Piano Practice Ideas from Parents and Teachers

How to Create Peaceful Practice… And End Practice Wars for Good!

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 : BY ANDREA @www.teachpianotoday.com

This post isn't written by me, but another piano teacher with a blog (see above). However, I could have written it because I get asked all the time how to help a student practice (see my post here on motivation tips for teen students).  It's so hard to give advice for a very private matter for your home and family.  But here are suggestions, I use all the time.  Remember, music is a long-term skill.  Some parents want to pull their children from lessons because they don't see them not practicing, which means, to the parent, that their dollars are wasted.  Never fear, their kids are still learning at lessons and those skills they learn on the piano are so important in the long run.  Have faith, don't give up, and trust that your student/child is soaking it all up.  One day it will return to you many fold from the study habits learned, motor skills enhanced, math figured out, and music in their heart.

In harmony, 

Ms. Leslie

p.s. enjoy the following ideas 

Recently, I had a teacher email me looking for solutions to end the practice wars that were occurring in the home of one of her piano students.  Her studio parent was stressed to the max; feeling as though piano practice was creating a rift between her and her child, testing her parenting patience to the limits, and making her say all sorts of things she regretted later.  It was not her idea of “music in the home”.

When parents sign their child up for piano lessons they are not looking for a way to encourage epic battles at home.  As piano teachers it is in our best interest to help piano studio parents end these battles…

When choosing a location for your piano, select a space that is lived-in, welcoming, and well-lit. Keep it close to “the action” but not in the action. Your children will gravitate to the piano more often if it is in a central place in your home. Avoid bedrooms, basements and other “put away” places. Feeling shut-off from the family while practicing will inevitably lead to a reluctance to spend time on the piano.

While choosing an appropriate space, also consider the noise factor; not only from the piano, but also from your family’s day-to-day activities. Your children want to be close by, but not competing with noise from TV’s, dishwashers and washing machines.

2. Make the space warm and welcoming. Your children will be encouraged to spend upwards of 30 minutes every day in this space. Is it a happy place to be for this amount of time? Small adjustments to lighting and heating can make a world of difference. Seek out places with natural light and ensure it is a cheerful and welcoming space that will encourage your child to visit the piano often for their own enjoyment.

3. Ensure your children have all required materials at hand. Help your children put together a small basket or bin of everything they may need for home practice. Pens, pencils, highlighters, and post-it notes will give your children a sense of organization that will then spill over into their practice habits. Your children will also need adequate lighting to see their music, and a comfortable bench at the correct height to practice comfortably and correctly.

4. Make the “Practice Nest” a communal space.  Children of any age appreciate company while they practice. Having a chair, couch, beanbag chair or pillows nearby where family members will be inclined to sit, listen and enjoy the music immediately sets the tone for happy time on the piano. Encourage siblings to stop by and listen quietly, and allow yourself even just 10 minutes to sit and listen with undivided attention each time your children practice. A set-up that is conducive to including the family in home practice will encourage everyone involved to make piano practice an activity the entire family can be a part of.

 5.CRAMMING IS NOT THE ANSWER

Nothing stresses a parent out more than helping their child practice when they have 10 minutes before leaving for the piano lesson.  Keep the peace at home by beginning home practice immediately after you return home from their piano lesson.  They will still remember what they covered in their lesson, and the piano books will actually make it to the piano… setting you up for a good start to the piano practice week.

Cramming creates feelings of inadequacy in your child as they struggle to perfect what should take 7 days to percolate.  Cramming makes you sweat and wonder why in the world you are paying for these lessons.  Cramming is not the answer.

6.  MISTAKES ARE OKAY

We promise!  It’s our job as piano teachers to sort out the mistakes in lesson time.Your job at home is to be the support – to remind them to spend time on the piano, congratulate them on their efforts, revel in the joy that is your child creating music, and show that you value music in your home.

Avoid the following statements and watch peace fall over your home immediately:  “Is that right?  I don’t think that’s right.”… “That’s not how it’s supposed to sound.”… “Are you watching your music?”… “Your sister played that piece and it didn’t sound like that.” … “Wrong note!”… “Try it again.” etc.  Your child will get their back up immediately and the practice wars are sure to ensue.

7.  “BUT MRS. JONES SAID!”

How many times has your child shouted a statement similar to this?  “Mrs. Jones said I only have to play the first page!”… “Mrs. Jones said to play it up here.”… “Mrs. Jones said to play it this fast!”… What your child is actually trying to say is “I want to be in charge of my learning.”  So let them!  Whether or not Mrs. Jones actually said these things is beside the point.

Resist the urge to argue (and resist the urge to call up Mrs. Jones to ask what the heck she is teaching) and trust that your child will sort it out themselves.  This is often a knee-jerk reaction on your child’s part – they so desperately want to be right and in charge and it’s their way of saying “Stay out of this, I’ve got it.”  If you allow them this right to direct their own learning you will help to create a confident piano student.

More websites to visit ideas with charts, non-candy rewards, and encouragement for parents, please read to help you in your quest to not have piano practice wars at your house.

Fall- Back to Music classes

Fall is here sadly and not sadly because many good things come with the cooler weather.  Music lessons start up again.  My son starts trumpet in Band class today for his 2nd year.  And below you can see my favorite Kindermusik teacher who has openings in Marysville for her class.

Kindermusik teacher, Shelley Metcalf

Your little ones, ages 0-7, will love exploring the world of music and movement in Kindermusik.  in these classes taught by Chris Floyd and Shelley Metcalf your child will develop language skills, literacy, listening, and problem solving, and social skills.  Classes are held at the Marysville Library.  For information call 360-353-8400.

My piano studio starts next week with the best students ever!!

Monday Music Moment- My Story, part 2

Me and Reagan playing at church festival

My story- part 2

When I was seventeen, a junior in high school, my Dad presented the idea that I prepare myself to leave for college the next year.  I was mature, a little bored with high school, and bright.  It wasn’t a new idea.  My three sisters before me had done it, but I hadn’t really given it a thought as to my plan before.  It seemed like a good idea.  I took all the AP tests I could and college tests.  I had even to take an extra senior English class, zero period, in order to apply for college.  I was admitted for fall that spring at Brigham Young University, with out a diploma.  I never graduated from high school.  I don’t know if they allow that sort of thing now, but it worked for me. 

That was a busy year.  My piano lessons were intense preparing difficult pieces for competition.  I worked a little on the weekends at Pier One.  And, I was on the varsity volleyball team, which I loved.  My next favorite subject at school was French.  I really wanted to forward my progress in my speaking skills.  My parents were kind enough to send me to school in La Rochelle, France that summer before I left for the University.

Now that I have two children in college myself, I can look back and say how hard it is to decide on a major.  But now a days, to not waste time and precious money, it’s almost a given that you need to know what you want to major in the moment you step foot on campus.  I was a bit wishy washy.  I liked French a lot, and piano, and English, even history.  How could I combine all of them into one major? 

At my university, everyone that played the piano, played it well and better than me.  Ok, that’s a huge generality and not true.  But, that is how I felt.  Coming from my arena in Dallas, I was known as a talented pianist.  Going into the music department at BYU, made me feel like a schmuck.  I started off with piano lessons from a fellow professor.  He didn’t seem impressed with my playing- maybe that was my arrogant fault, to try and impress him.  Then, when other students played for each other, my pieces seemed like chop-sticks compared to theirs.  Looking back, I realized that I gave up too early and didn’t challenge myself.  But most of my willingness to not carry-on came from my high school feelings of burn out.  The spark of desire had gone out.  I quit piano, that year.

It wasn’t hard to quit.  To play, I had to physically go to the practice rooms on campus, wait for an open room, and practice.  I just avoided that part of campus.

Because I made that decision, the possibilities for a major and minor that I loved became less complicated.  In the international department, I found major that combined English, history, and Art History (a new found love from my freshman general ed. Courses).  For this major you had to choose a language minor.  Bingo…I had my French already in tact.  This was the perfect major for me.  I had officially turned my back on piano.  Burn out was complete at this point.

After my freshman year, I signed up to do a work study program in Europe through the university.  I would get credit for the work and more language experience. Win win.  For four months, I headed to Belgium to be a fille au pair (a nanny).  No not glorious work, nor did it pay well.  But I learned about life in another culture and mothering.  And I realized I missed the piano.  Where ever I went with the family, and there was a piano, I would play.  They were amazed that I had never told them I could play.  But, why should I have, they didn’t own a piano.  But, I was glad they enjoyed it.  I missed it.

When I returned to the university, I was too busy with an extra full schedule to fit piano in, even though I now wanted to play again.  I took the most credits possible in a semester.  Full credit semesters, along with the AP tests from high school, and school credits from two summers, I was able to graduate from BYU in three years.  During this time I had also met my husband and we were married a week after I graduated with a Bachelors in Arts in European History with an emphasis in Art History and a minor in French.  I was twenty and a typical liberal arts graduate with no skills to get a job.

I landed a job with Microsoft that year, 1989.  It wasn’t glamorous.  In fact, it was bottom of the rung, selling external CD-ROM drives through cold calls to executives.  For my left brain this was boring work and I didn’t dig computers.  Besides, I was pregnant and wanted to stay home with my child.  After I quit, Microsoft went public and even the peons were wealthy.  Oh well.

We moved to Utah so my husband could go to school.  I stayed home and did odd jobs to help out with the budget.  I tried babysitting, working at a bank while my husband was studying at home, working at UPS at night; any situation so my children didn’t have to go to daycare.

I had started to play the piano again, a little.  I scraped up a little money to buy a spinet piano.  I love antiques and this cute piano was one hundred years old and come over on a ship from Europe.  Little did I know that a piano never sounds the same once it travels over water.  I didn’t care.  There was a piano in my home again.

A friend heard me playing in my apartment.  She asked if I would teach her five year old AND she offered to watch my two babies while I taught hers.  Having never thought of teaching before, I decided it would be an adventure.  I didn’t know how to teach piano.  But, really how do we learn to teach anything.  It’s really like an acorn seed.  The outcome is there all the time, we just have to put the effort forth and it will come. 

There wasn’t internet yet, so I went to the library and got a few books.  But, there wasn’t much help out then.  So I winged it.  It went fine.  Besides, even without a degree in music, I’d had so much experience playing, I felt confident in my teaching.

Shortly after that first year of teaching, I had my third baby and we moved into a new house.  A few weeks before the move and the baby, I had been in a local music store and saw an advertisement for a week long piano teaching seminar.  I signed up knowing it was during a crazy time.  So, I called my mom to come help.  Thanks, Mom.

That week was amazing for my growth as a piano teacher.  The seminar was taught by two women who had developed a new way to teach- group piano lessons.  It meant the teacher needed more than one piano, obviously, and it enhanced the teaching process.  Some students thrive off peer pressure and seeing how they can excel.  Others don’t want a private lesson and be alone with an adult (I call it the ‘helicopter complex’.  They feel too “hovered” upon).  We have centers that the children move around to during the lesson.  This means they are more active than in a traditional private lesson. (link)  However, it is best for the parent to determine the needs of the child and which environment fits the student’s learning process appropriately.

Now, these ladies were not only there to teach us their revolutionary method, but to sell us something.  Surprise, surprise- four digital pianos and their teaching material for $20,000.  I was too shocked to even consider it after just buying a new home.  But, my thrifty spending wheels got spinning.  At this time, digital pianos with MIDI in them were fairly new to the general public. Doing my homework, I found another supplier and bought a brand new Roland KR-570 that is still the Daddy of all digital pianos.  It has weighted keys, 16 track recording, over 300 sounds and effects, games for teaching, and computer hook-ups.  It truly is like a computer and a piano put together.  And, the crowning glory is that students can practice with head-phones two at a time, or teacher and student together! Ta-da!

This piano was to become the keystone of my studio.  I did pay a pretty penny for it, but no where close to the above price tag.  Then I bought three used full sized electric keyboards (nowhere near the same thing as a digital piano) and started my group piano studio.  I had twenty students in a snap.  That was 16 years ago.  I still prefer group teaching for the first 3-4 years of lessons for a student, then we usually switch to private lessons.  However, right now, I have 3 students that are early advanced and are still in group lessons together.  It’s a beautiful thing.

Monday Music Moment- My Piano Story, part 1

Me- accompanying for a play

My Piano story

              My parents didn’t play any musical instruments but we always had records playing in our home on our large Hifi that took up one wall of the living room.  Phantom of the Opera, Andy Williams, Ella Fitzgerald were what my parents listened to.  My older sisters were listening to Bread, Karen Carpenter, and 3 Dog Night. Because of my family, I’ve always had a broad listening repertoire.

            I started piano when I was six.  My oldest sister, Cindy, tried to teach me piano.  She was a very social fourteen year-old, so this must have been slightly painful for her.  She was patient with me, though.  We tried our homemade lessons for a year. 

            Then it came time for formal lessons.  I don’t really remember my first piano teacher and her methods, but I can recall the room she taught in.  Her studio was a converted porch on the back of her house.  I had a thirty minute private lesson then another student came and we would have fifteen minutes of theory together.  I really liked having another kid around.  I can still see the green, turf-like carpet and orange chairs we sat by next to the large porch windows.

            After a couple years with her, we moved to another state and I had ordinary private lessons.  I don’t remember much about them.  Mostly I was bored.

            When I was eleven, we moved again, to the state that boasts some amazing piano schools and teachers, Texas.  I had three memorable teachers here.  The first teacher used ordinary methods- a private lesson, then a monthly theory class with three to four students.  We met in her small living room and her family often tip-toed by the doorway and waved when they went by. She was into what I call “alternative” performance.  The “alternative” part came at recitals.  She would invite different piano colleagues to perform “creative” music on the piano by dropping paper clips, erasers, feathers and other odds and ends onto the strings of a grand piano.  Sometimes, the colleagues would play a classical song and embellish a trio or stanza with forks on a high string or rubber balls on a bass string.  It was heady stuff for the early 1980’s.

            My classical training progressed nicely.  I played sonatinas, quadrilles, minuets, and was moving into advanced romantic era pieces.  At twelve, I needed a different approach.

            Barbara Brashear was a real classical pianist.  Her studio- another add-on type structure to the back of the house- had a sitting area and a large grand piano filling one space.  On the opposite side of the room was a wall full of awards and pictures of Mrs. Brashear standing in front of a grand piano shaking hands with a judge or her standing with roses in her arms accepting a medal. Underneath this display were rows of crates full of dusty albums, cassette tapes, and recording equipment.  Sometimes she would record my playing, just to humble me.  My favorite part of the lesson is when I would get it right.  Mrs. Brashear always sat toward the back of the room- to hear the vibration waves at the “sweet” spot.  When I performed a section especially well with feeling and musicality, she would pump her long, crane-like legs up and down and say “yes”, “yes”, “yes”.  At my tender age, I didn’t know what to think.  Instead of questioning her, I played to please her. 

Mrs. Brashear primed me to start judication- which is piano language for competing on the piano.  Yes, people do compete to one-up each other on the piano.  For me it was very stressful.  I did get very nervous. My legs got the shakes and my hands sweaty.  The fear of forgetting passages loomed.  But, I always did well.  I have many ribbons and, one time, I was a finalist for the Junior Van Cliburn competition.

            She lived in an area of Dallas called Lover’s Lane.  It was about 30 minutes from my house, without traffic.  Bless my mom for driving me for one or two lessons a week.  My practicing time was ramping up also.  No measly 30 minute practice would do, I had chose to practice one or two hours a day for optimum results.  In middle school and high school, I kept this up with honors classes, school sports, and I worked a little bit after school.  And you thought I was joking about being type A. Hah!

            My sophomore year of high school, my mother was pooped out I’m sure.  She called up to North Texas University to find a graduate, living in Dallas, and that would do in-home lessons.  Elizabeth fit the bill.  She had just graduated and wanted advanced students. 

            She wasn’t as serious as Mrs. Brashear. I desperately needed things to lighten up.  I was in serious danger of burn-out.  My parents were talking music conservatory school.  A professional singer at church had asked me to tour with her.  I just didn’t know if I wanted to dedicate my life to just one interest.  I had always loved my well-rounded upbringing, and now it was being funneled down to one thing.  The piano. 

            

Arlington Children's Theater

photo by SMW

Arlington Children's Theater is a great asset to our community.  Our elementary and middle schools in the area have limited theater curriculum.  We are fortunate that the Missoula Theater comes around once a year and that a foundation, the Arlington Children's Theater, was created a few years ago to enable more opportunities like the Missoula Children's Theater.  We are so lucky!

By participating in the week long experience with your child you are saying "Well thank you, organizers for supporting my child!"

This year the show is Pinnocchio, running August 18-22. Rehearsals will be in the morning from 9:00-1:30 at Kent Prairie Elementary in Arlington and the show will be at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center on Friday night.   As always, they are limited to a total of 60 kids in specific age groups so registration is on a first come, first served basis. Spots are going fast.  See  www.arlingtonchildrenstheater.org for more information on how to register.  You will be thrilled at the quality of these productions!

In harmony,

Leslie

Music Moment Monday

How cute, er, handsome are these Band boys?!  Mighty fine, I say.  I loved subbing in Band at their school last week.  Our district has a great bank program.  These kids have a fun time, as displayed when you watch them at high school events.  They know how to get down!  I mean you Brenna B.!!  We know how to put sports (Seahawks!) and Music togetha!

What does your school do with music?
I want to know!

PE usic!

simplymusicwise.blogspot.com

I was substituting for a music class at an elementary school and whammy I found myself as the P.E. teacher, too.  This school has gotten creative.  They've combined P.E. and Music once a week into PEusic (say it like "pewsic").

They teach dancing- line dances, folk dances, square dancing- and spacial awareness with movement and music.  I was blown away at how much the two go together.  And get this!  Look around and the shorties you know today.  Do they understand spacial awareness like we did?  

I love this concept of teaching math (counting steps), dancing (body awareness), obeying the music and rhythm (listening for patterns and remembering what comes next).  I was blown away.

Of course, I couldn't take pictures of the kids, but I could take a picture of this cool cup tower we made after class was over!  I let them sing the cup song while they did it.  See below for a great version.

It really made my day to be a part of something so unique.  Does your school do anything like this with music?

In harmony,
Leslie