Yamaha Graduate Speaks About Being a Yamaha Parent
Julie Cooper and her daughter Lillie have been attending the Yamaha Music School of Boston since February 2007. Growing up in New York, some of Julie's earliest musical memories were as a Yamaha student.
Lillie is in book four of the Junior Music Course, and her teacher is Sarah Corrigan. In November, Julie and Lillie met with School Director Jim Keenan to share some of their experiences attending the school.
Jim: Lillie - what do you like best about music class?
Lillie:I like getting the stickers in the books.
Jim: That's what your teacher told me, too. Do you have a favorite song?
Lillie: Yes, Lavender Blue.
Jim: I heard that you like to play for everyone in your family. What does your little brother do when you are playing the piano?
Lillie: He pretends to play the drums or the guitar along with me.
Jim: I'll bet that you're the leader of the band. Julie, you studied Yamaha as a child. Do you have specific memories about the class?
Julie: I have specific memories of going from the keyboard to the big piano and doing things there and coming back. I have real strong memories of the rhythms; you know the language of the "ta-ta-ti-ti-ta" and the changes. I've only done that in Yamaha and it still sticks with me, years later.
Jim: And that was in New York, right?
Julie: Yes. I'm sure the curriculum has changed a bit since I did it, but it was a great foundation.
Jim: I imagine that many of the class fundamentals are still the same.
Julie: The fundamentals and principles are definitely the same. You know, I went on from Yamaha to study piano privately, went to Julliard pre-college for six years, and even taught piano myself. From my perspective of watching Lillie go through the program, it's been very interesting. And certainly, I'm even more impressed. When you're a child and you're going through it, you just do it. Now, I have the chance to see its structure in depth.
For example, in every new song, I'll think, "Oh, they're introducing that now, oh that's the right time!" And sometimes I don't quite get it, and then later on I can see how she grows and improves, and why the concept was introduced when it was. So it's been a really great experience watching her.
Jim: Many parents have a strong curiosity about the structure - some of it is obvious, but others are more subtle.
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Julie: Exactly, and there are things that may have happened in book two that, now we're in book four, I say, "Oh! So that's why!" It fits together, and you start to see the fruit of it. Lillie has started to improvise using both hands, developed the melody awhile ago and then recently she added the chords to go with it. And I know that it's based from lessons before, learning the chords, learning the patterns, and hearing what fits.
Jim: The children develop a strong sense of how the harmonic structure works with the melody. When they begin to start their own exploration and ‘mini compositions' with melodies, they intuitively know how to put it together and develop it.
Julie: Right, and it's learned internally. If I think about what I got out of Yamaha, it's this intrinsic musical sense that I can't even explain. Like understanding musical structure, without knowing it. I don't have to count measures, I just know by the feel of the length and structure. I think it comes from having it at a young age, and hearing it. And that's why I was so thrilled, because I was looking for a Yamaha school when she was little, and at first there wasn't anything in Boston, but this school happened to open when Lillie was three. And she started right after her fourth birthday.
Jim: Yes - you began in with us in our second semester.
Julie: It's been fun to watch it grow, with the performance classes and the concerts. And Lillie has grown right along with her teacher, Miss Sarah, because I think she was in one of Sarah's first classes. So we've been growing together. We feel really lucky, because part of success in the program is finding a match with the temperament of the teacher and child. For Lillie, the fit has been really great.
Jim: You have clear memories about your Yamaha lessons; for other adults the memories can be vague. But it seems that everyone remembers it being fun, and they always remember the teacher.
Julie: Oh yes, Miss Fastigi, who became Mrs. Washburn! Absolutely! No, you do not forget your piano teacher! And I loved her so much; she actually became my first piano teacher.
Jim: Watching Lillie go through the class, has there been anything that has surprised you?
Julie: You know, I think it's the unexpected benefits for me that have been surprising. I knew that in doing it, and my husband agreed, we were taking the long view. We weren't trying to nurture a prodigy, and I think I'm biased because I was pushed from an early age. We wanted her to have a love of music, a self-motivation.
We're starting to let her practice on her own, doing her own checks (marking the homework), while I just listen in the background. If I was sitting next to her, I could be helping her more or coaching her more, but the balance is in taking the long view and thinking of this as the foundation. Not just for music, but more broadly. Now, she gets up in the morning and plays a little bit, she comes home and plays a little bit. So she chooses to spread her practice out during the day.
Jim: In committing to the "long view", you're making a conscious choice to support her musical training combined with the physical and intellectual development over time. It's about having an open mind. That's not easy to do - especially in the beginning. Many parents are very nervous in the beginning, when things might not progress they way they thought it might.
Julie: I was very anxious at first when she wouldn't practice at all. And I was feeling guilty because I wasn't working with her. Then, the fifth week it clicked, and we figured out how to put it into our day positively. That's a part of the learning, how do you put it into your life and find that good time.
I've learned a lot about her learning style. There was one time that I was really cranky, so I had switched to, "No you're doing it wrong! Do this! Etc, etc." For days later she didn't really want to play that song. It was so different from the way we usually worked. I thought, "Wow - look at that one time I switched, and what an impact it had."
Jim: Yes - and I suspect that this is a different style from your own and that you had to adjust to it?
Julie: Right. Talk about value, with Yamaha there are all these other areas of growth beyond music, which I look at as a teacher and a parent and say, this is really great! It's almost like it'd be ok if she never really progressed much with the piano because we've learned so much about other things which are just incredibly valuable.
Jim: Julie, thank you for your insightful comments. I'm sure that they will resonate with many parents. We're privileged to have you and your family as part of our school.