I just got back from Sandestin with my boyfriend and his 2 daughters. One of his 2 daughters is 7 and has just started taking violin lessons (I tried pushing her towards cello, but in the end- violin won out). She has had 3 lessons. I've been able to watch her progress and noticed some things that are worth sharing.
First observation - 7 year olds treat the instrument and bow as a toy!! I cringe as I watch her point and twirl her bow around like a baton! The instrument gets bashed around too. She's pretty good about putting the violin back in the case, loosening the bow etc. but I realize how young a 7 year old really is!!
Her first lesson was about how to hold the violin and bow and to draw sound from each string. Second lesson was a simple scale up the A string...then the same thing up the E string. Third lesson had her "reading" Twinkle Twinkle Little Star from Suzuki 1.
I saw a lot of her throughout the first few lessons and here are the things I saw:
1. Practice sessions are about 10 - 15mins long at best. The attention span of a 7 year old is pretty short.
2. She held the violin and bow almost perfectly right from the start...and was able to remember how to hold it. For me, when I first held a bow, I remembered how uncomfortable it was. It was really the only thing on my mind as I tried to play some notes. For her, I saw that she was actually uncomfortable as well but her main focus was playing the notes. I don't think comfort level comes into the picture at all.
3. The fact that she was out of tune didn't really faze her. She was happy if she got through what she intended to do, regardless of how it sounded. Why couldn't I be so satisfied with that when I started cello lessons? Can you imagine how fast we would progress if we didn't judge ourselves all along the way?
4. She was anxious to display what she could do...even after the first lesson. Now here is the main thing that separates us adults from kids. I never had a performance urge when I started. I was very self conscious about how I sounded. For her, she ran into the room after the first lesson and said "Showtime!"...indicating she was going to play for us.
4. She was anxious to display what she could do...even after the first lesson. Now here is the main thing that separates us adults from kids. I never had a performance urge when I started. I was very self conscious about how I sounded. For her, she ran into the room after the first lesson and said "Showtime!"...indicating she was going to play for us.
5. And finally - kids don't remember to practice. The parent has to remind them and then at the same time, sit with them through the practice to keep their attention on it. Even though she loves her violin and wants to practice, it doesn't come to her mind.
Anyway...just some observations. It hasn't been that long since I started the cello so it gave me a chance to compare her start with mine.
9 comments:
Kids are great when it comes to learning. No inhibitions. Fearless. I think we can learn a lot from them.
Five years ago when I got my first cello (a rental) I was actually afraid to take it out of the case!
Thanks for visiting my blog! I can compare apples and oranges - learning piano as a kid and cello as an adult. I miss the fearlessness of just playing around (that's what I did when I was a kid on the piano) and somehow learning a lot about music with the help of the 2 teachers I had as a kid. As an adult I am much more analytic about my playing, but on the flip side, much less afraid to ask for help in improving specific things that I don't like. I never did that as a kid - I was always just terrified of not playing well during my lesson!
Great posting! Kids are awesome. I am still afraid to loosen my strings. I snapped an A string about two days after I brought my rental cello home. They told me it would need tuning…I over tightened it and it popped hard. So, I waited about one week and took it back to the shop and they replaced it for free (which is part of the rental contract). Luckily, the person that originally rented me the cello was not working that day. Since then, I have only loosened all four strings and re-tuned once – in my second to last lesson with my first instructor.
Other then string breaking, I still treat the Cello like a laptop or some other fragile electrical piece of equipment. Regardless of the fact I will wind up buying it come next April – mentally, it is still a liability.
Oh yes .... peg fear. I always get nervous when it's time to turn the pegs. Last year when the D string slipped due to the cold dry weather, I turned and turned the peg to tune and nothing was happening. The string wasn't even getting tighter or coming up in pitch. And then ... SNAP!... broken string. I'd been turning the wrong peg. Talk about feeling stupid.
Yeah, once in my high school orchestra, my A string had gotten knocked loose. Well, in my amateur efforts to re-tune it... it snapped. Then I had to have my teacher put on my crappy back-up string until I could order another one...
Not to get off topic. I had the opportunity to help at music camp last week (you can read my recent posts about it!), and it was great to see the enthusiasm of the little musicians.
I have peg fear as well. I think I broke a string tuning in the first year of my cello studies and it shocked me so much that I have permanent peg fear. When do you get over that? I once saw a cellist (semi-professional) tune his cello (using his pegs) DURING a performance. I mean...not in an orchestra setting. It was a performance of a Prokofiev Cello/Piano sonata. I remember thinking..."For sure this guy is NOT tuning his cello during the piano solo...yup, he's tuning right during his rest."
Thanks for you comments, CelloGirl! I wonder if it is possible to reprogram our minds and bodies to play as children do, and to apply our knowledge at the same time. I think we can get there. Last time I practiced I decided to play freely even if I sounded out of tune. It was a new piece, but the experience was very interesting. I didn't think of how much I had to stretch my fingers to get to certain note. It really frees your dynamics.
As to the pegs... It's a common fear. But mind you it also depends on the pegs and cello itself. The better cello+pegs, the less trouble.
Ahhh I have pegfearitis now too. I'm playing for 4 months now and the fine tuner was all the way in and still A LITTLE out of tune so I used the peg. I touched the peg and it unwinded so fast, so I had to push it in to wind it again. I kept pushing in to stay in but it kept unwinding. I pushed so hard I also turned it and the A sting snapped. I felt like a moron. My tuner said it was JUST A LITTLE out of range and I had to toy with it. I hope my teacher doesn't kill me.
First I have to say that I love your blog!
I have to admit my fear of peg tuning as well but I've found that as long as you initially tune with an electronic tuner the risk of a string breaking isn't so bad.
I do think it is possible to re-tune our minds to playing with a child's ear. Like CelloGeek I initially learned piano very young and I am new to the cello (about 8 months. I am certainly very meticulous in most of my practice but I make a conscious effort to take a practice session here and there to 'let go' and just enjoy the feeling of playing without focusing so much on my intonation. It serves as a good time to note how much my muscle memory has improved or diminished.
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