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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I saw this in my own Asian family.  Here is how it went down:

Son:  I am interested in music.  I think I like to play the guitar.

Mom:  Why would you want to learn that instrument?  They are for poor people.  We're going to purchase a Steinway grand piano, and you're going to get weekly piano lessons.  In addition to that, I am going to sign you up for piano competition events.  You must finish in the top three, and if you fail to do that, you will not be allowed to hang out with your friends.  You will be judged against other Asian kids, and do not make me look bad.

Son:  I love watching Novak Djokovic play tennis.  He is the best tennis player.

Mom:  I am going to enroll you into tennis bootcamps along with expensive private tennis lessons.  You have to enter tournaments and become the best player in your age group.  Other Asian parents posted on WeChat that their kids won tournaments, and I expect the same thing from you.  If you have to give up time to hang out with your friends, so be it.

Son:  I love art.  I think it is cool.

Mom:  I am going to sign you up for USArts.  I expect you to be the best art student in your age group.  I also expect you to come up with an art portfolio so that we can use it to enter art competitions.  Other Asian parents brag about their kids winning art competitions, so I expect the same thing from you.

Son:  I heard a lot about TJ.  I would like to know more.

Mom:  I am going to enroll you in Sunshine academy or Best academy.  That way, they will prepare you for TJ prep exams.  I expect you to be at TJ five years from now.

Son:  Mom, now that college commencement is over, I would like to move as far from you as I can.  Thank you for making my childhood a living hell.[/quote]

I am not Asian. Is it really like this?

I haven't watched the whole video, but I did watch the part about art and piano. There is no way to learn to play piano without regular practice which needs to include some of the boring stuff (scales etc). Nothing is fun all the time.[/quote]

You can learn to do anything “good enough” for it to be fun.  You absolutely do not need to practice scales to learn to play piano “good enough” to just do it for the sheer pleasure of playing.

Would you make your son take lessons on how to throw a proper spiral just because he wants to toss the ole pigskin around with the other guys on Thanksgiving?[/quote]

I guess I just never met that person - a person who plays piano for the pleasure of playing without actually learning how to play it. Guitar - maybe. Violin - absolutely no way.[/quote]

You seriously can’t fathom learning to play some songs on literally any instrument without practicing scales?

You can’t imagine looking at sheet music and being able to assign those 7 whole notes to the white keys, and that the notes in the vertical middle of the bar are in the middle of the piano?  Higher ones to the right, lower to the left?  Half notes are the black keys?  You could learn this in about half an hour.[/quote]

DP who posted right above. I also cannot imagine anyone learning how to play an instrument in half and hour in a way such that they would want to listen to themselves play or subject others to their own playing. Even for an instrument as pleasant sounding as the piano. In half an hour, I can imagine someone learning to play chopsticks in an annoying way. I grew up in a family with perfect pitch and many of us played instruments for fun, non-competitively, but this still required some practice and dedication. [/quote]

But does it require *practicing scales* which is what you originally said?

(Obviously it does not.  Come on.)[/quote]

I'm not the original PP you were talking to, btw. But yeah, in order to improvise and play in a "fun" group, I knew my scales pretty well. Even the people I know who are self taught but play well enough to impress and audience were actually disciplined about honing skills and practicing. If you just want to plunk notes without understanding much, I'm sure you could learn to play a lot of sheet music without knowing anything about scales. But even then, learning how to play in a way that doesn't torment the neighbors takes a bit of effort. My point was, and I think you agree, kids shouldn't be forced to continue when the interest isn't there. For most teens "interest" just means learning how to play a few favorite pop or classical tunes over and over again, and this is fine.[/quote]

Yeah, I do agree with your last point.  (So don’t force a kid to learn scales when they don’t want to learn scales just because you think that’s the *right* way to learn.)

(And unless you’re just a toddler mashing the keys, piano is not a “torment the neighbors” instrument.)

I’m sure you’re great at the piano, but one doesn’t need to be great, or even aspire to be great, to play the piano for fun.  Which I think is basically the point of the guy’s video.  Can’t I just learn to play Christmas music or show tunes without being pressured to improvise in a fun group?  Who cares?![/quote]

At some point in my childhood, I really did not see the point of scales or theory. I was always into music and always wanted to take lessons, but wasn't until much later, after years of lessons that things clicked and I understood the point of all those technique and theory exercises. If my parents or teacher had just let me do whatever I wanted, I doubt I would have learned scales or theory, which was at times a real chore. But then later I wouldn't have been able to compose music, or play with some of the groups I did, and I would have lost out on a great experience which is still part of my identity today. There's a big difference in saying "chain the disinterested kids to the piano!" vs "never ask them to do scales or anything not fun!" There's a reasonable middle ground here: "If they want lessons, sometimes they have to do the boring stuff too." I don't think I'll ever convince you to learn your scales, but they are actually pretty handy. ;)[/quote]

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