Ok, so here's the situation.
My son has taken to the keyboard. He knows a little bit about time signatures, note duration, etc.
My wife told me (and I tend to agree) that he has "a gift" for it. We think he could play by ear if he put some effort into it.
I mean, at one point he learned to play the Tetris theme without the aid of sheet music. And he plays it pretty well, too
The problem is, he doesn't really want to put effort into learning more of "the basics" and learning other songs.
I even tried a songbook that goes from simple songs (without chords) to more complex ones that have chords. I even tried offering an incentive that if he got proficient at the songs (and I was picking ones that looked simple within each category), that I would make a recording of him playing them. He seemed receptive to that, but hasn't made any real effort to learn any of them. I even told him they didn't have to be perfect at first, nor did they have to be "at tempo". That he could start slow and work up to it.
My wife suggested I find songs he might like (no sheet music), and see if he could play them. So I may dig up something like Moonlight Sonata and see what that looks like. Might be a bit complex, though.
He prefers keyboard over other instruments. I think it's a hand positioning thing. I asked him about guitar, and we have a clarinet around here that just needs some reeds, but he wants to stick to keyboard.
So what can we do? I don't want to push him too hard and discourage him, but I'd like for him to continue to improve.
My son has taken to the keyboard. He knows a little bit about time signatures, note duration, etc.
My wife told me (and I tend to agree) that he has "a gift" for it. We think he could play by ear if he put some effort into it.
I mean, at one point he learned to play the Tetris theme without the aid of sheet music. And he plays it pretty well, too
The problem is, he doesn't really want to put effort into learning more of "the basics" and learning other songs.
I even tried a songbook that goes from simple songs (without chords) to more complex ones that have chords. I even tried offering an incentive that if he got proficient at the songs (and I was picking ones that looked simple within each category), that I would make a recording of him playing them. He seemed receptive to that, but hasn't made any real effort to learn any of them. I even told him they didn't have to be perfect at first, nor did they have to be "at tempo". That he could start slow and work up to it.
My wife suggested I find songs he might like (no sheet music), and see if he could play them. So I may dig up something like Moonlight Sonata and see what that looks like. Might be a bit complex, though.
He prefers keyboard over other instruments. I think it's a hand positioning thing. I asked him about guitar, and we have a clarinet around here that just needs some reeds, but he wants to stick to keyboard.
So what can we do? I don't want to push him too hard and discourage him, but I'd like for him to continue to improve.
Comment