My head is going to explode. Patience...patience...

[Janna]

Anyone with young children who learned, or are learning, to play the piano?

Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, Fera Jacka...every.blasted.minute. I'm going to go insane. http://emoticons4u.com/mad/695.gif

"Nuff said.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Anyone with young children who learned, or are learning, to play the piano?

Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, Fera Jacka...every.blasted.minute. I'm going to go insane. http://emoticons4u.com/mad/695.gif

"Nuff said.

Violin is fun, too. "Scotland's burning, Scotland's burning, look out, look out..."

Head's exploding, head's exploding, look out, look out...

[hana]

I was going to say, "at least it's not a stringed instrument." Squeak, squeak, squawk. We've just moved past that stage here. Oh, but she's also a one-pony piano player--"Deck the Halls" over and over--I expect I'll still be hearing it on the Fourth of July.

Someday he or she will play music that will amaze you. Maybe. ;)

[Jami]

With Suzuki it's umpteen variations of Twinkle, Twinkle over and over...and I've been through it with two now! Of course, ds has discovered the joys of fiddle tunes and learned his first, so we hear that over and over. He's mostly past the squeaks and squawks though. Dd is still working on moving past those....

Fortunately it's a little more work to get out their violins than to just walk past a piano and start plinking. Hmmm, a good reason to stay piano-free? ;)

Jami

[~FireFly~]

He learned how to play the Marine Corp Hymn last year -LAST YEAR- I say. And is still plunking along with it. One day he played it for 3 hours straight. I had to leave to house.

Blessings:)
~Stephanie

[Rhesa]

And then you get to hear the same blasted version over and over and over again, year after year!:)

It does get better, though. (eventually.....) Hang in there!

[DIY-DY]

My two eldest begin piano lessons Thursday, and I'm so excited.

Er... was...

Well, "am" (mostly).

But I have a sinking sensation I'm about to get yet another lesson in Just How Patient My Own Mother Truly Was, aren't I? ;)

[Doran]

Anyone with young children who learned, or are learning, to play the piano?

Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, Fera Jacka...every.blasted.minute. I'm going to go insane. http://emoticons4u.com/mad/695.gif

"Nuff said.

...from my husband's business partner (his dd is now college age), the partner said -- "And, you wanna know what the BEST feature is? You can add headphones so you don't actually have to hear them play!" :rolleyes:

Hang in there. There are always earplugs.

Doran

[HeatherH]

And then you get to hear the same blasted version over and over and over again, year after year!

Yep, sure know that feeling. I've been known to holler from the basement. . . . "B-FLAT!!!!" up through the ceiling, into the living room area, about 4 notes before I know the spot's coming.

And the bad part of all this? By the time dc #4 is playing the songs, she has them memorized from nine years of oldest sibling's lessons! So much for reading music. . . .

[RhondaM.]

Oh, please you guys! I've got a teenager playing DRUMS! And I live in a trailer!!! There is no getting away from the noise! The only thing I can imagine that would be any worse is an electric guitar...which he suggested he'd also like to learn to play. NOT!

[sdWTMer]

Yes. Headphones are wonderful w/ a keyboard! Right now I am so glad that we got one instead of a piano!

[WTMindy]

The worst for me was The Twelve Days of Christmas. Let me just tell you that there were a HE** of a lot more than 12 days last year when my kids learned that song!!! It was the endless Christmas season. :-)

But, I'd have to say violin would be worse!

[Mrs. Readsalot]

and his dad on acoustic guitar. OK I admit I like listening to them. DS is actually getting pretty good but somes days I do have to request for him to turn down the volume. He will pay the same thing over and over until he gets it right. Recently that has been the theme to MASH I have not had the heart to tell him the words to the song.

[Dana in OR]

Mary Had a Little Lamb is his specialty. We saved for years to get this sax - but alas, so far this is what he can produce. He also plays a mean "Go Tell Aunt Rhody.".... Gaaaaah.

[Margaret in CO]

That's why I insist that all beginning string players play in back bedrooms for two YEARS! I can't hide the piano, but I don't have to listen to squeaky violins and cellos!

[freethinkermom]

Oh, please you guys! I've got a teenager playing DRUMS! And I live in a trailer!!! There is no getting away from the noise! The only thing I can imagine that would be any worse is an electric guitar...which he suggested he'd also like to learn to play. NOT!


Let him play electric guitar. He can plug headphones into his amp and you will barely hear anything. You can also get a set of mutes for his drums to muffle the sound for practice.

I started electric guitar a few weeks ago :) My family has been forced to listen to me playing "A Horse With No Name" over and over again the last two weeks. I am kind and plug in the headphones at night, but in the afternoon they can just listen. I think I have the song down now, so maybe they will get to listen to something new.

Oh, ds11 has been begging for drums.... they make nice electric sets now so he can practice with headphones too (when I finally buy them for him).

[Soph the vet]

It does get better. Practice time with my then ds5 was extremely stressful for the first 3 months. Two and a half years later he thinks he is Victor Borge! (i.e. play everything as fast as possible in as many different keys as possible). DD9 started three years ago and it was no big deal. Unfortunately it is still "no big deal" so we will probably be moving along to another instrument next year. Then dd5 will start piano and on it goes...:)

[angela in ohio]

Um, it gets worse. Dd is at the point where she is playing the flute for competitions and performances, and we get to hear the same song constantly for months on end, as she has to memorize them. You know it's bad when last year ds (then 4 yo) could hum entire pieces she was learning.

[lynn]

Find a different teacher. My son's teacher was great. She has taught piano for many years and a set of books that the children worked through and besides his daily practicing for the week it was not the same thing over and over again.

[Eliana]

I don't mind the piano practice, but I still remember the torture of my sister's early years with the violin... it felt as if she always chose the crack of dawn and a position as close as possible to my bedroom door! (of course she didn't, but it *felt* that way!). It took years before I enjoyed listening to solo violin music!

Perhaps it is the contrast which makes the first year of piano practice so bearable! ...that the kids haven't all used the same programs, their teacher puts kids from the same family into different books (prevents hurt feelings if a younger child progresses much faster, and it enables her to customize what she does to each child's learning style... she is really fabulous!)

[Christy B]

And then you get to hear the same blasted version over and over and over again, year after year!:)

It does get better, though. (eventually.....) Hang in there!

Sometimes, I try out a new publisher just so *I* can get a break from the same old/same old!

At least I have one more advanced student who is learning music from the Pirates of the Caribbean and TransSiberian Orchestra. Yay!

[Musical Belle]

Yes, I'm the teacher who sends them home to torture you all! At least I only hear it once a week instead of endlessly, as I require them to practice at home . . . .

(But I'm getting mine now as I'm teaching my own 2 dc to play :rolleyes: . . . .)

[Mama Bear]

...from my husband's business partner (his dd is now college age), the partner said -- "And, you wanna know what the BEST feature is? You can add headphones so you don't actually have to hear them play!" :rolleyes:

Hang in there. There are always earplugs.

Doran

We have two here, one is electronic. It has a plug for headphones. It's my favorite. Because my youngest girl loves to play Away In a Manger. :D

[Cindyg]

When I was a kid, I got obsessed with this dopey "Indian" tune with chords that were supposed to sound like drums, I guess. I can remember playing it for hours on end for what seems like years; but I have no idea why. Perhaps simply because I had to play a certain number of minutes a day, and that's what I could play w/o exerting myself. But I really think it was something more than that. It was really very obsessive of me. I don't know how my mom stood it. I wish I could hum it for you. You'd fall over laughing! I wonder if that little ditty is still in the piano books?

[Janna]

That's so funny; my brother was hooked on an Indian song too! He would play it over and over, and like you, I think it was because it was the only song he felt he could actually play, LOL. You didn't happen to have John Schaum books, did you? I can almost hear that Indian song now....:)

[Chris in VA]

I'm so there. Usually it's dh practicing his limited (but still somewhat impressive) piano skills--sadly,I now hate the Beatles.

And dd7 has memorized the notes to Ode to Joy, so she goes around the house singing, "eefggfed,ccdeedd..." Now I can do it, too.

[Cindyg]

Oh, I can definitely still hear it! I wonder if it was the same song?! (I have no idea what books I used.) It went like this: Dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum dum dum. LOL!

[Janna]

It went like this: Dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum dum dum. LOL!

Roflol! yup, I think that's the same one! :)