Parents feel thrilled when their children spend time at the piano daily, yet often, something isn’t going well. They expect glowing feedback from their child’s piano teacher and get lukewarm.
The teacher comments on small achievements, but also on a surprising level of stuff their children haven’t learned. It’s confusing for both parents and students because one would think that just spending time at the piano is enough.
So here’s a guide to help you assess the quality of your child’s daily piano practise.
Practise is different from playing
Practise is a very structured way of playing that addresses a students weak spots. It often involves off-the-piano-bench activity. So if you see your child at the piano all of practise time, it’s a clue that your child isn’t practising. More on practise at Why Kids Need Parent Involvement In Piano Learning.
Off-the-piano-bench activity addresses individual learning styles
Here’s a few examples of off-the-piano-bench activities:
- Rhythm and Pitch practised sitting on the floor and later taken to the piano.
- Writing homework assigned in the theory book.
- Stretches and exercises to free up tight shoulders, arms and hands. And to address whole-body balance and coordination issues that affect piano posture and tone production.
- Physical exercise between at-the-piano sessions for students with a very sedentary lifestyle. This also helps students with very rigid learning patterns and fidgety students who can’t sit still.
- Movement-based practise of articulation, phrasing, time and tempo.
My experience with piano teaching tells me that movement and off-the-piano-bench activity improves focus. Helps students relax when they play. And is of great value as piano students experience and learn a concept in a way that promotes internalized learning.
So what’s internalized learning?
Beginner level piano students learn the basic musical concepts of pitch, note values and steady tempo. Early lessons focus on pattern recognition and the ability to notice and copy patterns. Piano examination boards assess some of these skills in aural tests and viva.
So, let’s take playing on time – playing the correct note rhythm at a steady pace.
It’s common to see beginner students who need to learn to keep a steady tempo. Or to see students who struggle with note values and sometimes, a genuine difficulty understanding written note values conceptually. Either way, this needs practise that addresses the struggle.
Poor timing and rhythm will produce a performance that makes no sense, even to a listener who doesn’t understand music. So this is usually quite easy for most parents to spot.
A child needing to practise basic rhythm as a beginner level student is quite normal. A child who’s rhythm practise hasn’t changed in complexity after months of lessons is a child who hasn’t been practising.
There has to be a point at which basics become a part of what the student knows. And something that needs minimal or no practise. THIS is internalized learning.
Understanding Teacher Feedback
Teachers will often try to balance positive feedback with practise suggestions for weak spots.
Point out achievements that would otherwise go unnoticed. Assign practise remedies that challenge young students and help them learn better. Update you when lessons still can’t move beyond basics because your child has a low level of internalized learning.
Parents, I hope this helps you understand your child’s progress better.
Other posts from The Piano Lesson Diaries here.
anitaelise piano studio 