Friday, November 30, 2012

Piano Lessons at Home

Both our children show a musical bent; we told them that when they learn to read, they can start piano lessons.  I decided to see if it would work for me to teach Genevieve at home for a while - a little toe-dip into homeschooling, if you please.  I took 10 years of piano lessons as a girl, and I still play for church occasionally.



For accountability, I marked the calendar for a 10-minute lesson each Friday afternoon; Genevieve calls it "turning the page" because we just turn a page a week.



I borrowed most of the books from a friend, a former piano teacher; I got the first three on amazon for about $20. 

For the first few lessons, Genevieve was enthusiastic; now I am seeing that her learning style with me is fear of failure, so she can be reluctant to try a new step because it won't be perfect.  She is supposed to practice her page every day, but, you know, it doesn't always happen.

 
As long as her musical ability is blossoming and we're working well as teacher and student, we'll keep going.  I also really love not herding the children out the door to get somewhere on time every Friday afternoon.



(all photos on this post courtesy of my husband)
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11 comments:

  1. You Can Call Me JaneNovember 30, 2012 at 2:42 PM

    I applaud you for doing this yourself! That's what my original plan was with piano. It seemed silly to me to pay someone else when I could teach the basics. The problem was *I* could not stay motivated when their motivation lapsed, so we started going to lessons. Turns out, Sadie really loves her teacher. Her teacher motivates her in a way I wasn't able to, she is getting instruction from someone *other* than me (since we homeschool) and we get to *leave* the house. It's the flip of your situation :-) and it is working well for us. Side note: Sam has taught himself all of Sadie's songs and is now asking for lessons, so now we decide if we tack a lesson on for him or not.

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  2. PollyNovember 30, 2012 at 2:54 PM

    These are such sweet photos! I love this! Would you believe that even though I homeschool, I am intimidated by the idea of teaching piano?! Strange but true, & I'm not sure why.

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  3. BLD in MTNovember 30, 2012 at 5:28 PM

    Aw, that second to last photo is so darn great!!! Well, they all are, but that one is my favorite. Good work (and how ambitious of you) to attempt instruction yourself. I couldn't agree more that this seems far superior to trying to make a lesson outside of your home each week!

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  4. ChatterBlossomNovember 30, 2012 at 6:31 PM

    I so wish I would have stuck with piano lessons. My parents didn't insist and I was young and stupid...
    -Jamie
    http://chatterblossom.blogspot.com/

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  5. Sew Blessed Maw [Judy]November 30, 2012 at 8:18 PM

    Great photos of you and Genevie.. She is adorable and looks really into the piano lessons. How nice that you are teaching her..
    My daughter in law plays wonderfully.. Took lessons all her life, and on into college..But she doesn't teach her 8 yr old daughter. She goes to piano lessons.. I ask her ,"why".. She just said, she didn't want to.. I think it would be so fun to spend that time with your daughter.. And you know what? When she is grown ..You will treasure these wonderful moments..
    SO proud of you..

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  6. jenny_oNovember 30, 2012 at 11:08 PM

    She looks happy, and that's got to tell you something :)

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  7. AnonymousDecember 1, 2012 at 10:39 AM

    You're both pretty : )

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  8. Jill FoleyDecember 6, 2012 at 9:58 PM

    I teach my girls violin and I have to approach them as I would any other student. They call me Mrs. Foley, I give them messages to tell their mom about how they need to practice (I even harp about their mom and how she didn't practice with them very well) - they think this is so funny. After one girl has had her "lesson" she almost always runs down and tells her sister that "she's really nice today". It's silly, but it seems to help make it work!

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  9. MargoDecember 6, 2012 at 10:23 PM

    Jill! How funny - because we have started falling into this same charade with the same results!

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  10. Deanna BethDecember 17, 2012 at 12:07 AM

    Yay for Margo and mini-Margo!

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  11. Piano Lessons WebsiteApril 28, 2015 at 5:36 AM

    Thank you fantastic person! You 're the best teacher I've found on here:)

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