Do you know anyone who does not like praise? The child is not an exception; on the contrary, he thrives on it, he needs to be praised by the adults! It is a powerful stimulus and motivation factor for doing something, and doing it well.

So, your capable child has started taking music lessons. It is really interesting for him, because it is new, unusual and undoubtedly beautiful! For some time the teacher becomes the child's personal idol and almost completely wins his heart. The child himself is pleased with his progress, particularly if he hears complimentary responses from the music teacher and his parents. He starts to understand that he stands out among his schoolmates and playmates and is as proud of himself as his parents.

Being a child, he does not go into detail and asks himself questions like, "How did I do it?" It's very simple for him: he saw, he "photographed" it in his memory, and he repeated it; he heard, he remembered and he repeated. And that is all!

Such a "euphoric" state in some talented children can last from several months to three or four years. But as time goes by, the child starts to fall behind those who always were noticeably behind him. And this gap becomes more and more noticeable every day. And one day it starts to roll downhill as fast as a snowball from a mountain ...

The child doesn't understand anything. The only thought he has is, "If I want to do it, I can. It is simple."

But something is not quite right. He can't seem to be able to do it. Suddenly your child only plays the instrument for a specific time - recommended by the music teacher.

In Voices of our Children, I talked to adults who used to be "capable" musicians in childhood; that is, those who didn't need to put any real effort into learning and studying. Today, these people do not play musical instruments; moreover, they do not have them at home and even avoid them if they see them while visiting someone's house.

One hundred percent of my interviewees recollected how their parents forced them to play music for hours. And former students told me in detail the impression the ever-present clock on the wall made on them - the demanding object that quietly dictated, "You must practice...you have twenty minutes left." In fact, in most cases the clock created a real atmosphere of pressure and some people simply hated them.

These people said that the moment they were given the "from... to..." time frame to study, their interest in music was gone, and the "teacher as idol" simply dissolved. Now their main task during practice was not to enjoy the music but to stay put for that hour, or that hour and a half, or two. Slowly and insidiously, their attention turned to the hands of the clock, which always ticked past as slowly as a snail.

What kind of creativity can you pull from a situation like that?

The truth is that even if you force your child to play the instrument three hours daily, including weekends, and even if he learns the musical piece by heart, he will still stumble and make mistakes during his performance. At this point, the parents, teacher, or both, must have missed a very important detail while training the child at the very beginning.

Dear parents, if you had the desire and opportunity to prepare for your children's music education from the very beginning, you could have avoided many problems and issues and could support the child's interest in learning for years to come.

What do I mean by being prepared? It doesn't mean you need to take music lessons along with the child. It means trying to look for the books that will give you information on musical education to know what you and your child are getting into. Of course it is scary when you do not know something; and accordingly, if you do not know something, you tend to make more mistakes. Knowledge is power!

But before you start searching for musical books, you should first understand what you'd like to know. Then, you will find the distinctive features related to your interests, as well as your child's.