whoever said that practicing music for four hours takes less brainpower than hanging out with friends at a party obviously has not ever truly practiced a musical instrument. It takes extreme willpower and focus to maintain an active mind. Practicing is not just playing notes over and over, it's a slow and meticulous process of creation, evaluation and problem-solving to make the piece better every time. Real practicing is not going through the motions... your mind is engaged 100% the entire time. And let's look at the facts... there are quite a lot of idiots who can hang out with their friends an entire friday night, but not one of them could possibly maintain a focused approach for even 5 minutes. sleepovers, unlike practice, which requires the cognitive ability to meticulously monitor 9+ different variables simultaneously (pitch, tempo, tone, articulation, rhythm, style, phrasing, dynamic contrast, pacing yourself and actually digesting the work, the list goes on...), are not a difficult task. Sure, you may say that it's hard to balance all the implicit connotations and facial expressions and what not, but nobody does it if they don't feel like it. They aren't doing it all the time either, that's for sure and they definitely do not rehearse anything (haha). A sleepover is just what it is, a time to relax with friends in an atmosphere where actions don't require conscious effort to control. A time to let the mind wander and unwind. David Brooks, you might want to consider "coddling" your kids for a while :)don't worry about mental development. if they start getting dumber you can always let them hang out to get those brains flowing, haha!
And let's look at the facts... there are quite a lot of idiots who can hang out with their friends an entire friday night, but not one of them could possibly maintain a focused approach for even 5 minutes.
sleepovers, unlike practice, which requires the cognitive ability to meticulously monitor 9+ different variables simultaneously (pitch, tempo, tone, articulation, rhythm, style, phrasing, dynamic contrast, pacing yourself and actually digesting the work, the list goes on...), are not a difficult task. Sure, you may say that it's hard to balance all the implicit connotations and facial expressions and what not, but nobody does it if they don't feel like it. They aren't doing it all the time either, that's for sure and they definitely do not rehearse anything (haha).
A sleepover is just what it is, a time to relax with friends in an atmosphere where actions don't require conscious effort to control. A time to let the mind wander and unwind.
David Brooks, you might want to consider "coddling" your kids for a while :)don't worry about mental development. if they start getting dumber you can always let them hang out to get those brains flowing, haha!