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> For my older son this ability has translated into what seems like a stunning effortlessness when it comes to his music lessons. He finds it easy to sit down a

by ctvo 3y ago

> For my older son this ability has translated into what seems like a stunning effortlessness when it comes to his music lessons. He finds it easy to sit down at his instrument and improvise in any key. He composes beautiful music. He has been taking piano for a few years now, and even though he practices no more than 30 minutes a day on average, if he’s motivated, he can learn to play a simple Chopin composition within a week or two. There has to be a better way to brag about your children.

planb 3y ago
And I’m not even sure if haven perfect pitch helps this much in playing existing music on an instrument. You still need the routine and practice to move your hands fast and accurate (which for me learning to play the guitar is the much bigger problem than understanding what notes to play)
- DennisP 3y ago
  I play piano, and memorizing notes takes me a while for new songs. I know what they sound like though. If I could skip most of the note-learning, I'd spend that much more time on practicing the movement. (And actually, even more time than that; it'd be more fun so I'd probably practice more.)
  - klodolph 3y ago
    Ordinary, relative pitch helps a lot learning new songs, and it is much more learnable. If you know what key you are in, and you can hear the intervals in a melody, you can play it back without needing absolute pitch to do it. > (And actually, even more time than that; it'd be more fun so I'd probably practice more.) That’s the circular dependency there—if you practice enough, you develop the skills to make it easier to learn songs, which makes it more fun to practice, so you practice more. I really think there are just two things you gotta do—“push through” and get the practice work done anyway, and make sure that you are practicing effectively.
  - coliveira 3y ago
    I have news for you: relative pitch can give you the same benefits. I for example play songs faster by ear than by reading notes. The only difference is that relative pitch takes time to develop, while it seems that absolute pitch is easier to acquire for the people who have it.
- ilyt 3y ago
  But it saves you spending $20 once in your life to get a tuner!
lisasays 3y ago
Just keep reading. It gets better: My older boy is also taking a few online music classes in his two non-dominant languages. (My kids are trilingual and I always look for ways to increase their non-dominant language exposure.)
- zwieback 3y ago
  The kids will complain to each other about their overbearing parents in a language only they understand.
  - euroderf 3y ago
    Speaking of which, there are anecdotes about twins who invent and use their own "DIY" spoken languages, but I've never read a good academic treatment of the topic and I don't even know what the proper search terms would be.
- bluecalm 3y ago
  It's just reality for immigrants from different countries living in America, you know? You gotta learn three to function and communicate with your grand parents and and the rest of the family as they rarely speak any English. That is especially so if you want to teach them something about culture in a country you grew up in. (I am not the author, my family member is. I find the comments about bragging just silly. It's a lot of work to keep the family connections across cultures and languages).
  - lisasays 3y ago
    I find the comments about bragging just silly Don't know what to tell you, other than that the whole piece just reeks of compulsive status signalling. And why would one throw their "just look at our little prodigies-in-bloom" story up on the internet -- except to have people comment on it? Or is it only fawning and applauding comments they were expecting?
    - ctvo 3y ago
antegamisou 3y ago
Still surprised how shit like this makes it to the front page and stays there for quite a while.
- jrflowers 3y ago
  Literally anything about how you or your brain/children/microdosing regime/reinvention of sobriety are better than lowly average people has a coin toss chance of getting automatic upvotes on here.

by ctvo 3y ago

planb 3y ago

And I’m not even sure if haven perfect pitch helps this much in playing existing music on an instrument. You still need the routine and practice to move your hands fast and accurate (which for me learning to play the guitar is the much bigger problem than understanding what notes to play)

DennisP 3y ago
I play piano, and memorizing notes takes me a while for new songs. I know what they sound like though. If I could skip most of the note-learning, I'd spend that much more time on practicing the movement. (And actually, even more time than that; it'd be more fun so I'd probably practice more.)
- klodolph 3y ago
  Ordinary, relative pitch helps a lot learning new songs, and it is much more learnable. If you know what key you are in, and you can hear the intervals in a melody, you can play it back without needing absolute pitch to do it. > (And actually, even more time than that; it'd be more fun so I'd probably practice more.) That’s the circular dependency there—if you practice enough, you develop the skills to make it easier to learn songs, which makes it more fun to practice, so you practice more. I really think there are just two things you gotta do—“push through” and get the practice work done anyway, and make sure that you are practicing effectively.
- coliveira 3y ago
  I have news for you: relative pitch can give you the same benefits. I for example play songs faster by ear than by reading notes. The only difference is that relative pitch takes time to develop, while it seems that absolute pitch is easier to acquire for the people who have it.
ilyt 3y ago
But it saves you spending $20 once in your life to get a tuner!

lisasays 3y ago

Just keep reading. It gets better: My older boy is also taking a few online music classes in his two non-dominant languages. (My kids are trilingual and I always look for ways to increase their non-dominant language exposure.)

zwieback 3y ago
The kids will complain to each other about their overbearing parents in a language only they understand.
- euroderf 3y ago
  Speaking of which, there are anecdotes about twins who invent and use their own "DIY" spoken languages, but I've never read a good academic treatment of the topic and I don't even know what the proper search terms would be.
bluecalm 3y ago
It's just reality for immigrants from different countries living in America, you know? You gotta learn three to function and communicate with your grand parents and and the rest of the family as they rarely speak any English. That is especially so if you want to teach them something about culture in a country you grew up in. (I am not the author, my family member is. I find the comments about bragging just silly. It's a lot of work to keep the family connections across cultures and languages).
- lisasays 3y ago
  I find the comments about bragging just silly Don't know what to tell you, other than that the whole piece just reeks of compulsive status signalling. And why would one throw their "just look at our little prodigies-in-bloom" story up on the internet -- except to have people comment on it? Or is it only fawning and applauding comments they were expecting?
  - ctvo 3y ago

antegamisou 3y ago

Still surprised how shit like this makes it to the front page and stays there for quite a while.

jrflowers 3y ago
Literally anything about how you or your brain/children/microdosing regime/reinvention of sobriety are better than lowly average people has a coin toss chance of getting automatic upvotes on here.