Aidan has been very reluctant to practice his assigned violin music for the past several months, but he enjoys playing around and experimenting. This reluctance is exhibited in most areas of his life. I can get quite frustrated at times, though I consider myself to be fairly patient.
Aidan has been working with his violin teacher on pages 18-19 of his Strings Explorer book, since December! Even her patience is being tested. Aidan likes to savour things and seems comfortable to drag things out. At his Saturday lesson, he played Arco's Quickstep very well and his teacher applauded his practice. He had only played the song for about two minutes in the morning prior to the lesson, but it sounded as if he had practiced through the week, compared to the way he usually plays at his lessons (fumbling through a song, not recognizing notes, mixing up rhythms ...).
He also played a few songs on page 20, with his teacher, and did quite well after only a couple tries. Getting him to practice his assigned work, however, is nearly impossible.
Aidan is very observant, shy and sensitive. Sometimes, months will go by before his teachers or I can discover what is blocking him.
This afternoon and evening, Aidan listened to Firework by Katy Perry, about 40 times :) He loves the song and he loves the video. He says his favourite part (at 2:32) in the video is when the shy bikini-clad woman jumps into a pool full of people. Aidan says that he knows *exactly* how she feels. Aidan avoids physical activities at school and he is hiding out in Strings as well.
Yesterday, I was reading aloud to Aidan and Austin from a new book called, "The Third Vision" by Dr. Francis H. Vala, MD. In the chapter on neuroplasticity, we learned about a study conducted by Alvaro Pascual-Leone. In his study, he taught two groups of people who had never before played the piano, a series of notes. He assigned the first group to play the piano two hours a day for five days, and the second group to imagine playing the piano for two hours per day for five days. "Remarkably, mental practice alone produced the same physical changes in the motor system and the brain as physical practice!"
As I tucked Aidan into bed tonight, I invited him to play the parts of Firework that he knows, along with the Strings Orchestra tomorrow. He explained that he could try that, but he doesn't want to make everyone else have to stop and go back, just because of his mistake. He says that "Ms. Murray makes it look like everyone made the mistake, so everyone has to play again." He is grateful that his Strings teacher is so considerate as to not single anyone out, and he knows she wouldn't do that to him, but he is nonetheless very concerned about being the cause of retakes. I suggested that he follow along in the music as the orchestra is playing, and jump in at the parts he knows. He learned staccato with his private teacher on Saturday, and I believe he can play fast enough to join in for parts. He just seems so nervous about making a mistake that he isn't trying at all.
He told me he might try this tomorrow. He also suggested that he will try imagining that he is playing (this could be valuable, and may encourage him to actually practice the song at home). I said, "Let your colours burst." And he smiled :)
No comments:
Post a Comment