From Vonda: I am often asked by parents how to get kids to practice piano. I think of piano practice as "play-time". Playing the piano is a joy and a gift in my opinion. Learning to play the piano does take instruction, practice, repetition, commitment and routine. When you learn to read you start with phonics, then blend the sounds to create words and then put the words together for sentences and stories. Basic reading skills take time to develop to become fluent reading in any language. Playing the piano has similar steps since a new language is also being learned. Below are many suggestions to help develop good practice habits to create fluent musicians. The web pages are cited first, then the articles.
From Andrea, January 2016: Parents know that practice is important! Ask any piano parent if they think their child should practice the piano at home and I’m betting they will say “Yes.”
So, it’s not so much about helping parents understand the importance of practice as it is helping parents understand piano practice itself.
Piano practice can be a mystery to parents who have never themselves played an instrument.
Soccer practice? Pretty straight-forward… drop your children off at the field, cheer from the sidelines and when a great pass is made or a goal is scored, it’s obvious that they’re doing well. Dance practice? Again… drop your children off at the studio, peek through the viewing window and if they’re in synch with the rest of the class, it’s obvious that they’re probably doing well.
But piano practice? Well that’s a different beast all together! Piano practice drop-off just doesn’t exist.
Here are some useful articles:
http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/06/18/155282684/getting-kids-to-practice-music-without-tears-or-tantrums
Regular practicing is a path towards self-discipline that goes way beyond music — it's a skill that has extremely positive ramifications for personal fulfillment and lifetime success. The trick is that self-motivated discipline isn't exactly first nature for most kids, so it's up to families to help create positive, engaging and fun ways to practice as a path towards self-motivation.
Having a goal for each practice session is essential, whether your child is practicing for five minutes or a couple of hours each day.
http://www.teachpianotoday.com/2016/01/19/what-your-piano-parents-need-to-know-about-practice/
Today we’re hoping to take the mystery out of piano practice for parents. Feel free to share this post; use snippets of the content in your newsletter, send it home as a hand-out (just please cite TeachPianoToday) and spread the knowledge that parents are a major part of making home practice effective.
From here on out I’m going to switch gears and write the post as if I were writing to a piano parent.
1. Your children will need help – Up until about age 11, children need hands-on help with home practice. And even though you yourself may not read music or play the piano, your assistance is still very much needed! Parental help can take the form of reading lesson notes, organizing practice time wisely, providing encouragement through difficult sections or situations, and seeking out answers for “I’m stuck on this” problems. Asking a young child to be in charge of something as important as piano practice is often asking too much. Your help at home will make a substantial difference in your children’s progress.
2. Your children need you to establish a routine – Piano practice that happens every single day is by far the most effective practice structure. 30 minutes three times a week is just 90 minutes. 20 minutes seven days a week is 140 minutes. The total difference is 43 hours of missed practice per year if your children are only at the piano three times a week!
Short, focused and regular visits to the piano help your children retain and understand what they are learning while making the most of generally short attention spans. If practice is enjoyable, rather than arduous, your children will naturally (and unknowingly!) increase the time they spend on the bench… eventually reaching that 30 minute mark.
Setting a regular time of day when piano practice happens “no matter what” will ensure a daily practice routine is easy for your children to maintain.
3. Your children need lots of encouragement – Learning to read music and play the piano can be difficult; it can be discouraging… it can feel overwhelming. Your children (no matter what their age) need loads of encouragement.
And not just verbal encouragement. You can show your children that you value their efforts by attending their recitals with enthusiasm, inviting friends and family to listen to them play, and taking the time to sit and listen to them practice with your undivided attention.
4. Your children need a home instrument that is enjoyable to play – Much of the pleasure from playing the piano comes from one’s ability to emote feeling, nuance and expression through music. Even young beginners will experience great satisfaction from making beautiful sounds…. so choose an instrument that gives them the best opportunity to make beautiful sounds. Guidance from your children’s teacher will help you find an affordable piano (don’t worry, there are many great and affordable options) that will give your children the tool they need to truly experience piano lessons. An investment in a good instrument protects the investment you are making in your children’s musical education.
5. Your children need a positive practice environment – Aside from providing encouragement, your children need you to create a positive practice atmosphere. Help your children avoid “cramming” the day before lessons. Stick to your daily routine to avoid weeks of forgotten practice (which lead to feelings of inadequacy on the part of your children). Music is joyful… and so practicing music should be as well. This is, fortunately, something that you are able to create easily with a commitment to regular practice.
6. Your children need you to communicate with their teacher – Working as a parent/child/teacher triangle is the optimal way to ensure progress and success in piano lessons. Be sure to communicate often with your children’s piano teacher. Check in on how lessons are progressing, ask for help if something is difficult for your children at home, let your teacher know when practice weeks have gone extremely well (or not so well). Working as a team means your children are supported equally on all sides at all times.
Learning to play music is a life-changing experience. And, as a parent, the process is a thrill to watch. Being a major part of this accomplishment is incredibly rewarding! The profound pleasure of being a “piano parent” far outweighs the required extra efforts; and this is, by far, the most important thing that piano teachers want parents to know about piano practice.
https://familyshare.com/19940/family/5-ways-to-encourage-your-child-to-practice-piano
As a piano teacher, I know how important it is for your child to put in those minutes (hours even) of practice.
As a mother, I know how hard it can be to get your child to practice.
I've heard every excuse — it's lame, I hate piano, I'll do it after school, I'll do it in the morning — statements often accompanied by eye-rolls and the occasional meltdown. Hopefully, these tips will help you and your child make this process easier and even enjoyable!
Daily practice should be a part of your child's routine just like eating breakfast or getting dressed. I have found that the most productive time for my children to practice is before school. That means waking up a half hour earlier than needed, but we are all happier when practice is done and out of the way. Find a time (thesame time) in your daily schedule to fit practice in.
Practicing won't always be an easy and exciting process. Children get discouraged. Try not to get frustrated with them. Let them take a step back — maybe a 5 minute break — to calm themselves and prepare for the rest of practice. I have found that, when I let my emotions rise, it always ends in a tantrum from my child (as well as from me).
The other day, my daughter found a composition notebook next to our piano. She spent the entire morning writing her own music. This was the first time I had seen her actually excited about playing the piano. If writing music isn't your child's niche, let her decide what she would like to do: playing by ear, playing old/passed-off songs, etc. You could even ask her piano teacher to let her pick any song she wants as part of her daily practice.
Sit down with your child once a week during practice time. Read the teacher's instructions. Know what is expected of your child. This can be done even if you know nothing about music. Talk to your child about her goals, long-term and short-term. Get excited with every step of progress she makes. Show her how happy it makes you when she practices, and always praise her.
If you are above bribes, you must not be a parent. Seriously, sometimes the only way to get children to practice is to bribe them. Would they love a weekly trip for an ice cream cone? A family movie night? Your options are endless. Just be sure you always make good on your promises!
Among the numerous challenges that parents face in handling children’s music lessons (choosing the instrument, finding a good teacher, etc.), getting kids to practice is the most daunting of all. The severity of the problem and the importance of practice make it hard to believe that there are so few articles addressing this. What’s more, parents and music teachers often resort to the failed tactics they remember from childhood in desperate attempts to motivate kids to practice.
A common example of this issue is the “practice for 30 minutes” rule, in which a music teacher will recommend that the child practice 30 minutes a day and generally increase this time as they get older. In attempts to enforce adherence to this arbitrary commitment, parents will often “pay” the child for 30 minutes of “work” with something rewarding like watching TV, playing outside or playing video games. The problem with this method is that it makes the 30 minutes of practicing something to be endured in order to do something that is valued. But what is so sacred about 30 minutes of practicing? Where did this standard unit come from? How is it better than 27 minutes or 34?
To transform practicing into a rewarding activity, parents should encourage reaching daily musical goals. For example, instead of saying that 30 minutes of practice is enough regardless of what is achieved, you might say, “Today the goal of practicing is to play the first eight measures of your piece without any mistakes.” Whether reaching this goal takes 12 minutes or 40 minutes isn’t important. What is important is that the child knows the musical goal of each daily practice session and feels motivated to be as efficient as possible while practicing in order to reach that goal and feel that sense of accomplishment. If the goal is playing the first eight measures on Monday, the logical goal for Tuesday is to play the next eight. Pretty soon, the child will acknowledge the cumulative goal of the week: to play the entire piece free of mistakes. This leads to more motivation, more effort during practice and most importantly, pride in what they have accomplished.
Although this method achieves greater success, it also requires more effort by the parents; it’s easy to look at the clock and monitor 30 minutes, but goal-related practicing means setting daily goals for your children, monitoring the ease or difficulty your child experiences with his music and setting new, more demanding goals. Don’t worry! Here are some tips to help you:
First, divide the week’s goal or teacher’s expectations into seven equal parts and make sure your child understands each one. On some days, your child might choose to work toward two days’ worth of goals, in which case, it’s wise to give them the option of skipping the next day’s practice session.
Daily goals should be attended to every day and should involve playing scales or other technique-building skills; advancement on specific pieces can be more spread out, as long as the child continues to move forward with the piece.
While it may be tempting, don’t bargain with practice time. Although in trying to skip a day, your child may really mean, “I will practice double tomorrow,” this sets the standard that practice time is negotiable.
Progress should be measured and appropriately altered each day (if needed) by analyzing the amount of effort, frustration and completion/advancement in reaching the daily goals. Yes, this is more work than monitoring 30 minutes a day, but in the end, this will be much easier than the agony of forcing children to adhere to the mandatory 30 minutes of meager, unmotivated effort. It will also make everyone’s life a little more enjoyable!
http://www.88notesmusic.com/top-secret-tips-on-how-to-encourage-your-child-to-practice.html