[sfteus]

I quit in middle school due to a combination of it feeling like a chore, feeling like it was too "nerdy" during that age, and not really liking the teaching style of the instructor we found after moving. Definitely regret it now; I've since developed some joint issues in my fingers that make it difficult to play, and often wonder if sticking with it would have helped prevent that. Or potentially just made it worse I guess, no way to know really.

W/R/T:

> but I'm also trying to figure out how to navigate the right amount of influence I should try and put on them to focus on music themselves.

Looking back, I've found the best thing that encouraged me and my siblings growing up was the interest and positive support my parents showed towards all of our interests. My mom would always comment on how much she liked hearing me play, even though I'm sure she was as sick of hearing the same song for the 800th time as I was. She was also super interested in the little gadgets I'd hack together when that started peeking my interest even if she didn't understand them at all. My dad made a point of always seeing if I wanted to help work on our cars when the mechanical aspect fascinated me, etc. And of course they remained supportive whenever our interests changed as we got older.

[v-erne]

>> Definitely regret it now; I've since developed some joint issues in my fingers that make it difficult to play, and often wonder if sticking with it would have helped prevent that

I would not loose any sleep over that. Most music performance is a repeat movement which causes great stress for tendons and it could potentially make it worse. There really isn't anyhthing speciall or natural in playing instrument - its as artificial as typing on keyboard.

And I say this as someone who loves practicing on guitar (and been doing it for at least 15 years without any success really and had my own deal of joint problems). And for last few months I started to take keyboard touch typing seriously which really does not help.

[Broken_Hippo]

... and not really liking the teaching style of the instructor we found after moving.

I had that same experience in 8th grade. I went from a school with fun instruction to a band teacher that seemed more concerned that your parents signed a practice sheet than in how well you actually played. I think the teacher seriously disliked his job.

I don't regret it, though. I just did choir the next year or two (and again in college). Realistically, though, I always prioritized art over music and still make artwork (am over 40, so its been some time)