Keeping Skills Sharp During Coronavirus Times

While we are in this pandemic, your child may or may not be taking lessons. Some teachers have dived into the world of teaching online (I am!) while some others are taking a complete break.

Here are some tips on keeping those hard-earned skills sharp, even if you are not currently taking lessons:

1- schedule time each day to have your student sit and play. Have them play their old songs they have already passed off, or have them make up their own music!

2- have a family Zoom recital, where anyone can perform anything they want! Readings, poetry, magic tricks, and your child's music would make a fun family-and-friends online event!

3- have your child teach you how to play their instrument. They would love being the teacher and know-it-all for once!

4- for those with mobile instruments, get some pieces ready and go perform from your front porch. Music can lift the spirits like nothing else.

5- Google "printable music games." There are so many fun options available!

Stay safe everyone! We teachers can't wait to teach your kids again when this is all over!

Image by Bairyna from Pixabay

Holiday Practice Tips

With the holidays right around the corner, it's a good idea to have a plan for practicing during that time. Here are 5 tips to help you with practicing over the holidays!

1- Get practicing done before noon. Otherwise, holiday parties, sledding, shopping, and playing outside will take up the day and leave the student too tired to practice!

2- Set an alarm on your phone to help you remember, especially if practicing early is out of the norm.

3- Plan to fit practicing in on most days, so start early on in the week.

4- Ask student to play for family or friends that come over, even non-Christmas songs or old favorites.

5- If there will be 2+ weeks between lessons, make sure that practicing happens the day after their lesson so the student remembers what to do during their break.

Have a Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy New Year!

Image by klimkin from Pixabay

How Involved Do You Really Need to Be?

There tends to be a spectrum of involvement for parents of children taking private lessons. There is not a “one-size-fits-all” spot on this spectrum, but usually the more involved you are, the more success your child will have in their lessons.

When I was a kid taking lessons, I sometimes needed reminders to practice, but I wanted to do the practicing myself. I didn’t want anyone sitting with me helping me! But my daughter is the opposite. Even though she has the ability to practice on her own, she prefers me to sit with her to help her out. And I must say, it is nice to have one-on-one time with her!

Since you know your child best, you will find the best place on this spectrum for you. Younger children (4-5+ years old) need a parent on the right of the spectrum; with older children, you can start sliding left. However, with any child of any age, don’t just assume that they will know to practice without reminders. If they do just practice on their own (#unicorn!) enjoy it!

As parents, we have a lot going on. We don’t need one more thing to do. Building practicing into your routine, however, will help it become more automatic and less stressful. I always thought I hated cooking. But what I actually hated was trying to figure out what to cook at 4 or 5 p.m. and having no clean dishes to work with. Once I started meal planning each week and setting out the meat to thaw each morning, I found that cooking was much, much easier. I just had to rearrange my routine and planning.

If you are having trouble remembering to have your child practice, try setting an alarm on your phone. I set mine to 7 p.m. If I haven’t had my daughter practice by then, we go and do it at 7. Time enough to practice but still get ready for bed in time.

In summary, find your best place on the “parent involvement spectrum” and continue building practicing into your routine. Your child (someday!) and your teacher (now!) will thank you.

“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” Helen Keller

Image by Pezibear from Pixabay

Where Should Practicing Be in Your Priorities?

I remember being in high school, when we were the oldest we’d ever been and the busiest we’d ever been, and feeling “swamped” when we had more than one test in one week! I remember fellow students complaining that every teacher thought their class the most important, since they all assigned such loads of homework.

I have thought about this a lot in the past years, as I have become a (private) teacher and assign my students homework… I mean practicing… each week. I haven’t heard the complaining (if any) that happens at home when it is time to practice, but I have heard many excuses over the years as to why the student didn’t practice last week:

- my brother had a birthday party

- my friends came over to play

- I had to study for my Spanish test

And it all comes down to priorities. Perhaps the high school kids that complained about homework and tests weren’t prioritizing their school work and grades, and wanted things to be just a bit easier. And perhaps the students that make excuses week after week haven’t put practicing in the top of their priorities.

I’m not saying that every student needs to put their music studies as their #1 priority, but if you are:

♫ paying money for private lessons;

♫ taking time to get to and from lessons;

♫ wanting to learn how to play that instrument;

then perhaps practicing, or “going home and playing your instrument,” should be in your top 2-4 priorities.

I know it can be difficult to make practicing part of a routine. I have been teaching my 9-year-old daughter and some months, our practice calendar is very bare. (She puts a sticker on each day that she practices.) We especially did not practice much the month or two after our move. So I followed one of my own tips from my post, “5 Ways to get Practicing into your Routine,” put a reminder alarm on my phone, and now we are doing much better!

So as a teacher, I am not thinking that “my class is the most important” when I ask my students to practice and make it a priority; I am simply trying to help them succeed at the task of learning to play their instrument. I know that frequent, regular practice will be the shortest path to success for them. Making practice a priority takes planning and perseverance, but it is worth it when your child confidently plays their pieces and is excited to learn.

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

Stephen R. Covey, American author and businessman, and author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

6 Ways to Help your Child have the Best Lesson Ever

In certain organizations for boys and girls, they learn to “Be Prepared.” What are some ways to help your child be prepared for their lesson each week?

1. Make sure they practice after their lesson (the same day) or the very next day at the latest. (You knew there was something coming about practicing, didn’t you!)

2. Make sure they practice 5-7 days in between lessons. Seriously, this will help them so much.

3. The day of their lesson, make sure they have had a snack and have used the bathroom within an hour beforehand.

4. Be on time or a little early to their lesson so they don’t feel rushed.

     - If lessons are held in your home (teacher travels to you) have them warm up on their songs in           the 10-15 minutes before teacher comes over. No TV or video games during that time!

5. Before leaving the house, help them make sure they have all of their books. The teacher may not have a second copy handy.

     - If teacher comes to your house, have your books out and ready to go when they arrive!

6. Speak positively about their upcoming lesson. Your positive attitude will rub off onto them!

“Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady of the United States.

                                                                                Image by Valéria Rodrigues Valéria from Pixabay

5 Ways to get Practicing into your Routine

Sometimes we know we need to do something; it’s just doing it is the tricky part.

Here are some tips to help you get practicing into your routine.

1- Set an alarm on your phone to remind you to practice. On any given day, I have 4-6 alarms that go off to remind me to do something. It’s nice having an “extra brain” to help me remember things!

2- Put your piano/music stand/practicing area in an obvious place in the house. Seeing it frequently helps to remember to practice.

     

      A- Don’t have your piano in a place where kids are nervous to be alone, like the basement or a            lonely room or back closet. Letting them practice in a well-lit, pleasant room will help them want        to practice more.

      B- Keep their music open on the piano or music stand.

      C- For some instruments such as guitar and violin, you can get mounted wall hangers. Having            the instrument “out” can make it easier for some to see it and go practice.

(Image from amazon.com)

3- “Attach” practicing to something that happens everyday; meals, for example. Put a note on the fridge to remind your student (and yourself) that practicing happens right before or after dinner, or as soon as they get home from school.

4- Make sure practicing happens before the fun begins. So before they go to their friend’s house, go to sports/dance/etc, or play video games or watch TV, get that practicing in. Treat music practice like homework, and make sure it gets done first.

5- Make a practicing calendar and put it somewhere you will see it frequently. Let your student put a sticker on each day they practice. It will be motivating for them to see how much work they have done, or how much more they need to do! You can even give them a prize for practicing a certain number of days per week or month, as long as it is enough according to the teacher’s policy. (Don’t reward them for practicing 1-2 days if the teacher wants them to practice 5-6 days.)

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” John C. Maxwell, American author, speaker, and pastor.

                                                                                         Image by allegralchaple0 from Pixabay

Help, Don't Handicap

If you have a young pianist in your home, you may have seen those stickers that can be put on the keys, which tell which note is which. They are supposed to help. But they don’t. Oh, they do at first. The child confidently puts their hands on the labeled C’s and G’s and plays the pieces like a professional. But if they play on a non-labeled piano, they are lost at sea. (No pun intended!) I had a family that took lessons for months on their labeled piano, but it wasn’t until I insisted on taking the labels off that they actually learned the patterns and where the notes were. Another student had labeled keys, done by an older family member who was also trying to learn to play. Not surprisingly, this student didn’t do well on my non-labeled piano during lessons.

(Photo retrieved from amazon.com)

These stickers and labels are HANDICAPS, not HELPS.

Instead of memorizing the pattern of 2- and 3-black key groups and their surrounding white keys, the student reads the letters and totally ignores the black keys. But if they go play a different piano with no labels, suddenly they have no idea what they are doing. At Grandma’s house trying to play her a song? Out of luck. At a recital on a different piano? Cue the freeze and panic. Please don’t do that to your child!

And finally, don’t do what this teacher encountered:

Do not ever write on the keys! (Photo by Alicia John; used by permission.)

Keep the keys clean and pristine. If your child has trouble remembering note names of the keys, practice naming them each day with your child. There will be a graphic somewhere in their book, or look on the internet. Treat it like a spelling test- they just need daily practice!

“Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.” Robert A. Heinlein, American author, engineer, and Naval officer.

(Clean, unlabeled keys- Image by nightowl from Pixabay)