Alin - 4 yrs old, Romania

After our Skype session with Hellene (on September 30th) I've been using stickers to reward Alin for Guess Key game. Here's his best score for 1 min (118) - he's been practicing it almost daily since October the 1st:



Few days ago he played HCB R1 and today he played JB L1 for the first time, each time the whole song! The time is big, but his progress is great! I'm proud of him! He got candies for each of his performances even thoug by helping him a bit with what fingers to put - I let him choose the fingers, according to his wish too.
I chose JB without thinking much but he did it I wanted to see if he wants to play with the left hand as he has been trying to imitate me. I'm glad he wants it. Now I have to think of the right step... Hellene, what do you think?

Later added:
Hellene, after you hang up, Alin showed me he can play both hands simultaneously! I forgot to mention it. It wasn't from a somg but something of his own.

Andrea

Today best scores for L1 while correcting himself, without my help in Introductory SOngs:

HCB 18:22 / 21
OTJ 16:18 / 11
ANYT 17:24 / 37
FS 19:20 / 15

andreasro wrote: Today best scores for L1 while correcting himself, without my help in Introductory SOngs:

HCB 18:22 / 21
OTJ 16:18 / 11
ANYT 17:24 / 37
FS 19:20 / 15

Andrea, score is not for 4-year-old! ANYT is a one of the hardest pieces.

andreasro wrote: After our Skype session with Hellene (on September 30th) I've been using stickers to reward Alin for Guess Key game. Here's his best score for 1 min (118) - he's been practicing it almost daily since October the 1st:

Andrea, you are generous! I would pay with butterflies and it takes 10 to get a sticker!

Few days ago he played HCB R1 and today he played JB L1 for the first time, each time the whole song! The time is big, but his progress is great! I'm proud of him! He got candies for each of his performances even thoug by helping him a bit with what fingers to put - I let him choose the fingers, according to his wish too.

Candy???? Are dentists cheap in your place? Well, I am happy to see the progress! Keep it up!

I chose JB without thinking much but he did it I wanted to see if he wants to play with the left hand as he has been trying to imitate me. I'm glad he wants it. Now I have to think of the right step... Hellene, what do you think?

I wrote it for you privately.

Later added:
Hellene, after you hang up, Alin showed me he can play both hands simultaneously! I forgot to mention it. It wasn't from a somg but something of his own.

Andrea[/quote]

Yes, I am inspirational for kids During these Skype conferences they all do amazing things for me! Imagine how do I feel during my own recitals, when all of or sudden my 3-year-olds 'change' their mind and want to play on Grand Piano instead of a keyboard (as was agreed).

I think, the more inspiration and believes in them we give them, the more they are capable of doing.

First of all you must know Alin is very passionate about piano. He's been playing the keys all day long for more than a year... And somehow he's quite possessive with it... If I'm at the piano he jumps in too... and his younger brother... well... "he's not aloud to play"
And in a way "I got sick and tired" of listening his playing, at least he can play something meaningful and I told him that...

I always ask him if he wants to play Guess Key ("Do you want to help the dwarf with the fruits so he'll pay you with money? Mom will give you - a treat - if you make more that the last time and one more if you beat your record". Well, something like that. He plays anyway) or Gentle Piano ("Do you want to play a song on your own?"). I always ask which hand he prefers. And his hand shows me in an instant, before his mouth does it

hellene wrote: Andrea, you are generous! I would pay with butterflies and it takes 10 to get a sticker!

I do this because stickers are not so important for him... The first few days he wanted to have stickers to stick them on his clothes, or on our clothes, to stick them to anything and everything After a week or so they didn't show much interest...

hellene wrote: Candy???? Are dentists cheap in your place? Well, I am happy to see the progress! Keep it up!

Though dentists ARE cheap in my country, candies are very very rare treats in the house. In four years he got only 4 little bags in total , and most of them jelly... We prefer fruits and home made sweets or sweets less aggressive to teeth
So when I say he can get something sweet it means it's really something!
Still, in his view, the pleasure of playing piano surpasses the treats received... and I believe I have to be very inventive to reward him, his view on "life" is different than what I've seen in kids...

hellene wrote: I wrote it for you privately.

Yes, I'll do as you suggested, thank you!

hellene wrote: I think, the more inspiration and believes in them we give them, the more they are capable of doing.

You are absolutely right! I've seen it in with my son mostly recently.
Maybe his progress will ask for another Skype session with you


Andrea

Andrea, I followed your link to see your son's videos, but couldn't find any.