Thursday, September 1, 2022 by Anita Byers | Piano Parent Tips

from www.teachpianotoday.com/

PIANO PARENTS AS PRACTICE ASSISTANTS 

Piano parents don’t have to be nervous about helping out at home. They don’t even have to know how to play the piano to make a difference!

Piano parents really only have to achieve one, single goal: to get their children on the piano every day.

Most piano parents take this to mean that they need to nag their children about practicing piano. But this is definitely not the best way to encourage daily practice. 

The best way to encourage daily piano practice is to be an engaged piano parent.

Proactive piano parents have their own home practice tasks to complete, just as their children do. This creates a teamwork environment where parents and children are working together towards the common goal of daily practice.

14 PRACTICE TASKS FOR PIANO PARENTS

Regular practice routines will not happen without proactive piano parents. Here’s a list of Teaching Assistant Tasks that musical and non-musical parents can perform during home practice sessions.  

1. The Practice Bouncer: Keep family pets, siblings, and friends out of the piano room. Keep cellphones and TV quiet during practice sessions. 

2. The Practice Videographer: Take a video of a home practice session to share with your teacher on Tonara. 

3. The Piano Piece Request Line: Request your student to play a favorite piece from past practice sessions. 

4. The Lead Vocalist: Sing along with song lyrics.  Just make sure it’s a piece your child already knows pretty well.  Sing-alongs do not work too well when a piece is first being learned. 

5. The YouTube Liaison: Search out quality performances of pieces your child is learning and listen to them together. Have your child talk about what they notice and hear. 

6. The Piano Studio Janitor: Assist your child in getting and keeping the piano space in order. Clean the keys. Organize papers and books. 

7. The Concert Promotor: Encourage your child to play for friends and family members when they visit.  Send a video. FaceTime. 

8. The Timekeeper: Monitor any timed activities for your child. Remember that each piece in Tonara has a minimum number of minutes to practice.  Make sure the student clicks “start practice.”

9. The Sticker Giver: Give an unexpected sticker for hearing a piece being played extra well or when a difficult passage is mastered. 

10. The Role Reversal: Have your child teach YOU something they are learning: clap a rhythm, play a piano game, perform a simple duet. 

11. The Check-Marker: Make sure your child is completing all the Tonara assignments. When each is finished, they may mark the assignment as completed. Children love when they can check off all assignments!

12. The Lesson Note Reader: Make sure to begin each practice session by logging into Tonara and open the weekly assignments.  Help the student read any directions, watch video tutorials and listen to recordings. 

13. The Active Audience Member: Listen actively by giving only positive feedback to exercises and repertoire being performed 

14. The Frustration Interpreter: Discuss difficulties and challenges with your child as they occur and help them tell the teacher.  A student may message me on Tonara anytime during the week for extra help!

Monday, April 18, 2022 by Anita Byers | Recitals

It's recital season and our date is just two weeks away!  Since January I have kept busy selecting recital music for my students, helping them learn and prepare to perform the pieces, and putting the program together.  I know the immense benefits of recital participation for my students, but wondered if my piano parents know all the benefits of their child's participation.  This wonderfully written article by Andrea Dow at Teach Piano Today really sums up these benefits. 

12 Benefits of Piano Recital Preparation

1.  Recitals provide a tangible goal to work towards. In having a set date and a pre-planned performance selection, your child learns how to manage their practice time and what it feels like to polish and perfect a piece.

2.  Recitals provide an opportunity to feel successful. Learning the piano requires many, many hours of solo practice. Performing gives your child the recognition they deserve for their hard work.

3.  Recitals provide an opportunity for you to show your child that you value their involvement in music. Setting aside time in your busy life to attend a recital supports your children and their peers and shows your child that your family values music.

4.  Recitals provide a chance for your children (and you!) to reflect upon where they’ve “come from” when watching beginning students. Progress at the piano can sometimes feel slow, but watching younger students perform reminds your children of the gains they have made and motivates them to continue to progress.

5.  Recitals provide a chance for your children (and you!) to see “where they’ll go” when watching more advanced students. There are few things more motivating to a piano student than watching their peers perform. They get to hear pieces that they will enjoy playing in the future, see more advanced techniques first-hand and experience the pride that comes from becoming proficient at the piano.

6.  Recitals provide a chance for your extended family to be involved in your child’s piano education.  Athletes get all the glory… everyone comes to watch soccer games but no one really heads over to watch a piano practice session! Involving grandparents and aunties and uncles in the recital audience gives your child an opportunity to share their hard work with the ones they love.

7.  Recitals provide a chance for your child to experience nervousness… and to realize that those feelings are okay. We like to protect our children from feeling uncomfortable, but in “real life” these feelings are part-and-parcel of being human. Early experiences with successfully conquering nerves gives children confidence.

8. Recitals give you the opportunity to provide genuine and heartfelt praise. Bring on the photos and videos and big hugs and flushed-face smiles.  Clap enthusiastically.  Let your child know just how much you recognize their efforts and watch their commitment to piano lessons soar.

9. Recitals provide a chance for your child to practice public speaking and to gain confidence in front of a group; two skills that will serve your child well in many other areas of his or her life. Speaking and performing in a safe environment means that your child gains important experience in front of a crowd. The earlier these experiences happen, the easier it becomes for your child as they enter adolescence and adulthood.

10.  Recitals provide an opportunity for your child to get to know his or her peers who are also taking lessons. Making these connections helps to build community within a studio and helps your child to feel as though he or she belongs which results in increased interest in lessons.

11.  Recitals give your children the chance to hear live music. Young children rarely attend a lot of live concerts… and piano recitals are a wonderful place for your child to hear a wide variety of music. Nothing can replace the “live music experience” and when your child is an active participant in the event it’s even more rewarding!

12. Recitals provide an opportunity for you to sit back and marvel at the pride-inducing sight of your own child making beautiful music! Piano practice is often done amongst a busy household with siblings, pets, vacuums, dishwashers, and doorbells.  It’s rare that you have the opportunity to focus only on your child and the music they are making. These moments matter.

Saturday, April 9, 2022 by Anita Byers | Performances

Thirteen of my students played their recital pieces at the Nevada Music Festival today.  I'm so proud of each of them!

I've been sending students to outside musical festivals since my first year of teaching.  Students perform one piece from memory and are given a rating, certificate and comment sheet from an adjudicator.  The comments are always written in a positive and encouraging way even if there are suggestions for improvement.  

I feel that it is valuable for students to participate in an event like this.  It is good for students to have a goal to prepare for and to become used to performing in different settings.  As we prepared for this event, we worked on our performance skills as well as working on our critical listening skills as they performed for each other during our weekly class. 

I always look forward to reading what the adjudicators write on the comment sheets.  It is good for my students to be open for feedback coming from someone other than myself.  Sometimes my students are quite surprised that the judge says some of the same things I have been saying.  ;-)  Most often the comments confirm my thoughts about the piece or the student's playing or sometimes give me ideas that I haven't thought of - which is helpful for me.  :-)

Congratulations to Karaline, Vaylora, Camryn, Sophie, Natalie, Paytin, Caleb, Parker, Cora, Cooper, Naomi, Nathan and Hannah for earning Exemplary ratings!