Lisa J Lafave

The Fertility Coach

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Guitar

I Bought A Piano Only to See It Sit In My Dining Room.

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My boys, Jarvie and Giles, who are now 5 1/2, have been taking Dalcroze Eurhythmics, at The Cleveland Institue of Music, for two years now. This is the beginning of their third year. In Eurhythmics, they learn to run, skip, hop, tip toe, or gallop, according to what type of notes the instructor plays, on the piano. They also learn about 16 different types of notes. Eurhythmics is a great foundation to pursuing any instrument. At CIM, all the young adult, students are required to take Eurhythmics.

All along, I have been interested in having Jarvie & Giles have an appreciation for music, and then learn how to play the guitar. Along the way, friends shared with me that they thought beginning piano was important for any musical education, including guitar.

I thought I would start guitar lessons at five years old, however, my plans were foiled. Upon further exploration, I discovered that the guitar teachers felt that learning guitar, before the age of seven was too early, because of the size of the average 4, 5, and 6 year old’s hand.

So I thought to myself, maybe Jarvie and Giles could take piano in the interim. I attended a meeting at the Cleveland Institute of Music regarding preparatory piano lessons. I was told you need to have an acoustic piano, in your home, in order to have your child in their preparatory classes. So I went out and purchased a like new, but used, Baldwin. She is a beauty! Sounds pretty good too!

As I began to make arrangements for piano lessons, with teachers from the Cleveland Institute of Music, the common theme was that it would be better to wait, until the boys were seven to start piano. Apparently, the teachers want children to know that you read prose and music, from left to right, and until that is drilled into the brains of little boys and little girls, trying to read music is rather difficult!

Thank goodness that Baldwin is as pretty to look at, as she is to listen to! I have acquired a rather large piece of furniture in my dining room that will sit largely unused, until my boys learn to read!

So much for taking piano, before guitar!

Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
Written in Mt Little Brick in University Heights, Ohio

Leap Into Action!

Piano, Guitar or Both?

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Do you have a musical background?  What did you study first? Recorder? Piano? Violin? Drums?  Inquiring minds want to know!

My boys are five and as such I am told their hands just aren’t large enough to give guitar a good go.  I would like nothing better than for one of them to really take to the guitar.  But apparently we have some growing to do first.  Admittedly, Giles is a bit bigger than Jarvie, but still not big enough to start Guitar.  I want them to start together anyway.  I’m told guitar at 7.  So the question remains what do we fill the gap between Delcros Eurythmics and Guitar with?Piano?  Does a basic foundation in Piano put Guitar players in better stead anyway?  I think there are different theories here.

I am considering launching them in Piano lessons this Fall through the Cleveland Institue of Music (CIM) and taking the lessons at the local Unitarian Church.  This way they would not lose all the knowledge they have gained from the last year of Delcros Eurhythmics.

Fortunately, our friend and dog walker Richard can give us an old spinnet, which won’t take up too much space in our little home.  For those of you who don’t know a spinnet is the smallest upright piano.  The spinnet must be moved from his house to ours and then tuned.  All in the next 6 weeks.  Sounds like I better find a tuner now.