Highly discouraged this morning...

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by BallisticSquid

In my mind, anything that gets kids excited about music is a good thing! Are the kids viewing this competitively or is it only the parents? Are all of the kids having fun?

I'm going to be brutally honest here. First of all, there are about 30 total students, but only about 10 in our lesson group. Of the 10 in our group, I'd say about 4 of them enjoy what they are doing. The rest are going through the motions and playing because that's what their parents want them to do. I'm just going off of visual cues, so I hate to even speculate.

I think that the parents are more competitive for sure. I guess my only opinion on it is that I wish parents could chill and just enjoy music as a whole. Who cares what they are playing, just be supportive and enjoy it. Heck, the teacher requires parent participation and half of the parents bring their laptops and work, or sit in different rooms and play on their laptops.

I speak from 15 years of direct experience across two children. The worst thing about group classes, concerts etc. is the parents. Especially when the parents are directly involved in lessons. Anything that makes their child look like anything other than a complete musical genius is crapped on or worse, to the point of freaking out. "Stage mother/father/parent" is the most common term for these people. Do your best to ignore them because as long as you are in these classes this behaviour will continue. It's the same stuff you see at ball diamonds, football fields, ice rinks, etc.

[BallisticSquid]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

I'm going to be brutally honest here. First of all, there are about 30 total students, but only about 10 in our lesson group. Of the 10 in our group, I'd say about 4 of them enjoy what they are doing. The rest are going through the motions and playing because that's what their parents want them to do. I'm just going off of visual cues, so I hate to even speculate.

I think that the parents are more competitive for sure. I guess my only opinion on it is that I wish parents could chill and just enjoy music as a whole. Who cares what they are playing, just be supportive and enjoy it. Heck, the teacher requires parent participation and half of the parents bring their laptops and work, or sit in different rooms and play on their laptops.

I'm not a big fan of this competitiveness, especially in music. If the parents aren't participating in any way of course the kids are just going to just "go through the motions". You don't have to be a musician to encourage your kid's music. It's unfortunate.

The kids that aren't enjoying themselves playing the fiddle music, are they also not enjoying the classical repertoire? I'm just curious if the kids find the fiddle music to be "a problem".

[BallisticSquid]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

I speak from 15 years of direct experience across two children. The worst thing about group classes, concerts etc. is the parents. Especially when the parents are directly involved in lessons. Anything that makes their child look like anything other than a complete musical genius is crapped on or worse, to the point of freaking out. "Stage mother/father/parent" is the most common term for these people. Do your best to ignore them because as long as you are in these classes this behaviour will continue. It's the same stuff you see at ball diamonds, football fields, ice rinks, etc.

We have been lucky that the music teachers and music centers we've taken our kids to are pretty chill. I've seen this in action with sports though. For that reason we avoid the sports where this behavior is rampant, though rec basketball is even starting to get annoying with the competitive parents. It's rec ball...not NBA tryouts!!

[rstaight]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

Thanks Wade. My wife and I were just talking about this last night. My brother was a first chair trumpet player in the high school marching band. They were great and won state competitions several years in a row. The sad thing is that I haven't seen him play the trumpet since he graduated 12 years ago.

Folk style music is something that can be played anytime, even for fun among friends. I hope she continues to enjoy it and stick with it!

Hear ya, my son was a percussionist in high school and college. Was in the Marching 100 at IU. After graduation in 99 he hasn't picked up a par of sticks since.

It's a shame all of the time and money spent to just let it completely go.

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by sbmackie

Better yet, if she's up to it, have HER tell the instructor how much she enjoys it.

Bingo. Nothing speaks louder to a teacher than student enthusiasm.

[Maryc-k]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

I'm going to be brutally honest here. First of all, there are about 30 total students, but only about 10 in our lesson group. Of the 10 in our group, I'd say about 4 of them enjoy what they are doing. The rest are going through the motions and playing because that's what their parents want them to do. I'm just going off of visual cues, so I hate to even speculate.

I think that the parents are more competitive for sure. I guess my only opinion on it is that I wish parents could chill and just enjoy music as a whole. Who cares what they are playing, just be supportive and enjoy it. Heck, the teacher requires parent participation and half of the parents bring their laptops and work, or sit in different rooms and play on their laptops.

Playing on a laptop is not participating. That's attendance.

[619TF]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Bob

Kids are great. Parents suck.

That's overstating it a bit. MOST kids are great as are most adults. It's when they become parents that something happens in the brain and then, yes, they suck!