Student quit lessons after 3 months and I'm genuinely proud of them.
Kid came to me wanting to learn guitar. we worked together for 3 months and they made great progress Then they told me they're quitting because they realized they don't actually like guitar that much. Instead of being disappointed I told them that's totally fine and I'm glad they tried it. Too many people force themselves to stick with things they don't enjoy. Knowing when to walk away from something is a skill too. Someone else celebrate students quitting for the correct reasons
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This reminds me of a quote I saw from comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. I'm response to the attitude of never quitting, he said something along the lines of, "quit everything. Until you find something you can't quit."
My dad paid for guitar lessons for me for 3 years. I fucking hated it dude. It just wasn’t my thing. My dad just hated my hobbies of painting warhammer models and playing video games. Good for you man that’s an awesome mentality.
In fairness, if you have a choice between Warhammer models and crack cocaine, crack generally is the cheaper option.
I can understand a parent wanting you to do something other than video games but painting models is a perfectly fine hobby that does teach a skill. He had a problem with it being nerdy I take it?
I used to teach piano, and one of my students absolutely hated it. I tried talking to the parents, even though it was going to cost me money, but… they kept making her come. So I focused my energy on trying to make it as fun as possible for her.
I teach elementary band and orchestra. My rule is that you’re stuck with me for the year, but after that, it’s your choice. Kids need to learn how to stick with something hard. Most of my violin kids start asking to quit when we go from open strings to putting fingers down. ...
I teach beginning/middle school band. And I usually tell them they haven’t really experienced everything it has to offer until they reach the end of freshman year. Kids don’t know what they want, and will most often take the path of least resistive, gravitating towards shiny n...
Yea, this is my rule with my beginning band kids too. Learning to play an instrument takes time and practice, and they're going to sound crappy for quite a while. I've found in recent decades kids have less desire to stick with it through the rough part than they did when I st...
Walking away now doesn't mean that they won't come back eventually. Trying new shit is usually a good idea.
I will say after teaching music privately (and in classroom) for 25 years I have had many people come back as adults and tell me they wish their parents made them stick with it long enough to get good enough to enjoy it. That doesn't mean to make kids stick with something th...
My daughter plays the trumpet. My only rule was she could quit after she got decent playing, could play a song and read basic music. She decided to stick with it once she hit that point. I think 3 months is a reasonable amount of time to see if you like it and get enough of th...
This is my logic. I would prefer that my kids at least have a basic understanding of music theory. Even if they don't want to be musicians, it's extremely valuable to learn that stuff while you're young. Then if they decide they want to play an instrument when they're older it...
What's more important is that he tried for 3months. In my household, it is 6 months. But regardless, giving good duration before quitting is also important
Had a freshmen boy try out for the volleyball team this year, made the squad, came to 3 practices. At the end of the third practice, he comes up to me, thanks me for the opportunity to play, but says he needs to focus on his main sport (wrestling) and quit the team right ther...
The thing that sucks about that is taking a roster spot from someone who probably really could have used a win.
Three months of genuinely trying something and concluding it's not for you is not failure. It's exactly how the process is supposed to work. The kid walked away knowing more about themselves than when they started and that's a real outcome.
I’m sure that there’s at least one Music Teacher out there that hates me. When I sub in either a Strings or Band class, I try to get the kids to play. I am constantly amazed at the resistance I get from the kids. They seriously don’t want to play their instruments. So, I...
I wanted to play drums *so bad* and my school wouldn't let me. I absolutely hated playing clarinet.
But I can't imagine too many kids being absolutely enamored with guitar or piano lessons. You just gotta grind it through until one day you are actually half decent and you have fun playing.
I wish more teachers (and parents) would have this attitude. I spent so many years as a kid forced into activities I didn’t enjoy, or losing interest and being forced to continue anyway. There’s nothing wrong with walking away from something you don’t enjoy, and I think you’re...
Smart move
The Dip, by Seth Godin!
Quitting because it's hard and quitting because it isn't fun both look similar but are very very different. Being okay with people quitting something because they genuinely don't enjoy needs to be more widely accepted.