OUR STORY

As any of you music parents have probably discovered, early childhood musical development is a family affair!  Parents do not just drop their children off at the local gym and return a few hours later. No, parents often attend their young children's lessons, direct or encourage their children to practise regularly and facilitate these practice sessions. Parents often struggle with how to motivate and guide their children behaviourally and musically. Promoting this musical development requires commitment, dedication, persistence, energy, and incredible patience! 

As two full-time working parents, my partner and I found it challenging to ensure that our children had daily practice sessions with the limited time that we had together as a family. I was the one who did most of the practising and I felt at times as though my only role with my children was as their practice coach, as I would cycle through each child each evening. And I would often be lacking in creativity, and positivity by the time I got to my third child. 

After many years of practising with our children ourselves, a young cellist offered to work with Elliot. I was thrilled that one day a week, I could step back and allow someone else to take over the role of practice coach so I could devote more energy to my other children and to non-musical activities. I noticed that when this cellist, Andrew Ascenzo, came to our home, Elliot was more cooperative, engaged and attentive, and not surprisingly, made more progress. I also witnessed the development of an important and respectful mentor relationship between them. 

Fast forward a few years, and I experienced more and more difficulty practising with my youngest child. He was my most independent child and least receptive and responsive to parental guidance. To save me time, as well as to reduce unnecessary power struggles and negative practice sessions, I hired an adolescent in my neighbourhood to work regularly with Adriel. Again, I was so appreciative of this support. Over the years, Adriel has worked with many talented violin coaches, and he has never objected or complained about doing so.  He has benefitted from their specialized instruction, from hearing them play, and from playing alongside them. 

Given that my partner and I do not ourselves play stringed instruments, we know that our children have received far greater assistance from these coaches than we ever could have given them. Even as our children have aged and matured, they have continued to receive coaching to supplement the work that they do on their own. We know that they would not be where they are at today, and we would not be as sane a family, without the incredible support and involvement of musical coaches!  We hope that through Bach Buddies, many students and families will be able to experience the incredible benefits of musical coaching!