The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music poll: How good are Tiger Mom methods in preparing young musicians?

By Jacob Stockinger

I know a lot of people who are talking about the Tiger Mom parenting phenomenon as decribed in a book by Yale Law School professor and militant overachieving mother of two daughters Amy Chua (below).

It appeared as a book and then an article in The New Yorker magazine and then elsewhere in many publications and on many TV and radio shows, including commercial networks, PBS and NPR. Check it out on Google. You’ll finds lots.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/tiger-mom-amy-chua-controversial-book-parenting-guide/story?id=12767305

Some people see it as a much needed corrective to lax and indulgent parenting that leads to little success in adulthood.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/why_america_needs_tiger_mom_WkrRBw5wb127D4qKFZl5YM

Other see it as questionable and bordering on, or crossing over into, child abuse.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2043313,00.html

Practicing the piano and the violin played a big role in the strict parenting – with the mother present and the practice sessions running up to five hours.

Yes, five hours.

How healthy is that?

Does well does it work?

What do professional musicians think of it?

Here is a discussion from a story from the Houston Chronicle that you might find interesting.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/7423351.html

Were you raised that way?

What do you think about such a parenting method, especially as it applies to classical music?

The Ear wants to hear.