PIANO PRACTICE: RE-IMAGINING EXPECTATIONS & HAVING FUN!
By: Kelley Wong
Practice your piano! is phrase that I’m sure every piano student, whether diligent or not, have heard at some point. For students who don’t practice very much, this becomes a nag that they may frequently hear, and that doesn’t always have a positive impact on their musical development.
How much should my child be practicing? Prospective parents always ask me this when they come for an interview at my studio; I don't think a parent has ever failed to pose this question. But it makes sense. Just like how one would expect a child to do the algebra homework assigned by the math tutor, why wouldn't one expect a child to practice the piano pieces assigned by the piano teacher? After all, practice makes perfect. The key, however, is determining how much practice a student should be doing, and this isn't a straightforward answer.
Practice For Younger Students
Over the past 8 years, I've started teaching beginner (often younger) students again, after a long period of working only with intermediate/advanced level students. With this comes a shift in my own expectations for piano practice, and this is something that should be mirrored by parents as well. That's all it boils down to: Expectations. What I always try to remind parents - and also myself - is why a student is taking lessons with me. For younger beginners, piano lessons is about having fun and enjoying music. When there is a strong expectation, early on, for musical mastery the fun disappears and what's left is a chore.
Every child learns at a different pace, and in a different way. The worst thing we can do is correlate achievement with time: mastering a piece within a certain number of weeks, or reaching a level within a certain number of years. For a young student, it's much more important to engage him or her in exploratory learning, meaning teaching musical concepts through repetition, ensuring comprehension of music and notes, non-traditional learning methods (music games, learning through music Apps, etc.), persistence in encouraging accuracy in a piece, etc. Thus, a student may not be expected to sit at the piano for 30 minutes everyday, but he or she will be absorbing all the music concepts with some built-in practice time during the lesson.
This may mean it takes a student longer to progress musically, but it's a worthwhile trade-off: it makes for a more enjoyable journey, one that may ultimately lead to longer term musical engagement. It's not wrong to have expectations on a student, after all expectations are sometimes good motivators for success, but it's a matter of having realistic expectations and for these not to detract from a student's interest and pleasure in playing music. The key thing to remember is focusing on fun, enjoyment, and immersion. No one feels enjoyment and fun in a chore they don't want to do.
Practice For Older Students
It's without question that piano practice for intermediate/advanced level students is important. At this level, it takes more than a cursory review before a piano lesson to master a piece. However, it's also understandable that by a certain age, other activities make it difficult to practice: other lessons, sports activities, and school work. Often we forget that kids can't do it all, and that they too need some time for themselves to do what kids do (and sometimes that's nothing!). That's not to say we shouldn't expect them to practice to be successful, we should instead be compassionate about how they dedicate their time to practicing.
I always tell my students, and their parents, that some practice is better than no practice during the week. In fact, it's all about quality piano practice. It's a common misconception that concentrated practice will make up for the lack of consistent practice; But, practicing 1 hour twice a week is not the same as practicing 25 minutes for 5 consecutive days. Piano playing is based on muscle memory, visual memory, dexterity training, touch control, and much more. Practicing a lot over 1 or 2 days is akin to cramming for an exam: you don't truly grasp what you're doing, and even if you do it's short-lived. Piano playing should be built on a strong foundation of secure skills, and progressive improvement. The bottom line: cramming just doesn't cut it.
I always encourage my students to focus on quality practicing, a little each day (i.e. even just 20-30 minutes), where they are fully engaged during this dedicated time. This will ensure that there is constant review and reinforcement of what they practiced the day prior, and will not only help them to cement the visual memory of a piece, but help train their muscle memory to recall things like: using the correct fingers for notes, hand placement and positions, whether to hold a note or to let go, rhythm and beats, etc.
Best Recommendation
For younger students and beginners, try to remember that learning piano is about helping them develop interest and deriving enjoyment in creating and appreciating sound. This may be difficult at first, but focusing on the process rather than the milestone marker may lead to surprising and promising results.
For the intermediate and older student, try to help them set aside dedicated time to practice. The key is consistency and focus. Block off the same time each day and help the student to associate that time with piano practice. For example, what's worked well for some students is practicing daily right after school (after a snack usually helps!). On top of that, ensure that practice takes place in a quiet environment, without distraction (no TVs, traffic, noise, etc.), which will help the student concentrate and fully engage in what they are practicing. Piano practice is about forming good and sustained habits, and that takes effort at first. It's said that it takes 21 days to form a habit -- challenge yourself and your child to be consistent for 21 consecutive days in forming this habit!
A last worthwhile consideration is that not everyone will become a concert pianist, a professional musician, or a music teacher. Ask yourself whether this is the end goal. If not, and if the real goal is to instill an appreciation and love for music, then focusing on process over achievement is far more important. If the goal is to be a professional musician, then only self-driven (internal) motivation will help in this musical journey.
Vancouver piano teacher, Vancouver piano lessons, Vancouver piano lessons for kids, piano lessons for beginners, Burnaby piano lessons
By: Kelley Wong
Practice your piano! is phrase that I’m sure every piano student, whether diligent or not, have heard at some point. For students who don’t practice very much, this becomes a nag that they may frequently hear, and that doesn’t always have a positive impact on their musical development.
How much should my child be practicing? Prospective parents always ask me this when they come for an interview at my studio; I don't think a parent has ever failed to pose this question. But it makes sense. Just like how one would expect a child to do the algebra homework assigned by the math tutor, why wouldn't one expect a child to practice the piano pieces assigned by the piano teacher? After all, practice makes perfect. The key, however, is determining how much practice a student should be doing, and this isn't a straightforward answer.
Practice For Younger Students
Over the past 8 years, I've started teaching beginner (often younger) students again, after a long period of working only with intermediate/advanced level students. With this comes a shift in my own expectations for piano practice, and this is something that should be mirrored by parents as well. That's all it boils down to: Expectations. What I always try to remind parents - and also myself - is why a student is taking lessons with me. For younger beginners, piano lessons is about having fun and enjoying music. When there is a strong expectation, early on, for musical mastery the fun disappears and what's left is a chore.
Every child learns at a different pace, and in a different way. The worst thing we can do is correlate achievement with time: mastering a piece within a certain number of weeks, or reaching a level within a certain number of years. For a young student, it's much more important to engage him or her in exploratory learning, meaning teaching musical concepts through repetition, ensuring comprehension of music and notes, non-traditional learning methods (music games, learning through music Apps, etc.), persistence in encouraging accuracy in a piece, etc. Thus, a student may not be expected to sit at the piano for 30 minutes everyday, but he or she will be absorbing all the music concepts with some built-in practice time during the lesson.
This may mean it takes a student longer to progress musically, but it's a worthwhile trade-off: it makes for a more enjoyable journey, one that may ultimately lead to longer term musical engagement. It's not wrong to have expectations on a student, after all expectations are sometimes good motivators for success, but it's a matter of having realistic expectations and for these not to detract from a student's interest and pleasure in playing music. The key thing to remember is focusing on fun, enjoyment, and immersion. No one feels enjoyment and fun in a chore they don't want to do.
Practice For Older Students
It's without question that piano practice for intermediate/advanced level students is important. At this level, it takes more than a cursory review before a piano lesson to master a piece. However, it's also understandable that by a certain age, other activities make it difficult to practice: other lessons, sports activities, and school work. Often we forget that kids can't do it all, and that they too need some time for themselves to do what kids do (and sometimes that's nothing!). That's not to say we shouldn't expect them to practice to be successful, we should instead be compassionate about how they dedicate their time to practicing.
I always tell my students, and their parents, that some practice is better than no practice during the week. In fact, it's all about quality piano practice. It's a common misconception that concentrated practice will make up for the lack of consistent practice; But, practicing 1 hour twice a week is not the same as practicing 25 minutes for 5 consecutive days. Piano playing is based on muscle memory, visual memory, dexterity training, touch control, and much more. Practicing a lot over 1 or 2 days is akin to cramming for an exam: you don't truly grasp what you're doing, and even if you do it's short-lived. Piano playing should be built on a strong foundation of secure skills, and progressive improvement. The bottom line: cramming just doesn't cut it.
I always encourage my students to focus on quality practicing, a little each day (i.e. even just 20-30 minutes), where they are fully engaged during this dedicated time. This will ensure that there is constant review and reinforcement of what they practiced the day prior, and will not only help them to cement the visual memory of a piece, but help train their muscle memory to recall things like: using the correct fingers for notes, hand placement and positions, whether to hold a note or to let go, rhythm and beats, etc.
Best Recommendation
For younger students and beginners, try to remember that learning piano is about helping them develop interest and deriving enjoyment in creating and appreciating sound. This may be difficult at first, but focusing on the process rather than the milestone marker may lead to surprising and promising results.
For the intermediate and older student, try to help them set aside dedicated time to practice. The key is consistency and focus. Block off the same time each day and help the student to associate that time with piano practice. For example, what's worked well for some students is practicing daily right after school (after a snack usually helps!). On top of that, ensure that practice takes place in a quiet environment, without distraction (no TVs, traffic, noise, etc.), which will help the student concentrate and fully engage in what they are practicing. Piano practice is about forming good and sustained habits, and that takes effort at first. It's said that it takes 21 days to form a habit -- challenge yourself and your child to be consistent for 21 consecutive days in forming this habit!
A last worthwhile consideration is that not everyone will become a concert pianist, a professional musician, or a music teacher. Ask yourself whether this is the end goal. If not, and if the real goal is to instill an appreciation and love for music, then focusing on process over achievement is far more important. If the goal is to be a professional musician, then only self-driven (internal) motivation will help in this musical journey.
Vancouver piano teacher, Vancouver piano lessons, Vancouver piano lessons for kids, piano lessons for beginners, Burnaby piano lessons