Playing piano is a great and subtle skill and one that takes many children years to master. It is both hard work and a labor of love to broaden my child's horizons. It will take a lot of careful thought to select the right piano instructor and get your son or daughter to actually play. If your child is young, he or she would rather play with their nintendo DS or PSP than learn piano. I hope that for your child he will be a good pianist some day, an nurture his or her creative talent. At the very least I hope your son or daughter has fun. Here are some of my experiences and tricks I learned to getting my child to play and practice.
Praise your little maestro often. Children are very sensitive and your kid is no excepton. I would often listen to my son play and look for genuine opportunities to compliment him. I felt it was important to praise my son often so that he could build up his confidence and enthusiasm for piano and become more involved with his music. My son is shy though so I made sure not to compliment him in front of others because he would get embarrassed.
Another element that was important to my child's development was sitting down and listening to him play often. I made sure I was there as his mother and not his teacher, smiling, listening and enjoying his music and not handing out criticism or lessons. This helped Brian enjoy his time playing and relax.
I also gave my son stars and other incentives for accomplishing certain skills while playing songs and his great music. Stars work great with some young children and my son was very responsive to them. You can set up your star incentives anyway you want. I gave Brian a sticker for every time he sat down at the piano, every time he played a song and every time he played his notes perfectly for his song.
Sometimes I let my son set the rules and tempo. It's important to change the pace and schedule sometimes so that piano music is fun and not another routine or chore. I found that sitting down with my son to set the schedule or rewards made his song recitals more enjoyable. It's also important in that your son or daughter will feel as if they are part of the decision making process as opposed to be told what to do.
As far as making piano fun is concerned play as many fun songs as possible. Let's face it, kids like to do fun things and piano should be nothing short of fun. My child for instance didn't like playing the classics or pounding away at the keys to work on his scales or music theory. Playing popular or more familiar contemporary songs makes the whole process more natural and likeable. I find that when the child plays a song that they recognize they will be more apt to practice it and improve upon it. While they do this their skills improve naturally. Following this approach enabled Brian to have more fun and gain more confidence because he was able to play songs that people recognize and were impressed by.
Also involve your piano teacher in such decisions so your are both on the same page. He or she is the one with the technical / musical expertise and will be spending most of the time going over the nitty gritty of piano and music. I think of my music teacher as Brian's partner and, knowing that becoming skilled at playing piano doesn't happen overnight, I make sure that there is always a positive interaction between Brian and his teacher.
As my son's musical skills improved, I saw that he became more confident about his abilities and chose more complex songs to play and practice. I don't expect my son to be the next Mozart but my hope is that one day he will have fond memories of our time together and hopefully give him the ability to express himself through the music lyrics and songs from his earlier days playing piano. - 32526
Praise your little maestro often. Children are very sensitive and your kid is no excepton. I would often listen to my son play and look for genuine opportunities to compliment him. I felt it was important to praise my son often so that he could build up his confidence and enthusiasm for piano and become more involved with his music. My son is shy though so I made sure not to compliment him in front of others because he would get embarrassed.
Another element that was important to my child's development was sitting down and listening to him play often. I made sure I was there as his mother and not his teacher, smiling, listening and enjoying his music and not handing out criticism or lessons. This helped Brian enjoy his time playing and relax.
I also gave my son stars and other incentives for accomplishing certain skills while playing songs and his great music. Stars work great with some young children and my son was very responsive to them. You can set up your star incentives anyway you want. I gave Brian a sticker for every time he sat down at the piano, every time he played a song and every time he played his notes perfectly for his song.
Sometimes I let my son set the rules and tempo. It's important to change the pace and schedule sometimes so that piano music is fun and not another routine or chore. I found that sitting down with my son to set the schedule or rewards made his song recitals more enjoyable. It's also important in that your son or daughter will feel as if they are part of the decision making process as opposed to be told what to do.
As far as making piano fun is concerned play as many fun songs as possible. Let's face it, kids like to do fun things and piano should be nothing short of fun. My child for instance didn't like playing the classics or pounding away at the keys to work on his scales or music theory. Playing popular or more familiar contemporary songs makes the whole process more natural and likeable. I find that when the child plays a song that they recognize they will be more apt to practice it and improve upon it. While they do this their skills improve naturally. Following this approach enabled Brian to have more fun and gain more confidence because he was able to play songs that people recognize and were impressed by.
Also involve your piano teacher in such decisions so your are both on the same page. He or she is the one with the technical / musical expertise and will be spending most of the time going over the nitty gritty of piano and music. I think of my music teacher as Brian's partner and, knowing that becoming skilled at playing piano doesn't happen overnight, I make sure that there is always a positive interaction between Brian and his teacher.
As my son's musical skills improved, I saw that he became more confident about his abilities and chose more complex songs to play and practice. I don't expect my son to be the next Mozart but my hope is that one day he will have fond memories of our time together and hopefully give him the ability to express himself through the music lyrics and songs from his earlier days playing piano. - 32526
About the Author:
Janice corker is a music instructor and webmaster for Music Lyrics Now, an online lyrics resource. You can find her blog here.
