Piano vs Basketball

thumper1
Thu, 20 Oct 2016 21:24:18 +0000

There shouldn’t be an obsession with oboe or bassoon either. I can tell you…my kid played oboe as a state ranked number one player. It didn’t help her in college acceptances…at all. She was an engineering major. She took oboe and piano lessons because she wanted to…not because we made her. She was also on the swim team for four years…and was never a starter. Sometimes, she didn’t swim…at all…at a meet. But she liked it and went to every practice. She also was very good at running the team software and timing programs!

DS was also a state ranked number one instrumentalist. But he was a music major. He also was on the school tennis team for two years. Despite years of private lessons which he enjoyed, he really wasn’t a great player. But again, he enjoyed it.

The Thumper parent request was that each kid do one sport per year…not per season…per YEAR. Kid choice, not ours. We also asked them to do something musical…either instruments or vocal, and both chose instrumental. We didn’t push for two sets of instrument lessons, but they both wanted to do piano in addition to their ensemble instrument. Again THEIR choice.

I will say that Children’s Chorus and Pre college wind ensemble and orchestra took as much time as scouts. Again…it was our kid choice to do this.

The key is…the activities were THEIR choice. Period.