Saturday, August 23, 2008

Fun, how elementary!



We started sending Gooly to Little Gym a few months back. When friends and relatives saw the above picture, the auto-comment was , "Wah, training to be a gymnast ah?" It's quite common to have a linear thinking, in which people assume we learn something to be something, eh?

I have many friends who took piano lessons and hated them. I never had the opportunity to learn and thus never had the opportunity to hate them. But that also means I didn't understand the phobia they have towards the ebony and ivory keys. So one sik-pau-mo- yeh-choe day I sat down with a friend who played fairly well but has not touched the keys for years, and asked her why?

"Aiyor.. so boring. Playing the same piece again and again. Endless practicing.." was her reply.

And then it was my turn to aiyor.. Music is supposed to be beautiful. Music is supposed to be fun. Music..wait.. what do I know about music? Hehehe.. not that I have any formal qualification to define it. But I do think it's a waste for God to create something so profoundly beautiful but alas, we cannot enjoy it because we spoil it with the dreaded scales and arpeggios ( I know scales and arpeggios because of them, click here), exams, and more exams. C'mon, playing one piece of music shit sheet for the entire year, or two (if you failed) is such a bore, such a dread, such a joy killer. Hey, maybe it's a blessing in disguise that I didn't take any lessons cos I'm still enjoying music! Ah... Moonlight Sonata. I hear it with my ears, I feel it with my heart. I'm such a virgin music lover; boring and uncontaminated, eh?

Seriously, how can one not enjoy music? Everyone has a tune in the head. Lalala lalala Can't get you out of my head. Kylie Minogue's. It's a permanent resident in my cranium. I can't whistle, and I can't sing, and I don't play any musical instrument, so it shall remain there for good. :D What's your tune?

Back to Little Gym. Nah, I don't wish Gooly to be Li Ning. I want him to have confidence. I want him to fall and be able to pick himself up. I want him to somersault and say "tadaa". I want him to think, "If I can do this, I can do that too." And then, I want him to be disciplined, to be able to follow instructions. But most of all, I want him to have fun.

And should there be a day that Gooly announces that he wants to learn music, I will be like Big Bright Head, adamant about zero-exam type of lessons. Actually, Gooly often says, "I'll play the piano, you play the drum, and papah play the guitar." Now wouldn't that be fun?

8 comments:

tasy said...

goody sunday morning wei..

i totally agree with you, music classes ought to be enjoyable and rejuvenating for the mind. I wanted to at least provide the opportunities for my children to discover the musical world, not for the sake of going to this what what level.

Now, I'm encouraging my son to play songs he likes to hear, or maybe create some musical piece.

The repetitive and endless practices, I believe it's more of the traditional courses which dampens the mood to learn for the young minds. Go for Yamaha Music Course, it's another story altogether.

I am learning to play the piano at this age, and my dem cute and young piano teacher (who's also a lawyer) graduates from that course, he makes good recommendation for it, the hearing part is emphasized throughout the course and it trains the learners to be creative.

For the 1st level, parent is compulsory to sit with the child, so it serves 2 purposes for you
1. to bond with your child.
2. to learn some basic of music yourself.

so nice, buy 1 get 1 free.

goolypop said...

choe sun!

Amboi amboi.. sempat find one young and cute and lawyer piano teacher? Kai siew, ok if we balik tanahair one fine day. Siewyeh, ngor geh!Mo man thai!

rainbow angeles said...

remember to play all the leechart clayderman songs hehe..

Y-ling said...

That would be really fun! I am waiting for Angel to be big enough to have piano lesson too so that I can say NO EXAM to the teacher unless Angel is comfortable with it (sure pass kind of feeling) :-)

goolypop said...

aiyor lichard the kam-moe fellar? :D

goolypop said...

y-ling, if angel is comfortable, of cos ok la. She is a smart gal la, sure tak-geh ;)

Anonymous said...

Music needs practice, but most importantly I think, it comes with talent. Some people are born talent, like me, ahem. They don't need to go lessons and bingo..they can pick up the intruments and just play. But then,as I say, the basics are essential.
Let Gooly enjoy what he play. The rest just leave it to his undiscovered talent.

goolypop said...

cy.. talent ah? Sei for.. i just want some cincai bocai music playing wor.. something like my out of tune karaoke singing? Simply simply one? The teacher sure kick my butt hor?

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