Piano Lessons at the University!

Well, we have finally figured out things for our little piano boy. After all our wondering and searching, we decided to contact the University's department of music and get their opinion. We sent out a random email with some video links and we got one email back in particular asking us to meet with her so she could evaluate him and give her opinion.

We did some research into who this person was and found that not only was she director of several music programs as well as at 2 colleges, but she was also a concert pianist, child prodigy herself, and over the chamber of music concert series and had a long long list of many accomplishments and awards making her listed as "master class".

Yes, I suppose we were a little surprised that someone with so many credentials wanted to take the time out of their incredibly busy schedule to meet with some random people off the street to look at their son play piano, but we hoped it was for good reasons and that she really was impressed by him. So, we made the date and met up at the University to talk to her.

Now of course we weren't organized and forgot his sheet music and he ended up playing some random choo choo train song (only thing he had memorized at the time) for her while we sat in fear of what reaction we would get from such a weird little song. But after doing a little bit of music games with him and talking with him, she told us what she thought.

She said she will usually pick 1 or 2 new students at most a year to privately teach and she likes to start when they are young and that by the time they are old enough that they are exceptionally experienced and have the ability to apply to Julliard, and her students get in.

So as she proceeds to tell us all this technical and fancy stuff we are watching our son play with the piano keys and roll around on the bench and floor (remember, just because you are gifted, does not mean you are any more mature!) and we're trying to take it all in. She said it didn't matter what a student plays, like what song selection, but she knew right away that our son was quite gifted by the tone of what he played.

Well, all of this is pretty intense to our little world. We agreed to her as his private teacher, and he'll start next week taking lessons at the University Department of Music. We still can't quite digest it all, and it seems pretty overwhelming seeing a little 6 year old "go to college" in a sense, but we are incredibly happy and lucky that he has gotten this chance. He is very excited himself to have a real teacher. We'll have to see what comes of all this.

If you're interested in any video performances, we maintain a piano blog here.

Over Time or All at Once--Realization of a Gifted Child

I often wonder how you first notice that your child is different than other kids. How do you know if they are gifted? Is it all at once, like an overnight thing, or is it more gradual?

With our oldest, I didn't think he was super smart. He was learning ABC's and sounds and shapes all slowly and over time. He was 2 and telling me what letter made what sound, but I thought it was fine. When he was 3 and could memorize books to make people think he could read as he pointed to the words, I thought it was cute. And when he figured out reading at 4 I thought hey that's pretty good, but I never really thought he was all that more intelligent than any other kid.

It wasn't until Kindergarten that I realized he was more advanced. Or maybe he wasn't, but the teacher wasn't teaching anything close to his level. Sometimes I think there are a lot of gifted kids out there but they aren't challenged so they end up just going with the flow at the level they are given at school.

I suppose if it weren't for our oldest son's boredom and sadness over Kindergarten, then maybe we wouldn't have gone the route we had, and maybe he wouldn't have been challenged by us changing things.

As far as our 2nd son. It was all very different. We were always saying, "No, he isn't going to be anything like his brother". We didn't have quite the same amount of time to teach or help him to learn, and we noticed that he didn't pick up on things like his older brother did. That is why it was such a complete shock when he did show signs of giftedness. It seriously was an overnight thing.

One day he was just a little 3 year old not doing much, just playing and listening, but then the next day he was reading all the street signs and shortly after he was teaching himself to play the piano at 4.

Now where did that come from? I don't really know, and it was so weird! I don't like to compare my sons, but they are both so smart, yet so different in how they learn. Our oldest is so much more of a deep thinker, and seems to know everything, yet our younger son is quick to learn but in much different areas.

It is interesting. So I say to anyone, you can never tell if you're gonna get some super smart kid. They may show it all along, and so it seems normal until they match up with other kids, or they may just wake up one day and have learned it all in their sleep!

Piano prodigy or just talented? What to do?

OK, so as we've mentioned before, our 6 year old is obsessed with the piano. All he wants to do is play the piano day and night. He begs for more sheet music and piano books so that he can pour through them playing every song.

No, he doesn't have a piano teacher, although we've looked time to time. Before, our problem was that no one would take a 5 or then 6 year old kid as a student, but now as he nears the age they accept, we worry about what type of teacher can best suit him.

He's taught himself everything and he just reads through piano course books going through a level book a day if I'd let him. I buy him the next level up, but I try to slow him down. I'm nothing of a piano teacher but every week I sit down with him and assign him like 10 songs to practice during the week, just to kind of get him to play them more smoothly or to practice more on fewer songs.

I can't correct him and I don't know how to explain any notes to him, but I can hear if he misses a note and tell him it's not right. How to fix it is another story. He usually figures it out or if in the end if he can't we go ask a friend who plays piano for help.

I want to find him a good piano teacher, but I'm not sure who to find. He loves the piano so much but wants to go so fast. I worry that a piano teacher might slow him down. I don't mind him working on certain songs for a while, but I don't want a teacher who is going to make him practice so few songs and go so slow that he starts to lose his passion. I want him to be challenged and I want him to enjoy it. So far he seems to be doing fine on his own, so why change it?

Then, on another note, we've begun to wonder is he talented, or does he truly have a gift? Is he a piano prodigy, or are we just over proud parents that think he is really great when he isn't that good?

He's recently downloaded some sheet music off the internet to play and one of the song's he's been playing is the same exact song that we see a 6 year old girl playing on "Britain's Got Talent" and winning. Here, see for yourself, here is our version, and then the little girl on Utube:

OK, so I suppose the little girl is probably faster a bit, but really our little boy has only been playing this song for a week here, but it's still the same song. I think sometimes, gee, why isn't he going on some talent show or something.

Who is to know what he will become. No, he's not like those super skilled little kids playing the piano that you see on talk shows, but we still think he is something else. We just hope we aren't overthinking things. Is he really that good for a non-taught 6 year old, or did I just suck at playing the piano that much that I am a little too impressed?

Oh, and if anyone is interested, you can always check out his piano blog where he plays all his songs by clicking here.