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Well, there doesn't seem to be much of a contest between those two
approaches, does there? You can either become a skilled robot, or a
musician.
My early training was from the school of robotics, but fortunately my
instructor was an enlightened dude and started introducing theory when
I was ready. Unfortunately, my axe was the trumpet, and orthodontics
switched my direction from music to engineering.
If you go with a robot teacher, be sure to provide plenty of
opportunity for the kid to explore in non-directed areas. Show him or
her how they can throw in a 3rd to make the harmony more dense/obvious.
Load up Band-in-a-Box and teach 'em a minor pentatonic scale. Make it
fun!
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We can learn-by-doing, and children are better at this than most
adults. Notice how quickly they learn to communicate through the spoken
word, a very complex system of symbols, and they do this passably well
before anyone gives them grammar lessons.
As adults, we've largely abandoned conscious intuitive learning
processes in favor analytical approaches. Analysis achieves understanding by
intellectually decomposing a system into it's component parts, then
understanding the role of each part in a greater whole. This works well
in most cases, but young minds don't yet have the analytical skills to
effectively use this form of learning.
So if we can't rely entirely on analysis based training, what are the
alternatives? Obviously, kids can't play entirely by intuition (at least
*most* of them can't). We use analysis to "translate" the melody we want to
play or learn into actions on a keyboard, fretboard, etc. But deep analysis
is not needed in many cases and so neither is deep knowlege. Your daughter
may already have the skills she needs to learn the pieces she has trouble
with, but may not be using a learning process that best advantages her own
musiocal intuition.
Perhaps what your daughter needs is not more knowledge explaining
the relationships of notes and theory of musical construction. If she wants
to be able to better "teach herself", maybe it would be wiser to examine
the *process* she uses to teach herself a piece. It may be that the she
already has enough knowledge and that she could be shown how to more
effectively apply the knowledge and musical intuition she already has.
The best of luck to you both,
Mark
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| This is a no-brainer to me, go with approach #2. One of my twin
daughters (age 9) has been playing for three years, and taking lessons
with a wonderful teacher who allows her to integrate theory and personal
interest material. We never have to remind her to practice, and she
loves to play, improvise, and both read sheet music and learn by ear.
Cheers,
Ken
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