Tips - Your Child and Lessons

by
John M. Zeigler, Ph.D and Nancy L. Ostromencki
Rio Rancho, NM  USA

our Child and Lessons

When Should My Child Begin Lessons?

"Fun" and Piano Lessons

Being a Supportive Parent of a Piano Student

Taking an Active Role in Your Child's Piano Training

My Kid Wants to Quit Piano!?!?

Suggested Practice Techniques

Using a Home Computer For Music Education

Motivating Students - Just Whose Job Is It?

Beginning | Fun and Lessons | Parents | Role | Quitting Piano | Practice Techniques | Computer | Main Tips Page | Piano Education Home

The most important thing to remember about practice is that it's not the amount of time you spend, but how well you use the time that counts.

When Should My Child Begin Lessons?

A large number of questions that we get are about our opinions on when a child is deemed ready to begin lessons. While there are no hard and fast rules, there are some pointers and signs that you can use to determine when your child is ready for lessons.

One cannot magically deem a child to "be ready" for lessons at any given point. More important is the idea that the child needs to be tuned into music from early on - from the age of 1 day is a great starting point. It doesn't matter whether you want to start a musical genius or if you simply want your child to be delighted with the wonderful sounds of serious music. Perhaps the single easiest and best thing you can do to get your child ready to begin lessons is to expose yourself and your child to lots of classical, jazz, and other forms of musically sound and well performed music together. An appreciation of good music will help get and maintain your child's interest.

How wonderful for the child to be hearing the music of Bach's Violin Sonatas or Partitas, to Chopin Etudes, Mozart's The Magic Flute, or Beethoven's Pastorale Symphony as well as the jazz/improvisational sounds of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Chick Corea, George Shearing or Gary Burton! One does not need to spend thousands of dollars investing in a huge CD collection; having a radio station tuned in to the sounds of the great classical and jazz composers is an excellent way to develop knowledge and appreciation of good music. With rhythmic patterns, harmonics, and melodic ideas already well established in the child's musical ear, the segue into lessons will be an easier process because the child can see a well-defined goal for the lessons.

There are varying opinions as to when a child should "officially" start lessons. Give a good deal of thoughtful consideration to the fact that, the younger the child is when beginning lessons, the more involved the parent will have to be with actively helping out with practice time, attending the lessons and being positively involved during the lessons. Generally, the child should be able recognize numbers 1-5, and understand the correlation between the numbers on the page and the finger numbers. If the child knows the alphabet letters of A through G, that is all that is required from a beginner. Most beginning books will spend a lot of time reinforcing these skills, so don't be too concerned if the knowledge is not always perfectly articulated.

Your child should be able to sit still for about 10-15 minutes while focusing on having fun at the piano. Under no circumstances should you expect a little one to be able to sit for longer than 10-15 minutes at a time while keeping a strong focus on any one musical concept. If your child can do these things, chances are you can start meaningful lessons for the child. Many parents get very frustrated because they expect their child to be able to concentrate for a longer amount of time. The child simply cannot, and lesson time and practice time becomes pure torture.

There are many musical concepts that can be taught via moving physically up and down the piano, playing notes at the highest and/or lowest parts of the piano for example, going up and down the keyboard saying the letter names of the notes aloud, going up and down the piano finding all the groups of two and/or three black keys, or finding the individual natural keys on the piano. Rhythm can be approached in a very active manner, having the child clap their hands and/or march in time to certain rhythmic notation. If your child's teacher doesn't do these things with the child, you can talk to the teacher about them or do them yourself at home before the studio lesson.

There are of course exceptions to any and all claims of appropriate starting ages for children. I have had excellent students start as early as just under three years old. Others were not really ready until later. Don't let your expectations and desires be the sole determinant of when the child begins lessons or how fast you feel they should progress. The most common frustration of the parents arises because they have forgotten that their child is taking the lessons and doing the practice. Remember, the child is a child, not a miniature adult. Your child's teacher must also recognize this seemingly obvious, but often overlooked, fact of life. When you interview the teacher for the first time, observe carefully the level of patience the teacher shows with your child and the ability of the teacher to generate interest in the child. If the teacher can't accommodate your child's needs and individual nature, look for another teacher.

Although having an acoustical piano is not mandatory for the beginning student, it certainly is beneficial to have for the child to experiment with and create. If money is a factor, there are many places that will allow a person to rent an acoustical piano (not a grand piano per se). If you choose to get an electronic keyboard initially, the keys need to be the size of a normal standard acoustical piano and touch sensitive, because nearly all beginning methods introduce dynamics such as forte (loud) or piano (soft) after a few lessons. Make sure the physical practice space has adequate lighting, ventilation, and a solid, secure seat. One can often find piano benches at estate sales, garage sales, etc., if your piano does not already have a bench. If you have an acoustical piano, please make sure that it is in tune; having it tuned twice a year will help. Remember that much of the life of a child is devoted to exploration of new things and concepts, so the more you can make the home situation like the studio, the more the child will be able to indulge his exploration instinct at home.

It's important to keep an open dialogue going with your child's teacher about how he is progressing in lessons. This is true for children of all ages, but especially for really young students. If, after some lesson time has transpired, your teacher feels it is best for your child to stop lessons for a while and wait a bit before restarting, it generally best to accept that advice, rather than force the issue or create a negative experience for your child. Wait six months to a year before restarting lessons. In that event, no one has failed and it doesn't mean your child will never be ready to begin lessons. Nothing negative should be thought of the concept of waiting a bit to restart lessons. In the meantime, keep the music flowing at home, let those notes continue to be heard. Then you can restart your child's lessons a little later with the child still having an interest and desire to learn.

If the previous exposure to music has been going on for a long time, and if the parent(s) have reasonable expectations for their child taking lessons, it should be a positive and life-long endeavor for all involved. Always feel free to communicate honestly and openly with your child's music teacher, if there are any misgivings or questions about what should be done, or if things are not going as smoothly as one would wish. However, please keep in mind that most of these discussions should probably be done away from the child, perhaps setting up a separate time for a phone consultation or personal time with the teacher sans the child.

Beginning | Fun and Lessons | Parents | Role | Quitting Piano | Practice Techniques | Computer | Main Tips Page | Piano Education Home

"Fun" and Piano Lessons

Parents often comment to us that they want their children's piano teacher to make lessons "fun". Many teachers respond to this desire by working hard to make lessons more pleasurable for students. This certainly makes sense to a degree, since lessons that become drudgery are hard to continue and succeed at over the long term. However, the single-minded pursuit of fun may not be the best reason for, or approach to, piano lessons. Lessons should be comprised of real learning, leavened with fun aspects. There need not be a dichotomy or conflict between learning and fun. It's just a matter of approach, on the part of both the parents and teacher.

Standards of accomplishment should not be sacrificed or downgraded in the pursuit of fun in piano lessons.  Of course, a teacher who has high standards, along with no sense of humor and no willingness to make lessons enjoyable to the degree possible, would be hard to take lessons from. This could well result in loss of interest on the part of the student. However, it's high standards, whether self-generated or provided by others, that encourage us to become as good as we can be at any skill or endeavor. Having others set high standards for us has, perhaps, its greatest value in helping to teach us how to set high standards for ourselves. Unenjoyable lessons usually don't relate to setting standards too high (admitting that it's possible, in rare cases, to set ridiculously high standards that nobody could achieve) necessarily, but rather to a failure of the teacher to provide the knowledge and emotional support to achieve reasonable standards. A teacher who encourages the student, uses humor, praises accomplishment and challenges students to do their best will make even the most traditional of lesson approaches "fun". You can find tips on how to pick the right children's teacher here on PEP.

Learning to play piano is a bit like learning to read. Most people enjoy reading. Yet, because they learned so long ago, most forget just how hard it was when they started trying to learn to read. Phonics, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and lots more were all hard to learn. People who enjoy reading do so because they devoted so many hours to practice their skills at reading. It's now second nature to them. Nobody could say that this learning process was all "fun" or easy. Of course, we all started reading at a level and with subject matter that we could succeed at, relate to and even enjoy. Patient, positive and helpful teachers (and parents!) made learning easier - and, yes, more fun. As we got better, they challenged us to read at ever higher levels, thereby building our skills and knowledge. Most adults don't read "See Spot run" anymore, but that's probably where they started.

Those who go into the process of looking for a teacher with "fun" as their only, or main, criterion may be misleading themselves. Piano lessons shouldn't be drudgery, but if "fun" is all that they contain, students might be just as well off with a computer game or a movie at considerably less cost. "Fun" really isn't in the lessons, which entail some hard work and dedication, but in the teacher, the approach and the sense of accomplishment gained by the student from achieving a significant goal. Parents can help make lessons more fun by encouragement, attention to lessons and recognition of progress. See just below for more information on how you can support your piano student. Parents and teachers who pay attention to these aspects of taking lessons will make lessons enjoyable, without sacrificing content and standards.

Beginning | Fun and Lessons | Parents | Role | Quitting Piano | Practice Techniques | Computer | Main Tips Page | Piano Education Home

Being a Supportive Parent of a Piano Student

Many successful musicians regard their parents' influence and inspiration as the most important in sparking their own interest in serious music. Whether or not your child makes a career of music, your efforts in bringing the world of music to your child will make his or her life fuller and happier. You can help your child learn faster and enjoy lessons more by doing a few simple things:

• Become Involved With Your Child's Piano Training. Discuss with your teacher the kind and degree of involvement which makes the best sense for your child. Should you attend lessons and, if so, how often? Should you supervise or coach practice sessions and, if so, how should you go about that? Communicate often with your child's teacher to monitor progress and learn what you can do to be helpful to the learning process.
• Encourage Your Child As Much As Possible. Be sure to praise effort as well as accomplishment. Even if your child does not learn as fast as another, in the long run, hard work will determine the final result. There is no better way to bring about the hard work than to reward the effort. Try to express interest in what your child is doing, even if you are getting tired of hearing "Chopsticks". Encourage your child in every way possible to perform for family and friends in relaxed settings.
• Avoid Negative Criticism. Most of us respond better to thoughtful, loving help than undirected criticism. If your child seems uncooperative, it may mean that they need more help, encouragement, and support. Punishment is usually not a long-term solution.
• Make Sure Your Child Knows That You Consider Music a Serious Commitment. Schedule piano practice time for your child just as regularly as you do Little League or soccer practice. See to it that practice sessions are as free as possible from distractions. If the piano is in the living room, try to limit access to the living room during your child's allotted practice time. If your child has not practiced for some reason, do not cancel lessons. If you find the child's interest in lessons waning, the best thing to do it to discuss the problem with your child's teacher; often, this can be solved with proper stimulation and supervision by you and the teacher working together.
• Provide As Much Cultural Enrichment As Possible. The experience of listening to music without the pressure of having to play the notes correctly can add greatly to your child's appreciation for music generally and lessons in particular. Go to concerts with your children whenever possible. Introduce your children to the works of the masters by playing the music in your home. These days, computer technology, especially the advent of CD-ROM disks, has made it possible to explore great music in a way that is fun for the entire family. If you have a CD-ROM drive equipped computer, try any of several different CD-ROM's of this type.

Beginning | Fun and Lessons | Parents | Role | Quitting Piano | Practice Techniques | Computer | Main Tips Page | Piano Education Home

Taking an Active Role in Your Child's Piano Training

As we have said elsewhere on The Piano Education Page, it is important to choose a teacher who can not only teach your child how to play the piano, but provide musical enrichment experiences like performance opportunities (home concerts, recitals, and competitions), encourage access to professional music concerts, and develop an overall appreciation of and interest in serious music. What may not be so apparent to parents and students is that these extra activities represent a major commitment of largely unreimbursed and uncompensated time and money for the teachers and organizations who make them possible. This fact of life is especially noteworthy in light of the fact that only a small fraction of teachers make them available at all, precisely because of the time and financial burdens required to bring them about. Thus, the task of bringing these activities into being falls disproportionately on a few active and committed teachers. Even if your child's teacher doesn't actively support such enrichment experiences, your child benefits from the efforts of other teachers and volunteers who do the extra work to put on a competition or recital.

You can have a major impact on the quality of the music education your child and other children receive by volunteering your time and/or contributing money or goods to support such enrichment activities. Volunteering can take only a few hours of your time a year, but can be of tremendous help to already overburdened teachers and organizations who run such events. Such volunteer service generally requires no special training, but can be critical in producing the best possible experience for your child. It can also be a lot of fun for you!

For example, by volunteering to provide and handle refreshments offered to students at competitions, you can not only make the competition more fun and enjoyable for your child and other children, but take some of the load from the teachers who must run the competition itself. You can also serve as a monitor, receptionist, or usher for the competition. When your or another teacher mounts a studio outing to the symphony or other performance, offer to drive and chaperone a car full of kids. You'll get to see the glow in the kids' eyes as they experience their first professional performance. If your teacher does recitals or home concerts, you can lift a major burden from the teacher by offering to organize refreshments or a bring-a-dish dinner after the recital. If your time is limited, we can say without fear of contradiction that monetary contributions to your local music teachers organization will be greatly appreciated and well-used to enrich your child's musical training.

These are just a few of the ways you can help. Getting involved is easy. Just talk with your teacher about how you can help in the studio's activities or call the local music teachers organization to volunteer. Your piano teacher should be able to give you the phone number of a contact person there, as well. If these kinds of activities aren't readily available locally, talk with your teacher about the possibility of starting them with your help. If they are available and your teacher doesn't participate in them, encourage the teacher to participate and to volunteer as well. We think you'll find that you'll enjoy helping to better music education for all the students in your area.

Beginning | Fun and Lessons | Parents | Role | Quitting Piano | Practice Techniques | Computer | Main Tips Page | Piano Education Home

My Kid Wants to Quit Piano!?!?

It's very common for kids, usually about the time they reach the middle school years, to begin to temporarily lose interest in their piano lessons. If they are allowed to quit lessons, they usually regret it in later years. It is possible to get your children through this difficult period without having them make a decision they may later regret and for which their young age and limited experience ill prepares them. We firmly believe that, while kids feel they know what they want at Jr. High and High School levels, they really don't comprehend exactly what they will be missing by quitting the study of the piano. We have had many adult students who kick themselves for having quit as teenagers and now realize the folly of their choice.

One thing that often works well in keeping kids in piano lessons is a tit-for-tat agreement to continue lessons in exchange for some privilege or reward (sometimes known as "positive reinforcement", sometimes known as a "bribe"!). Such rewards need not be monetary or material. For example, a possible "contract" might be allowing your daughter to get her ears pierced in return for her continuing piano lessons for 3 more years. Similarly, you can reward good lessons and participation in recitals and contests, irrespective of whether your child won.

Many teachers will also help this process by rewarding students. Some teachers will take the student and their parents out to dinner after a contest to celebrate the experience. Others will have "team" T-shirts made when a group of students travel out of state to compete in a contest. Your teacher can also help by gearing repertoire, within limits, towards your child's tastes during those difficult years. Gershwin and Chopin may appeal to teenagers a little more than Bach or Beethoven and can be musically and educationally just as valid as learning goals. Because social development and acceptance are so important during the early teen years, ask your teen's teacher to try to arrange opportunities to participate with other teen's playing chamber music, duets, or any other musical group activity which stresses classical training. The guiding principle is to find ways to make the musical experience as fun, exciting, new and social as all those other activities that compete for a teenager's time and interest.

Whatever reward system you choose, make it clear to your child that you must have a good faith agreement between you. Regular practice and attendance at lessons are every bit as important to the child's fulfillment of the contract as your allowing the privilege. For this to work, the child has to know that if they don't carry out their end of the contract, you will not trust them in similar situations in the future. Such an arrangement not only helps keep your child in piano lessons, but also builds character and responsibility for their future.

Despite your best efforts, your child may refuse to cooperate. Should you force the child to continue lessons? Every situation is individual, so we can't tell you what to do here. However, in this event, careful consultation with the child's teacher is called for. The teacher may be able to rebuild interest by changing repertoire, using computer teaching tools, setting up opportunities for playing in groups with other children the same age, or other incentives based on the teacher's knowledge of your child. Simply allowing the child to quit lessons is usually not the best way to handle a resolutely uncooperative child. Such a decision should only be taken as a last resort and involve extensive consultation with the teacher.

Finally, a word just for you parents: hang in there, it's worth it! Give yourself a pat on the back that you recognize and are dealing with the issue. Chances are your children will thank you when they get a little older for encouraging them to stay in lessons.

Beginning | Fun and Lessons | Parents | Role | Quitting Piano | Practice Techniques | Computer | Main Tips Page | Piano Education Home

Suggested Practice Techniques

You can learn faster and easier if you do a few simple things. These suggestions are not time-consuming and easily carried out if you schedule time for them in your day on a regular basis. The most important thing to remember about practice is that it's not the amount of time you spend, but how well you use the time that counts. If you practice several hours a day and simply repeat the same mistakes each time through, you have not practiced effectively.

• Take the time to read your assignment book. The specific assignments and practice suggestions are intended to assist in practice.
• When practicing, make sure that the environment is free from distractions and noise. Turn off the TV, put the answering machine on, and give yourself a quiet environment to work.
• Make sure the music is legible and well-lit.
• Set aside a specific time each day for your work at the piano and stick to the schedule. If you are a morning person, practice in the morning. Avoiding or delaying getting to the piano will just make you run out of time.
• Unlike studying for tests or exams, piano practice cannot be crammed in at the last minute or day before the lesson. Plan the time to do practice every day.
• Don't try to learn a piece all at once; take it in sections and practice a section until you can do it without mistakes three times through. Then move on to the next section.
• Remember the value of taking a section slowly, making sure that you play all the notes correctly and that you count through difficult sections. Worry about playing to tempo when you have the notes and the rhythm right.
• A very valuable way of knowing whether you've learned a piece is to learn it well enough that you can play either hand independently starting at any place in the music. When you can do that, you can begin to work on being musical with the piece.
• Learning a new piece of music is hard work. Reward yourself after a good practice session by playing a familiar and favorite work just for the fun of it. Think of this as the dessert after meal.
• Above all, don't simply repeat mistakes. Use practice to work out mistakes, not to reinforce them by continually repeating them. When you repeat mistakes, they are just that much more difficult to get rid of later.
• Take the suggestions from your teacher seriously. After long years of training and teaching experience, chances are your teacher's suggestions will prove successful, if followed.
• If possible, participate in concerts and recitals at your teacher's studio, even if only to audit. So much can be learned by performing yourself and listening to others perform.
• Attend as many recitals and concerts as possible. Given the large number of musical organizations sponsoring concerts there is ample opportunity to hear music. The more music that you hear, the more of an idea of the musical concepts you can get.
• Read biographies of composers, performing artists and conductors. Also, rent movies that are related to the lives of musicians. There are so many wonderful movies and books readily available, that really no one has the excuse not to know more about the composers, their lives and music. If you can't find the time to read books, classical CD's and records usually have useful and interesting information about the composer, the musical structure and ideas expressed, and the performers in the recording.
• Obtain a musical dictionary. The dictionary will give the meaning of the Italian terms (for example, Allegro vivace or Molto espressivo) which are used in the score to indicate how the piece of music should be played and how it should sound. You'll find your playing of the music will improve faster if you understand how the composer meant the music to sound in the first place. You can also get this kind of information here from The Musical Reference Shelf.

Beginning | Fun and Lessons | Parents | Role | Quitting Piano | Practice Techniques | Computer | Main Tips Page | Piano Education Home

Using a Home Computer For Music Education

The benefits of music training for cognitive development in children are well-demonstrated and extensively documented. Given the natural affinity of computers and music, it is not surprising that visitors to The Piano Education Page often ask us about how they might use a home computer to develop their children's (or their own) interest in music. It is actually quite easy and relatively inexpensive to use your computer to provide a fun way for kids to learn about, appreciate, and even play music. In fact, if you want your children to learn to play the piano, you have an especially good set of options. While the computer will never replace a quality, dedicated teacher, it can be a huge help with lessons, both in providing training and drill and in broadening the child's appreciation for music as a whole.

Music software generally doesn't require "big iron" to run. If your computer can run modern games, chances are it has more than adequate power to run the overwhelming majority of music software. Even if the kids are using your old "clunker", they probably have enough hardware to run most of the software. Any Pentium class or better machine, so long as it has at least 32 Mb RAM, a CD-ROM drive, and sound card and speakers is adequate. Some very good music software will even run well on a 25 MHz 386. If you have an older computer with a less-than-realistic FM-synthesis sound card and tinny speakers, you might want to consider upgrading the sound card to a wavetable-type and the speakers to ones with a separate subwoofer. You'll find that this upgrade will make a HUGE difference in the quality of sound you can get from the computer; it can be done for under $100. In our view, there is no inherent reason from the standpoint of the hardware capabilities to choose a Macintosh or an IBM-compatible, though you will pay more and have a lesser choice of software if you use (or buy) a Mac. If you would like to learn more about how sound and music are generated on the PC, see our article, Creating Sound and Music on the PC.

Although much of the available music and piano software will run without a MIDI keyboard, virtually all of it is easier to use with a keyboard. In addition, if you or your kids want to try your hand at composing on the computer, you'll almost certainly want a keyboard.  While it's possible to spend over $1000 on a full size digital piano keyboard, you probably won't want to make that kind of investment unless you plan to use it as a temporary substitute for an acoustic piano.  Fortunately, there is another acceptable route. Several commercial piano teaching packages offer a reduced size (4-5 octaves) MIDI-compatible keyboard as part of the hardware/software system. The MIDI keyboard is simply plugged into the MIDI/joystick port of your sound card or into the serial port interface. We have reviewed one such package, whose software is also very good, here on The Piano Education Page. You can find additional information about MIDI keyboards and piano teaching software, and in another article on digital keyboards here.

You can use software on your home computer to enjoy and increase your knowledge of music, aid in learning an instrument, indulge your creative impulses by actually writing and publishing music on the computer and, finally, just to have fun with music. Each of these areas is represented by large numbers of software programs - too many to adequately review here. Our article, Choosing and Using Music Software in the Studio and Home, has lots of great tips on how to choose the right software and how to get it up and running efficiently. Generally speaking, we think you'll find that most music software is good to excellent, both in usability and pedagogical soundness. It's usually easy to install and get running. The only "tweaking" you're likely to have to do is, occasionally, some minor adjustment of your MIDI configuration settings in Windows. If you're on a tight budget, there are many different music software shareware packages, several of which we have reviewed on The Piano Education Page, that you can download and try for free before you commit to purchase. Most commercial music software programs also have free downloadable trial versions available (see our reviews for links to many of them). For more information on music appreciation software, see another of our articles. For in-depth reviews of many different types of music software packages, read The Piano Education Page Software Reviews.

Many teachers use computer teaching labs in their studios. Most run standard off-the-shelf software available to everyone. Although a computer can't be seen as a replacement for a teacher, you can use your computer to give your children some of the same advantages that the best teachers provide with their computer teaching labs. It's easy and your kids might even thank you for doing it!