Is this a problem for anyone else here

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G'day all,

This is the first time I have posted in this section and although I love music, I am no musician, so please be kind if I sound ignorant on the topic.

This question is about my oldest son and I realise that this may sound a pathetically minor issue compared to the problems some of WP posters have............However my son is DXed HF ASD, has Auditory processing disorder and is 11 on Tuesday. He is part of a compulsory strings program at school (alturnative school), which has been going on for about 12 months. He chose the Cello (insted of Violin or Violla thank god, I have auditory sensitivites too and the sound of the other kids practicing with their violins and viollas, is more than I can stand. LOL) My son chose cello along with one other boy, who has since changed schools. This means my son has had private lessons for all but one school term. My son does not seem to have any savant type music skills but is doing OK. He is sporadic in his practice but when he does practice for decent amounts of time his teacher always comments that he is doing very well.

My son recently attended a 4 day music camp which he said he really enjoyed. However when I asked him about the camp on the first night, he made what seemed to be one throw away line about the apparently well qualified teacher having "No idea what she is doing" LOL When I asked him to explain why he thought this he just shrugged and started talking about something else.

Anyway there were other cello's players at the camp and they had all been grouped together. Apparently the other players had been playing for several years more than my son. On the second to last day my son had a practice preformance which the parents were invited to. Even with my limited musical knowledge I noticed the pieces that they played seemed be be very simplistic and far less difficult than other things my son had already been playing at school. The teacher played in the preformance as well and although her parts made the music sound great the parts the kids played were not so impressive. Also there was one piece that seemed simple enough that my son did not participate in at all.

I asked my son why he had not participated in one piece when I know he had played harder stuff than that at school already. My son said that he had prcticed his part of the piece and it had been easy. When all the cello players began to play their different parts togehter is when he realised he was too distracted by everyone elses noise and couldn't play his part when everyone else was playing their own different parts.

My son has been in other preformances at school and as far as I know has not had this trouble before. When I pointed this out he said it was OK at school because the others all play violins and viollas that he can easily distinguish from his cello. I realise his auditory processing disorder may have played some part in this as well as having not had much experience with other cello players. I just wonder if others here have had this problem and if they over came it, how they did it.

Thanks in advance

Well, I don't know a lot about music but I do notice when singers wear headphones or cup their hands over their ears and I figured it was to minimize distracting sounds.

I found playing brass (I sympathise if you have to listen to strings practice ) difficult when playing as one of a group (say, one of several people playing third trumpet part) and when playing one part (as in playing third trumpet part when there are second and first trumpet parts being played). It was certainly easier when playing as a solo instrument (flugel or euph.), whatever the part. But I was never anything other than a very mediocre player (even when I used to play a lot) so I can't really say if that was just me being flustered by trying to keep up - it is a very demanding thing to do, to fit in with an orchestra, and most people have difficulty at first, so your son might find that he gets used to it with a bit of practice, it would certainly be worth giving it more time. I didn't do well at orchestra as a child though (apart from my not being good at it, the whole environment was always a bit much) - did much better playing in small groups where everyone was playing a part on a different instrument.

Hi,

I don't have the AS deficits, though wouldn't call myself "NT" either.

I play guitar and sing. I learned to sing in choir when young. The biggest single difficulty was learning to be able to sing my part despite what other people were singing right next to me that was different. That's difficult for most people. I've tried to sing with others casually and find that when everyone sings in unison they get along but when I start singing a harmony part it can throw others off.

I think it's too many different things going on at once and it breaks concentration. I really don't think its necessarily related to Aspergers.

One possibility for practice is to record his own playing and then, while playing the recording back, play a different part in harmony or counterpoint to it!

Never had this problem.

I highly recommend the use of musician's ear plugs (the kind designed to filter out noise, rather than simply cut off all sound.) I've worn these ER-20 plugs - http://www.earinc.com/p1-reusable-reusable.php - for years. They really help me focus on my playing, while still being able to hear the music around me.

I had this same exact issue my first year playing baritone (brass). I eventually just learned to filter out the different parts. I find I can even enjoy listening to someone else's melody while playing my own part and keeping an eye on the conductor. He will probably just click with it one day.