in the entire enterprise that I learned as little as possible. Bear in mind that this started when I was 8, so I wasn't mature enough to be able to see any long-term upside to it.

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#252

Post by 1983054105 »

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #96

My mom made me and both of my brothers take 9 years of piano lessons. Today, not one of us plays - I don't think any of us even has a keyboard in our houses. The reason for this is simply that we were never allowed to play the kind of music we liked . Which was, of course, rock. Or blues, or country. Or, really, anything with a beat. Nope; it was all classical all the time. And piano lessons were the only time we wer…

"Me too." I learned the piano because you have to learn the piano. And you have to play classical music because there is no other stuff and most teachers only like classical music.

My parents had the same reaction with computers: programming is stupid therefore you can't enjoy programming at such a young age, the parents decide for you. 30 years later, I still love programming and would never do anything else in my life.

Edit: When I think about it, the greatest music players on earth have an almost religious or orgasmic experience while playing music, while our parents saw that as yet another chore equivalent to what was taught at school. It's ridiculous.

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#253

Post by worldsavior »

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #251
worldsavior wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why don't you play rock blues or whatever now? Is it because of trauma?

It's because I never got good enough at piano to play anything for fun. I hated lessons and I hated practicing. That's why the time was so wasted; I was so I invested in the entire enterprise that I learned as little as possible. Bear in mind that this started when I was 8, so I wasn't mature enough to be able to see any long-term upside to it.

Hard. I hope you will find a instrument that fulfills you :)

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#254

Post by Tangurena2 »

loeg wrote: post #124
tzs wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've found it surprisingly low effort to get good enough at guitar and, in fact, piano, that you can start to see social rewards, i.e. people actually want you to play, at least a little. Also surprisingly low cost for a pretty good instrument. $250 dollars will get you a pretty good solid top steel string acoustic guitar (Yamaha FS800 or FG800, Fender CC60 or CD60, half a dozen models from Orangewood) or solid top…

Oboes are just expensive instruments. Tons of small moving parts, low worldwide volume. If you think that's bad, though, low end English Horns (1.5x longer oboe) start at $6000.

Also, many orchestras have only 2 oboe players. I don't think I've ever seen a pop/rock band with an oboe in it.

The lack of french horn players in pop/rock bands was part of why I quit playing. The neighbors complaining about my practicing didn't help. Yamaha's Silent Brass system worked pretty well while I still had one.

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#255

Post by kzrdude »

mathieuh wrote: post #160
pclmulqdq wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people fluent in sheet music don't appreciate how incomprehensible and information-dense it really is. If you just want to play a song, it's the wrong way to go.

I can sight read tab to a pretty high level, e.g. I was able to sight read my way through most of Capricho Árabe at first glance if that means anything to anyone. I just started teaching myself classical guitar in August and I've completely fallen in love, it's all I listen to and I practise hours per day. But I am now teaching myself standard notation because I am running up against the limit of tab. I keep having t…

Guitar is in a tricky spot because tabs give you information sheet music doesn't, which voicing to use (is it called that) i.e which string to play a given note on.

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#256

Post by jbirer »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #157
GlenTheMachine wrote: post #96

My mom made me and both of my brothers take 9 years of piano lessons. Today, not one of us plays - I don't think any of us even has a keyboard in our houses. The reason for this is simply that we were never allowed to play the kind of music we liked . Which was, of course, rock. Or blues, or country. Or, really, anything with a beat. Nope; it was all classical all the time. And piano lessons were the only time we wer…

I wonder why parents do this. Parental cargo cutting? Cheap baby sitting?

Status seeking behavior and Narcissism. They are more concerned over their children making them look good to other parents / people than their kid enjoying themselves.

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#257

Post by TheCoelacanth »

tinco wrote: post #186
midoridensha wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric and acoustic guitars are really two very different instruments; a bit like comparing trombones with trumpets. The way you hold and play the basic notes is fairly similar, but the techniques are very different for electric because of the amplification and distortion, and of course the sound is extremely different.

No way, I just googled trumpet and trombone, and those are different instruments. Electric guitar and classical guitar are just different flavors of the same instrument. Most guitarists play both, if they've ever touched a classical guitar. Playing electric is both easier and less loud, if you don't plug in the amplifier, so they're a lot more suitable for kids than classical guitars. The association that parents hav…

I agree that electric and acoustic have a big overlap, but not electric and classical.

Electric and acoustic have a big overlap. Acoustic and classical have a big overlap. Electric and classical have only a tiny overlap.

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#258

Post by TheCoelacanth »

rvense wrote: post #202
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric guitar is all about bending, rhythm, and processed guitar tone. Classical guitar is all about picking tone, speed, and fine variations of touch. (And intonation for the very best players.) The fret board isn't the same width. The notes are in the same places, but that's about it for similarity.

> Classical guitar is all about picking tone, speed, and fine variations of touch. (And intonation for the very best players.) Not when I'm playing Green Day covers on it, it's not. Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMoHRidtQcw (You're confusing the instrument with the music it's most commonly used to play)

That seems to me like an acoustic guitar, not a classical guitar.

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#259

Post by [deleted] »

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #258
rvense wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Classical guitar is all about picking tone, speed, and fine variations of touch. (And intonation for the very best players.) Not when I'm playing Green Day covers on it, it's not. Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMoHRidtQcw (You're confusing the instrument with the music it's most commonly used to play)

That seems to me like an acoustic guitar, not a classical guitar.

[deleted]

Re: Kids and music lessons: why do many promising players quit early?

#260

Post by jpmoral »

flycaliguy wrote: post #244
jpmoral wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low floor, high ceiling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9YLOlUa7ro

This is my favourite ukulele ceiling https://youtu.be/D5V4mtZ-0qg

Wow, thanks! Here are a couple more for anyone who stumbles onto this thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYhcN8p4yhg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gyxeXW_2T8

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