Marci Pittman, an Independent Music Teacher from California, recently informed the teachers on the Yahoo Piano Teacher forum about a great article called “Getting Your Kids to Practice.” This article contains some wonderful tips for parents to use in assisting their students with home piano practice. Here are just a few practical suggestions from this article:
- Tie the length of practice to a goal rather than a clock. [Things like: “I will get the first 2 lines of music with perfect notes, rhythm, dynamics and with no stops.”]
- Video record a practice session and let them watch it. [I would just video one piece perhaps and then let them critique it, pretending to be a judge]
- Roll a die for the number of repetitions. A 1 means roll again, and a 6 means the parent can choose any number from 2-5.
- Buy a practice candle. Light the candle and keep it burning while your child is practicing. Blow it out at the end of each session. When the candle is burned down to the bottom, the child earns a pre-determined prize.
- Practice left until just before bed is a battle waiting to happen.
- Get an assigned number of repetitions for each practice spot in a piece from your teacher; students are typically more willing to do things for their teacher.
- Know when to suspend a practice session and walk away. Never argue with your child; it simply brings you down to the same level as the child. Walk away and try again later.
- Give your child choices…not about whether to practice, the time, or place…but anything else that might help them feel like they have some control of their practice. [What they want to do first, what section they want to spot practice first, what day they want to do their theory, what practice games they want to play or devise on their own…]
- Offer specific, genuine praise. [Did the piece have energy? Did the dynamics make it interesting? Were they able to play the line with no stops? Was the melody louder than the accompaniment? Was the rhythm/counting spot on? Be specific in your praise!]
Read more great ideas from Getting Your Kids to Practice.
GREAT suggestions. I especially love the ‘practice candle’ – wow, that would keep kids practicing as long as they could – fantastic idea.