Piano Lessons

We were umming and ahhing over whether to have Alex learn an instrument. She had shown an interest in the piano, but we were unsure as to whether this was a passing phase or not. After all, she isn't yet five. But we decided to find a music student to teach her the fundamentals of piano - and hire a piano (electronic/digital) - for 6 months to a year to see how she went. Well, to say that it's been a learning curve for all is an understatement!

Mummy had thought that since musicology in Australia mainly used the original Italian words for musical terms (eg. crotchet, andante, crescendo, etc.) that this would be similar in China. Wrong, wrong wrong! Guess who now has an expanded vocabulary? Oh, and you thought it was Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do - try Si Do (pronounced kind of like "she" do). Ling laoshi (Teacher Ling) is a wonderfully warm teacher who we are happy to have found - and although she teaches Alex entirely in Chinese, she speaks enough English to convey the homework to Mummy each week (and she's happy to write the pinyin for the new vocabulary to help Mummy along). Alex enjoys playing the piano more when the songs have words. She has a one-hour class each weekend which about kills her for concentration. Meanwhile, Sebastien is kept occupied watching PBS (American children's network) episodes on YouTube.com. Through Ling laoshi, Alex and Brett went to see a military concert which Alex was very impressed with - lots of saluting and the women sang beautifully.