Tips on how to practise piano with your child at home

Are you having difficulties to get your child to practise on his or her instrument at home? Are you sick and tired of shouting at your children just to get them to practise? Here are some tips for you to have a happy practising session at home.

1. Fix a practice time.

Children follow routines well generally. As parents, you have to guide them, tell them what and when to do, how much to do... etc. They are just kids, really, you can't expect them to study or practise (correctly) on their own especially if they fall under the age of 7 or 8. Help your children by telling them what time to practise and for how long. Keep the practise session short and sweet for younger children.

“We become what we repeatedly do.” -Sean Coveys-

2. Make practise time fun!

Do up reward charts for your children and reward them accordingly. I always believe in rewarding children for their hard work. Visual aids like reward chart is good as most children are visual learner, when they SEE that they have accomplish much, they will feel accomplished and be more confident in themselves.

"Success breeds success." -Shinichi Suzuki-

3. Believe and keep encouraging your child.

Instead of telling your child "You better practise if not you will play badly like last lesson!", try encouraging your child by saying "You did your notes really well, let's try to make the rhythm as good?" Keep believing in your child and speak positively to him or her, children are very sensitive and they will grow to how your words frame them. They will do well as long as you believe in them and guide them.

“A child's slowness in any subject indicates a deficiency in

his environment, educational or otherwise.”

- Shinichi Suzuki-

4. Have mini concerts.

Have a mini concert at the end of the week at home. Your audience can be stuff toys, cars or even your family friends who will pop by your house every week for gathering. Let your children have something to look forward to always. Video the performance and be proud of their effort, praise them for the good things they did and don't judge them immediately. It is never easy to perform in front of audience or even facing the camera (you can try it on your own), don't tell your children "Why do you still make mistakes when playing such easy pieces!" You really have no idea how much effort it takes to play London Bridge with both hands.

5. Be involved.

Try your best to keep your children company when they practise, your simple gesture means a lot to them! Imagine children don't feel good to play with their favourite toys ALONE, what's more you leave them alone to PRACTISE-AND-BETTER-GET-IT-RIGHT?? Give your kids attention and your time as much as possible, they are not trying to be dependant on you; your praise and presence means the world to them.

6. Praise them.

Keep the learning journey a positive one instead of comparing them with their cousins or classmates. Every child is different (very different in fact), so stop telling them "Your cousin who is in primary 3 already playing grade 5 pieces, why can't you so play as good as they are?!!" It's not the matter of being slow or fast, it is the amount of time and effort you put in as a parent as well. For those kids who can play very well (as seen on YouTube or TV), you have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how much time they spend on the piano. I have seen ballerinas who opt for home school so that they have MORE TIME on perfecting their art.

7. Attend concerts together.

"Man is a child of his environment." - Shinichi Suzuki-

Surround your children with fine music. CD, youtube, concerts, music festival, performances, group classes... etc. Children learn from each other; if they hear something they like in a concert, they will be inspired to learn the new pieces too. Recently the cartoon Frozen is a big hit all over the world, you will be amazed at how much efforts students are willing to put in and play "Let it go" or " Do you want to build a Snowman" so that they can perform to their friends and relatives. They are just so in love with the songs!

8. Play pop tunes.

Children love it when their performance are appreciated. They feel good when they can play some pop or Disney tunes on the piano and their friends admire them like never before. This gives them confidence, or I should say it will boost their confidence (confidence should never be built on ability only, if not children will lose self esteem one day if they fail in any exam).