March Break is next week and with no regular lessons happening I want to remind everyone that practicing should still occur. I posted back in January with a few tips that you can read HERE. These can be very helpful to keep you going over the break.
A really good tip not mentioned in that post is to try to practice in the morning. I understand that over March Break many playdates, movies, video games, and sleeping in are all being planned but if you get practicing done right in the morning, that leaves the rest of the day for all of those fun plans.
A really good tip not mentioned in that post is to try to practice in the morning. I understand that over March Break many playdates, movies, video games, and sleeping in are all being planned but if you get practicing done right in the morning, that leaves the rest of the day for all of those fun plans.
If you find yourself in a situation right now where practicing is becoming hard and leads to arguments between you and your child read on for some more help.
-scheduling in practice. Try using the same time each day so that they know when it is going to happen.
-remember: chances are some days they aren't going to want to practice. Just like kids don't always want to brush their teeth. Don’t get upset that you need to remind them to practice, but think of it as anything else you need to remind them to do in other parts of their day.
-try to change how you are asking your child to practice. Do you say “(child's name) it’s time to practice now” (which doesn’t give them a choice) or “Do you want to practice now?” (Opening the door for them to say NO) OR you could try giving your child the option of when they want to practice such as: “do you want to practice before dinner or after dinner?” etc. It doesn’t give them the option say no, but the child has more say over when they want to practice.
-try not to stress on how long your child is actually at the piano for, but really focus on the daily practice.
For beginners: Did they play their song through a few times? Were you able to get him to add counting? Maybe add the dynamic sounds? Keep it shorter and positive.
For more advanced students: Did they get through scales? sight reading? Did you hear them take the time to focus on the details of their songs? At this level it's not enough for them to just play through the song but they really need be sure they are spending time to go over small sections of their song to get not only the notes, but counting, staccato, legato, etc.
