Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-08-25 18:48
mcaswell wrote:
> And Karl, yes... her getting frustrated is definitely a concern
> I am looking out for, as this particular child is very prone to
> it. She already reads music well, is a fast learner, and is
> doing great on piano and violin, but she has difficulty
> covering the holes on the clarinet. We’ve only played a
> couple of times, but she doesn’t make good progress on that
> in the next few sessions, we’ll wait until she grows a bit
> more.
Ironically, I'm now teaching a girl who sounds like she might have been your daughter's twin - she's the daughter of a former student and she fits your description to a "T" (including the small fingers and poor coverage at the beginning). She's now going into 5th grade and plays really well after a year of study and physical growth. I think one reason her mom called me is that in previous attempts at piano and viola, mother and daughter apparently fought quite a lot over mom's attempts to help daughter.
In fact, we just had a discussion about that - the three of us - last night at her lesson. They're still clashing, especially since mom actually plays clarinet, but since mom already respected me and daughter thinks of me as teacher, not as parent, I can apparently say things to daughter that mom can't. They were both, I think, relieved to hear that, although my wife is a violist, our own three kids (all bright and talented) all studied violin with a very highly respected friend because every time my wife tried to work with any of them it turned into resistance from the child and a lot of friction between them. For some kids it's hard or impossible for them to separate parent from teacher when they inhabit the same body. Kids fighting parents is a natural part of the maturation process and for some kids it doesn't compartmentalize easily.
I'm not at all suggesting that you shouldn't try to do this on your own. Every child is different. But if you see any evidence of the dynamic becoming adversarial, tread lightly, think about an outside teacher or consider waiting until the school program kicks in.
Good luck! Your daughter sounds like a great kid.
Karl
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The Clarinet BBoard
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