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The biggest struggle piano students face today is with making daily piano practise a habit. And yet, it’s keeping music in EVERY day that brings progress.
Why Daily Piano Practise Matters
Practise consistency and going to the piano every day brings resilience to students. This is because it creates:
- A secure knowledge base.
- A routine that helps children self-regulate.
- A practised method of learning.
Ideas on HOW to create a routine and HOW to learn stay with young children as they grow into adults. These habits create a scaffolding that one can fall back on at times when one feels stuck in life or in learning and doesn’t know how to move forward.
Where Parent Support Comes In
The patterns that help young children learn consistency in piano practise often flow from the home routine.
Parents who model consistency AND have adequate piano teacher support with immediate learning goals, are more likely to have children who will grow into habits that support consistency. Slowly. One Step at a Time. Gradually Getting It. Internalizing it.
The impact of over-busy parenting
It’s very different with families where parents struggle to make time.
Here, parents support comes in when there’s a crisis or an examination. Or when there’s something to lose by not providing support. Or sometimes not at all.
Students from these families are likely to be erratic learners. Have poor retention of knowledge. And get stressed and feel unable to cope when there’s a slight challenge or there are small increments in the learning levels.
And this really concerns me when I see it because I want so much more for my piano students.
Where Teacher Support Comes In
My piano parents provide the support their children need to learn. At times with consistency, and at times when they can. Lives are busy and I get it.
I don’t have children, but our family is spread-out over Mumbai & Navi Mumbai. It takes a high level of life organization to spend time with family so all of us have the lives and relationships we need to be happy and stay healthy. Family matters. This is not the same as being a parent, but I get it. And I understand that piano teachers need to support piano parents differently these days.
Getting children and teens into a piano practise routine seems to be easier for piano parents when:
- Goals are clear.
- Progress is visibile.
- Student Effort is compulsory. With exceptions made when students have other pressures and it’s a choice to go easy for a while.
The Solution
Small weekly goals that are measurable in ways both children and parents can understand, work very well.
Learning retention has improved. My piano students can remember and repeat what we’ve discussed in class 5 minutes earlier – this is an achievement for many students today! I see tiny shoots of growing resilience as students realize they have the piano practise tools to cope with challenges.
Piano teaching is a partnership between parents, students and teachers. Parent support is important because what happens at home matters. Students need to commit to setting and working towards achievable goals. And teachers can support this process with small assignments that are measurable, achievable and visible.
Note: It’s so nice to see a growing number of Piano Dad’s stepping in to take the load off Piano Mom’s! Picking up and dropping children to lessons. Assisting with video assignments. Work-from-home Dad’s with flexible hours managing daily practise or assisting with camera set-up when lessons go online. Piano Mom is in the post image because she’s still mostly my go-to parent.
Dear Piano Parent,
Recorded Assignments or RA’s are essential to learning and will bring your child learning skills that last for life.
To music in EVERY day.
Best wishes,
Anitaelise.
Other posts from The Piano Lesson Diaries here.
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