- Consistent Daily Practice Routine: Have an established daily practice time, like right after breakfast. Stick to this time. Generally, the more consistent you are, the more willingly your child will follow the routine, and the less resistance you will encounter.
- Providing Company: Try using inviting words with a cheerful tone: "Let's go to the piano for music time!" Many kids will go to the piano more willingly if you provide some company during their practice time. Some like you sitting right next to them on the bench, others will just want your presence in the room (you can just enjoy a peaceful moment reading a book).
- Avoid the "banishment" approach: "Go out there and practice right NOW!" We don't want practicing to feel like punishment or a time-out.
- Give a Treat: Generally, I am not a fan of giving tangible treats or rewards because I want kids to learn to love music for its own sake. However, I think an occasional special treat or reward can provide an excellent boost to motivation. Instead of waiting until the end of practice to get a treat, why not give the reward at the beginning? You could say to your child, "I have 3 chocolate chips for anyone who knows how to cheerfully come to the piano for practice time!" Enjoy the treat together--you probably deserve 3 yourself--and then dive into practicing.
- Avoid harsh or negative tones. Remember, we don't want kids to associate practicing with anger or negativity.
- Make your child feel like the Expert. The following technique works well with younger kids. Sit down at the bench and begin playing one of the songs your child is working on. Make a lot of very obvious mistakes, then pretend to get stumped. Say something like, "Wow, I really need someone to show me how to do this. I can't remember how this song goes." Most kids will very willingly come and set you straight.
Happy practicing!
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Very helpful! A way to give kids a treat without giving too much candy or whatever, is to make a construction paper chain that starts from the ceiling: for every productive practice period, add a link. When the chain reaches the floor, have some reward like go out to dinner and the hard working kid picks the restaurant, or a zoo day etc.. Depending on how high your ceiling is, of course!!:)
ReplyDeleteDoing it wrong works well for correcting something they don't realize they are doing without offering a head on critique. Demonstrating it correctly, then incorrectly, and then, oh, hmm, oops, something's off here, can you help me figure out what I am doing wrong?
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