Asian Mums are more SUPERIOR?

[jtoh]

Chenonceau:

csc:

Allow me to share my piece about piano learning.


I know nuts about pitch and tones and I have never sat down with my children when they are learning the piano. All I did was that nod of approval when they play a piece well.

It has always been a struggle for them to balance their demanding school work and piano exams. However, since last year, there has been a major breakthrough in my daughter's learning process.

She has been the playing the piano a few times a day, not in preparation for her next graded exam but simply playing her favourite Korean and Taiwan pops.

My son was soon influenced by her and also began to wind down his stressful week day by playing the piano too.

I am so glad to see this breakthrough and to me, the ability to apply their musical talent and interest in their daily lives is the greatest achievement so far for them! :lol:

That's great!! Little Boy made up his mind in Kindy that he didn't like music. They sang in Kindy and he could neither hold tune nor follow beat.

In P1, he went for music class. In P2, there was again music class... and he had to SING!! SOLO!! In P3, they made him do it again. He came home and asked me why they keep making him do music.

I said \"Because some children may have talent for music, so all children do music just in case\".

He looked at me in disgust \"In P1, they made me sing. In P2, they made me sing. In P3, also... and I cannot sing and I told Teacher I don't like music. How long does it take them to LEARN that I don't like music?\"

When trying to improve his Chinese, I suggested to learn Chinese songs. He again looked at me in disgust \"I don't like music. What makes you think I will like to learn Chinese with music?\"

:stupid:

I like your little boy. He's got a mind of his own.

[rosemummy]

2ppaamm:

rosemummy:

2ppaamm, after reading some of your posts, I think you're such an exceptional mum with amazingly gifted kids. Yes, it's definitely more difficult to train a child to discover their passion, than just disciplining and pushing them to do what we want.


Mind sharing where your 14 year old girl is headed for university? What is she going to major in?

behind every sad/bad situation, there us always a positive end. My daughter how i struggled with my asd chikd abd could not find help. or perhaps shefound some interesting characters on cable tv. She now wants to be the best psychologist in singapore one day. She will be majoring in that.

Your girl is probably the youngest ever to be reading psychology at university level. To make it to university at 14 is highly unusual, and most, if not all of them, are majoring in music, maths or science. Not many at that age has the maturity to major in social or behavioral science. Is she doing it locally or overseas?

Btw, my girl did psychology as one of her electives in general education at 16. Most of her classmates are a couple of years older. She didn't have the maturity to do well in the subject though it was an area she had been fascinated with. She did much better in the business subjects, particularly law, accounting and economics.

I suppose having a special child in the family would give your girl the motivation to study the subject nothing else could. And she certainly is more motivated and matured compared to even the regular undergrads. All the best!

[rosemummy]

Chenonceau:

That's great!! Little Boy made up his mind in Kindy that he didn't like music. They sang in Kindy and he could neither hold tune nor follow beat.


In P1, he went for music class. In P2, there was again music class... and he had to SING!! SOLO!! In P3, they made him do it again. He came home and asked me why they keep making him do music.

I said \"Because some children may have talent for music, so all children do music just in case\".

He looked at me in disgust \"In P1, they made me sing. In P2, they made me sing. In P3, also... and I cannot sing and I told Teacher I don't like music. How long does it take them to LEARN that I don't like music?\"

When trying to improve his Chinese, I suggested to learn Chinese songs. He again looked at me in disgust \"I don't like music. What makes you think I will like to learn Chinese with music?\"

:stupid:

Haha. I was also like that. Never like music. In fact, I hated music lessons. And PE too. That's why I don't think it's ever worthwhile to force a child to do something he has clearly no interest in.

Perseverance can be taught by other means, like in areas the child is interested in.

[phankao]

2ppaamm:

On the piano, I am grade zero. When I was a eleven, I wanted to play the piano. My mother put me in piano classes but my father would not allow me to move the piano into the house even though my mother had already paid for it because his friends told him so (I still don't understand why). So, I made a keyboard out of a piece of drawing block, drawing lines and colouring in the black keys using black coloured pencils and covered it up with the plastic wrapping paper that we used to wrap books with. On that plastic silent piano I made great progress. I finished Grade 1 books in a week, then moved to Grade 4 books in a year. Whenever this plastic piano gets torn and tattered, I'd spend time making an even stronger one by putting a stronger backing to it. Strangely, even playing on these silent self-made pianos, I had developed a perfect pitch by 'hearing' the pitch in my head and playing the music on my fingers.

One year later, my father moved to stop my piano classes because of PSLE. He wanted me to focus on my studies instead of humming to that piece of paper. So that's the end of my piano exposure. Loved it, but never had a chance to pursue it meaningfully. I did well for the PSLE, we did not have a T-score, but I knew I did well because I went to the top girls' school, and I was placed in the top class. In those days, you don't need tuition or study very hard to do that, so I did not understand how that plastic piece of joy would have made a difference. It was sad for me.

<snip>

In secondary school, I picked up 6 other instruments by my own, and completed Grade 7 theory through self-study, I scored distinctions for all the grades. Somehow, I was identified gifted by a SSO flutist who wanted to keep me as an apprentice. I didn't believe a word she said, I thought she just wanted me to pay her $10 more per month, now how could I ever be gifted?! Then, I dropped the flute as well, even though I made it to the best orchestra for youths at that time, and shared the stage with the most famous musicians. I never thought I was anything talented.
.

I just realised that by your definition, I am Grade Zero at Violin too! I was only saying that I practised until I could play pieces of grade 5 to 7 standard, but I never did do exams. But I know I can handle. However, the very very fast parts my old fingers just cannot manage - I tried - so many times, really fail. *oops*. haha.

As I mentioned at the start of this thread though, my kids do agree with Amy Chua that \"nothing is fun until you are good at it\"! Math, music, etc.

[Chenonceau]

Oh hahahahahahahaha!


I read the book to my family after dinner… and Little Boy’s eyes grew as round as saucers, and he said "No wonder her family has issues… she’s a brute!!"

I had to explain that the only reason we think Amy is a brute is because she describes herself as one… she cuts herself no slack at all. She is very very harsh with herself.

Unless she has regretted what she’d done, there is no way she would have described herself thus. To me, these are words of atonement, and there is something in there that seems to ask for the forgiveness of her children. I think it is a book that brought healing to her family.

[phankao]

Chenonceau:

Oh hahahahahahahaha!


I read the book to my family after dinner... and Little Boy's eyes grew as round as saucers, and he said \"No wonder her family has issues... she's a brute!!\"

I had to explain that the only reason we think Amy is a brute is because she describes herself as one... she cuts herself no slack at all. She is very very harsh with herself.

Unless she has regretted what she'd done, there is no way she would have described herself thus. To me, these are words of atonement, and there is something in there that seems to ask for the forgiveness of her children. I think it is a book that brought healing to her family.

But did her children complain about her? ;D

[Chenonceau]

According to her… Yup! Plenty! It’s a very funny book.

[fristrom]

Chenonceau:

That's great!! Little Boy made up his mind in Kindy that he didn't like music. They sang in Kindy and he could neither hold tune nor follow beat.


In P1, he went for music class. In P2, there was again music class... and he had to SING!! SOLO!! In P3, they made him do it again. He came home and asked me why they keep making him do music.

I said \"Because some children may have talent for music, so all children do music just in case\".

He looked at me in disgust \"In P1, they made me sing. In P2, they made me sing. In P3, also... and I cannot sing and I told Teacher I don't like music. How long does it take them to LEARN that I don't like music?\"

Your son is really cute. Mine is exactly the opposite: kids are just all different.

What makes me really sad is seeing how many kids is sent to music, sports etc. class when they clearly have no interest in it. What also puzzles me is that some parents do not realize that going to class means practice at home is required. There seems to be this attitude: I pay for the class and I demand improvement in my kid.

[sleepy]

phankao:

2ppaamm:

[quote=\"phankao\"]

You are amazing. And you have 2 pianos in the house? We have 8 persons living in a 1100 sq ft - no space for too many instruments. I thought your elder daughter did violin at NAFA? Thought was your no.1 & no.3 that did piano at NAFA.

We didn't put any more children through NAFA, in fact, we stopped #1 attending NAFA regularly as well when he was asked to repeat a grade despite scoring a distinction in ABRSM. I felt it was a demotivational thingy but I understood that NAFA was trying to 'make the best out of him'. Sometimes, I wonder if that was the right decision, but it's not important to make the right decision. We RIGHT every decision and move on.

Haha - it's really up to the child! A friend who had one in violin nafa says piano in nafa is not the way to go - i'm not sure about the specifics. Anyway, hers had a really wonderful teacher who's not from nafa and she really plays beautifully and sensitively. Finished her dip at 11.[/quote]
I second (or third?) that. Mine also a nafa drop out :celebrate:

[phankao]

sleepy:

phankao:

[quote=\"2ppaamm\"]
We didn't put any more children through NAFA, in fact, we stopped #1 attending NAFA regularly as well when he was asked to repeat a grade despite scoring a distinction in ABRSM. I felt it was a demotivational thingy but I understood that NAFA was trying to 'make the best out of him'. Sometimes, I wonder if that was the right decision, but it's not important to make the right decision. We RIGHT every decision and move on.

Haha - it's really up to the child! A friend who had one in violin nafa says piano in nafa is not the way to go - i'm not sure about the specifics. Anyway, hers had a really wonderful teacher who's not from nafa and she really plays beautifully and sensitively. Finished her dip at 11.

I second (or third?) that. Mine also a nafa drop out :celebrate:[/quote]And is she doing her dip at 10 or 11 too? :lol: