Ah okay. I got the impression from your original post that you had more than your average experience! Thanks for clarifying. I wonder if the fact that she can't read was the reason her music school was hesitant to put her into a class.
Like Jleigh, I had the interest, but not the supposed ability - I consistently failed every music aptitude test given by the school, and therefore was not allowed to learn an instrument other than recorder, which the whole class did. I wasn't even in the B choir, I was in the small group that had to learn tambourine in music-time. I loved music, and taught myself guitar through highschool, and went on to make a good living from busking - singing and playing guitar on the street, while I was at university. I wrote songs, performed at bars and concerts, ran jam sessions, and even had one of my own songs chosen for a commercial CD. Take that, music teachers!
Seriously though, as a teen, I had the self-discipline to practise through love and enjoyment, but for younger children, I think you need to encourage a commitment, when they choose at the beginning of the year to learn an instrument, that they will practise, and make an agreement that Mum and Dad will be pushing them to practise if they get slack. Repeat the agreement each year (or each term) and if they can't agree to commit to the practise and not whinge when you remind them, then they don't get lessons any more.
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