Piano Lessons: Practice Time and Weekly Apologies -- How to Find Balance at Home

Caution to Moms and Dads, this may surprise you. Relatively few children have the burning desire that dictates that they absolutely MUST play piano or suffer an unhappy, nonmusical, unfulfilled life.

I know...it's shocking!!

They may PLEAD to go over to Susie's house. They may WHINE about cleaning their rooms. They may even HUG you for no apparent reason. But most don't really WANT to do the grunt work of learning to read music, become familiar with the independent movements of each little finger, and eventually demonstrate the ability to play a simple recognizable song.

Maybe their friends play piano or maybe an older sibling plays, but very rarely does a child independently say -

"Mom, Dad, I must play piano regardless of the hard work it will require, no matter how boring it might be for quite awhile, no matter if all my friends quit and leave me to sit at the keyboard practicing, analyzing, repeating, problem-solving, repeating, deconstructing, repeating, perfecting, repeating, assembling, repeating, and finally repeating the whole process the next day, and the next day, and the next. Pleeeeeaassee!"

However, you caved into their initial pleading and find yourself frustrated with the constant nagging to "go practice the piano right now...you have a lesson tomorrow."

So what's a parent to do you ask? Here are some suggestions coming from a piano teacher:

1. Establish a practice routine.

To help your child, you must make piano practicing a regular part of the family's daily schedule. I know....there are SO MANY activities to juggle. Good times to practice might be before school, following an after-school snack, or perhaps directly after dinner. Whatever the preferred time, make it routine.

2. Eliminate distractions during practice time.

It should be understood that siblings should not disrupt the practicing child. It would be helpful if a favorite TV show were not heard in the background. If the child has difficulty with the concept of focusing at the piano for 20-30 minutes, use the kitchen timer to announce the end of that practice session. Don't worry, whatever work was not addressed on this day can be addressed during the next practice session the following day.

3. Establish a daily habit.

Much of learning to play piano is limited by lack of fine muscle memory. Remember when your child was learning to feed himself, he probably missed his mouth many, many times before learning how to maneuver that spoon inside his mouth while it still contained some the food. Establishing the brain-finger connection can seem as clumsy for awhile. But with regular use, the neural pathways on which the piano-playing messengers travel will become stronger, more direct, and faster. Think mail coach to pony express to telegram to telephone to email.

4. Avoid undermining the instructions of the teacher.

This may seem obvious but it can be detrimental to the teacher-student relationship. I've noticed thru the years that the children who come in and say, "but my mom told me to practice this one...or my dad told me to do it this way," have a more difficult time assimilating the knowledge they are gaining into a treasure chest of problem-solving skills.

Sometimes my instructions may seem odd. For instance, if I've told the student to NOT play a piece all the way through (even once), I honestly mean it. Perhaps I've given the child an outline of very specific practice techniques which are designed to seem "too easy" to the child but which will lay the foundation for handling more complicated material in the future.

5. Praise your child.

The power of positive reinforcement is amazing. Find copious excuses to give your child an "atta-boy" or "atta-girl." We all enjoy knowing that someone else values our efforts.

Good Luck and Best Wishes.