— Change teacher swiftly if it’s not working well; otherwise, tread carefully in any interference with teachers – musicians tend to be highly strung.

Man, this just has me screaming. And throwing things. And I’m gonna hunt this writer down.

HIGH STRUNG?! NEVER?!?!?

😉

Okay, okay, just having fun here. It’s true; some musicians are high strung. Like … well … violins. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.) The truth is, some parents are also quite annoying. But I won’t go into that here.

The above quote is from Face the Music: Getting children to practise musical instruments is tough but necessary. (I find it interesting that this article is in the women’s section of the paper. Hmmm.

I’d love to hear what other readers think of the article. The responses I read at the site disagree with the writer, suggesting parents shouldn’t force anything on their children. I understand. I won’t teach a child if he or she absolutely hates playing. But there’s another side to the coin; parents do need to be able to read their children. I sometimes told my mother I wanted to quit the oboe. She didn’t let me. Years later I asked her why, and she said she knew I was good, and I think she also knew that, despite my complaining, I really did like it. If a parent allowed a child to quit something the minute he or she hit a wall, I suspect children would be sitting around doing nothing all day.

Oh. Some do that, eh?

It’s all a balancing act, I know. It’s never easy.