Or perhaps the first question to answer is, why should my child learn a musical instrument?
Well, some answers to this question are obvious. Children and adults alike derive a great deal of pleasure from playing instruments, from making their own music, and from performing for others. However, to play well takes skill and practice. The younger a child starts to learn an instrument, the more they will learn by the time they've grown up. Also, the younger a child starts, the more the learning becomes an accepted part of their lives. They may simply not remember a time when they didn't play.
Also, playing a musical instrument is considered in many circles to be an accomplishment of a well-rounded individual, along with being able to speak another language and play a sport. While the ability to play an instrument may not be needed for that job or university place you're applying for, it certainly won't look bad on your resume. It's generally accepted that learning an instrument takes dedication and hard work, traits that any employer would be happy to see evidence of. At the same time, it tells others something interesting about you.
However, there are less obvious reasons for encouraging your child to do this. There have been several studies that have shown a correlation between musical study and enhanced performance in other areas. In this study for example, children were given either keyboard or voice lessons and their test scores improved more than those of children who had received no musical tuition. These findings have been replicated in other studies. There does seem to be something about learning an instrument that's good for developing brains.
Of all the musical instruments, though, the piano requires the left and right hands to operate most differently. Were you ever any good at rubbing a circle on your tummy and patting your head at the same time? I was terrible at it and probably still am! I marvel at the way my son plays one thing with one hand and something different with the other. Our tendency is for both our hands to do the same thing at the same time, usually whatever the dominant hand is doing. Requiring different actions from different hands is stimulating to the brain.
From a musical perspective, the piano can form the basic study for any other instrument. A child will learn about rhythms and harmony, and any style of music can be played on the piano. It can also be used to produce a huge variety of sounds. Children tend to find it appealing because they can produce recognisable music from an early stage just by pressing the right notes in the right order, unlike some other instruments that are perhaps more trying to the parent's ear. Probably its only disadvantage is that it isn't as portable as many other instruments, but then you can't have everything!
Saturday 26 February 2011
Saturday 19 February 2011
Making practice fun
Of course, one of the best ways to encourage your child to practice is to ensure they really enjoy it. Yet what child enjoys doing similar things in similar ways day after day? Okay, some children do enjoy this. However, most children easily become bored by repeated activities - unless, of course, they are playing. After all, that is what children do best. So how can we make practice fun? By making it seem like playing.
To do this well you need to think about your child's likes and dislikes. Each child is different and what will appeal to some won't appeal to others. What are your child's favourite characters? Do they like competitions, or puzzles, or stories? Do they like listening, or looking, or doing?
Here are some ideas of things I do or have done with my son to make his practice time more fun.
Practice sheets
We always sit together and work out a new practice sheet every 8 weeks or so. My son chooses the pictures he wants to decorate it with from the internet, and I print off colour copies. Ours are divided into days with separate boxes for different parts of practice. When he completes an activity he puts a little sticker in the box (also chosen by him).
Take a chance
It's fun to introduce an element of risk into piano practice. Of course, nothing life-threatening, but something to take out predictability is good. One thing my son's teacher always advocates (and I think this is standard Suzuki practice) is a lucky dip. It could be for the songs the child knows, the scales they know, or the tasks for that session. Putting them on strips of paper in a bag will have most children in eager speculation about what they will pull out. Will it be the thing they most want to do or the one they weren't looking forward to?
Another thing we do is to roll a dice to decide how often my son should repeat a practice. Say, for example, we've decided that the last two bars of a song need polishing. Rather than me telling him to practise it four times, we'll roll a dice. Sometimes it'll be more than four, sometimes less. Whatever it is, there will be that little bit of excitement and anticipation to spice the lesson up.
Invite a friend
I don't mean a real one (far too distracting!), but a toy figure or puppet or picture to join in and to offer their opinion on what's happening. My son once made me a lovely Mother's Day gift at school of a sunflower head on a stick with some 'I love you' type messages on it. At one point this became part of the practice routine. When my son was playing really beautifully, being very careful and thoughtful about what he was doing, the sunflower would miraculously appear over the piano and start waving about. If his concentration lapsed, the sunflower would start to sink sadly out of sight. Of course, he would sometimes play badly just to control the sunflower, but more often than not he wanted to make it grow.
Have a race
This was an idea suggested by a Suzuki violin teacher and this worked for us. We got two cars and started them at one side of the piano. One was my son's car and one Mum's car. Whenever my son completed a task well, he moved up and Mum's car lagged. If there was something not quite right, Mum's car got to go ahead. Needless to say, I never won! As time went by, more and more obstacles and rules were added to the car race. We really had a great time with this one.
Tell a story
This was another suggestion from the Suzuki teacher I heard talk once. He suggested drawing a path on a small whiteboard, with the different practice tasks represented as obstacles or encounters along the path. Then a figure such as a dragon or a princess has to journey along to their destination (a cave or a castle for example).
There are probably many more ideas you can think of for incorporating the things your child likes or likes doing. I hope this has given you some ideas.
To do this well you need to think about your child's likes and dislikes. Each child is different and what will appeal to some won't appeal to others. What are your child's favourite characters? Do they like competitions, or puzzles, or stories? Do they like listening, or looking, or doing?
Here are some ideas of things I do or have done with my son to make his practice time more fun.
Practice sheets
We always sit together and work out a new practice sheet every 8 weeks or so. My son chooses the pictures he wants to decorate it with from the internet, and I print off colour copies. Ours are divided into days with separate boxes for different parts of practice. When he completes an activity he puts a little sticker in the box (also chosen by him).
Take a chance
It's fun to introduce an element of risk into piano practice. Of course, nothing life-threatening, but something to take out predictability is good. One thing my son's teacher always advocates (and I think this is standard Suzuki practice) is a lucky dip. It could be for the songs the child knows, the scales they know, or the tasks for that session. Putting them on strips of paper in a bag will have most children in eager speculation about what they will pull out. Will it be the thing they most want to do or the one they weren't looking forward to?
Another thing we do is to roll a dice to decide how often my son should repeat a practice. Say, for example, we've decided that the last two bars of a song need polishing. Rather than me telling him to practise it four times, we'll roll a dice. Sometimes it'll be more than four, sometimes less. Whatever it is, there will be that little bit of excitement and anticipation to spice the lesson up.
Invite a friend
I don't mean a real one (far too distracting!), but a toy figure or puppet or picture to join in and to offer their opinion on what's happening. My son once made me a lovely Mother's Day gift at school of a sunflower head on a stick with some 'I love you' type messages on it. At one point this became part of the practice routine. When my son was playing really beautifully, being very careful and thoughtful about what he was doing, the sunflower would miraculously appear over the piano and start waving about. If his concentration lapsed, the sunflower would start to sink sadly out of sight. Of course, he would sometimes play badly just to control the sunflower, but more often than not he wanted to make it grow.
Have a race
This was an idea suggested by a Suzuki violin teacher and this worked for us. We got two cars and started them at one side of the piano. One was my son's car and one Mum's car. Whenever my son completed a task well, he moved up and Mum's car lagged. If there was something not quite right, Mum's car got to go ahead. Needless to say, I never won! As time went by, more and more obstacles and rules were added to the car race. We really had a great time with this one.
Tell a story
This was another suggestion from the Suzuki teacher I heard talk once. He suggested drawing a path on a small whiteboard, with the different practice tasks represented as obstacles or encounters along the path. Then a figure such as a dragon or a princess has to journey along to their destination (a cave or a castle for example).
There are probably many more ideas you can think of for incorporating the things your child likes or likes doing. I hope this has given you some ideas.
Monday 14 February 2011
Developing motivation
If you've ever had a brush with education or psychology you may have encountered the terms extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Put simply and according to my layperson's understanding, intrinsic motivation is that feeling or reasoning from within us that compels us to work at something. Extrinsic motivation is the name for the external factors that have the same result. So, you might want to do well in a test because of either the feeling of satisfaction that it gives you (intrinsic motivation) or because you might win a prize (extrinsic motivation). Generally speaking, most studies show that intrinsic motivation is a far more powerful and long-lasting motivator.
What does this mean in terms of your child's piano practice? Well, it means that all your encouragement, praise and rewards are not as strong a motivator for your child as you'd like them to be. While your child naturally values your attention and approbation, and enjoys the sweet at the end of practice, the effect of these will be short-lived. Given the choice between missing out on a sweet but getting to skip practice for once, your child may well choose the latter. In Amy Chu's book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother she recounts an incident where she threatened to give away her daughter's dollhouse to charity if she refused to practice. The girl calmly replied, "I thought you were going to the Salvation Army, why are you still here?". Tough kid!
In my previous post I discussed some ideas on how to tackle those off days when motivation is low. If your child is only motivated by your promptings and encouragement, these days will be even harder to deal with. Your child has already decided that he or she doesn't value those things highly today, or at least not as high as the opportunity to relax rather than play the piano. If your child has intrinsic motivators to battle the lethargy, though, the chances of winning that battle are greater.
Developing intrinsic motivation is a more difficult and a longer term project than the much easier offerings of praise, encouragement and reward that we routinely (hopefully) give our children in response to their efforts in life. To generate that desire to practice within your child takes a lot of thought and effort.
Self-image
One of our most powerful motivators is our sense of ourselves. We tend to behave in accordance with how we see ourselves. So if we believe we have no self-confidence, we won't act confidently. If we identify with gregarious personalities, we're more likely to be the life and soul of the party.
Similarly, if you subtly encourage your child to see themselves as pianists, this will help develop their intrinsic motivation to practise. Like all children, my son sometimes compares himself unfavourably with his peers in terms of achievement. At these times, I never miss the opportunity to remind him that none of his classmates have been learning to play the piano for three years!
Of course, you can go overboard with this and become tiresome, so it's important not to over-egg the pudding, but a well-placed comment at an opportune moment can be very effective.
Recording achievement
It's important to have record the evidence of your child's successes. While a parent's praise, if genuine, is always valuable, it's ephemeral and easily forgotten when faced with getting over that little hump of apathy. But a visible box of programmes from performances and dvds recording those special achievements - not just concerts but home performances, compositions, reviews, long records of practice etc. - gives a visual prompt that reminds your child of the pleasure and pride they have experienced previously.
If the box is always visible your child will cease to 'see' it as it will become over-familiar, but it would be a useful thing to bring out at times of low motivation.
A sense of belonging
One aspect of human nature is the desire to belong to a group, whether it be a family, a school, a profession, a company, or even the group of people who don't want to belong to groups! If you're lucky enough to have a musical family, some part of your child's motivation is inbuilt. Unless he or she wishes to reject the family for some reason, your child will have an intrinsic motivation to practise because that's part of your family's lifestyle.
If, like me, your family isn't musical, all is not lost. By following the careers of famous pianists, by watching their performances, interviews with them and documentaries on them, you can give your child a sense that they belong to this group of people who play the piano, that they are part of a great tradition.
Similarly, if you can contact the parents of other children who are learning the piano, either through your child's teacher or their school, it could be possible to form a group with these other children. By organising outings and other social events for them, both they and your child will develop a feeling of belonging to 'the group of children who are learning to play the piano'.
I've left the prospect of joining an orchestra until last because developing pianists are rarely invited to play their instrument in an orchestral setting in the early stages of their development. They would usually be invited to take on another percussion instrument, so it may be that joining an orchestra could be counter-productive in your efforts to develop your child's intrinsic motivation to play the piano.
I hope this has given you some ideas on how to reduce the occurrence of the 'I don't want to practise' days.
What does this mean in terms of your child's piano practice? Well, it means that all your encouragement, praise and rewards are not as strong a motivator for your child as you'd like them to be. While your child naturally values your attention and approbation, and enjoys the sweet at the end of practice, the effect of these will be short-lived. Given the choice between missing out on a sweet but getting to skip practice for once, your child may well choose the latter. In Amy Chu's book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother she recounts an incident where she threatened to give away her daughter's dollhouse to charity if she refused to practice. The girl calmly replied, "I thought you were going to the Salvation Army, why are you still here?". Tough kid!
In my previous post I discussed some ideas on how to tackle those off days when motivation is low. If your child is only motivated by your promptings and encouragement, these days will be even harder to deal with. Your child has already decided that he or she doesn't value those things highly today, or at least not as high as the opportunity to relax rather than play the piano. If your child has intrinsic motivators to battle the lethargy, though, the chances of winning that battle are greater.
Developing intrinsic motivation is a more difficult and a longer term project than the much easier offerings of praise, encouragement and reward that we routinely (hopefully) give our children in response to their efforts in life. To generate that desire to practice within your child takes a lot of thought and effort.
Self-image
One of our most powerful motivators is our sense of ourselves. We tend to behave in accordance with how we see ourselves. So if we believe we have no self-confidence, we won't act confidently. If we identify with gregarious personalities, we're more likely to be the life and soul of the party.
Similarly, if you subtly encourage your child to see themselves as pianists, this will help develop their intrinsic motivation to practise. Like all children, my son sometimes compares himself unfavourably with his peers in terms of achievement. At these times, I never miss the opportunity to remind him that none of his classmates have been learning to play the piano for three years!
Of course, you can go overboard with this and become tiresome, so it's important not to over-egg the pudding, but a well-placed comment at an opportune moment can be very effective.
Recording achievement
It's important to have record the evidence of your child's successes. While a parent's praise, if genuine, is always valuable, it's ephemeral and easily forgotten when faced with getting over that little hump of apathy. But a visible box of programmes from performances and dvds recording those special achievements - not just concerts but home performances, compositions, reviews, long records of practice etc. - gives a visual prompt that reminds your child of the pleasure and pride they have experienced previously.
If the box is always visible your child will cease to 'see' it as it will become over-familiar, but it would be a useful thing to bring out at times of low motivation.
A sense of belonging
One aspect of human nature is the desire to belong to a group, whether it be a family, a school, a profession, a company, or even the group of people who don't want to belong to groups! If you're lucky enough to have a musical family, some part of your child's motivation is inbuilt. Unless he or she wishes to reject the family for some reason, your child will have an intrinsic motivation to practise because that's part of your family's lifestyle.
If, like me, your family isn't musical, all is not lost. By following the careers of famous pianists, by watching their performances, interviews with them and documentaries on them, you can give your child a sense that they belong to this group of people who play the piano, that they are part of a great tradition.
Similarly, if you can contact the parents of other children who are learning the piano, either through your child's teacher or their school, it could be possible to form a group with these other children. By organising outings and other social events for them, both they and your child will develop a feeling of belonging to 'the group of children who are learning to play the piano'.
I've left the prospect of joining an orchestra until last because developing pianists are rarely invited to play their instrument in an orchestral setting in the early stages of their development. They would usually be invited to take on another percussion instrument, so it may be that joining an orchestra could be counter-productive in your efforts to develop your child's intrinsic motivation to play the piano.
I hope this has given you some ideas on how to reduce the occurrence of the 'I don't want to practise' days.
Tuesday 1 February 2011
Coping with bad moods
Ideally, in order to play well and have tangible evidence of progress, children should practise playing their instrument every day. In my previous post I talked about how setting up good habits can help with this. One thing that regularly interferes with our best intentions is the 'I just don't feel like it' day. You know, the day when you cheat on your diet, just can't make that jog before breakfast, or you have to have a drink or a cigarette to get you through.
Unsurprisingly, children have these days too (though hopefully they don't light up to deal with them). Maybe their best friend has fallen out with them, or the teacher has reprimanded them for something they didn't do, and suddenly it all becomes too much and all they want to do is play a video game to take their minds off it all.
These days can be hard to deal with. Despite all the work you've put in in supporting your child, all the driving to and from lessons and performances and all the money you've paid out for instruments, books and tuition, you're faced with a surly youngster who refuses to budge off the couch. "But I don't feel like it!" "I just want to miss one day, I promise I'll do extra tomorrow!" "You always make me practice when I don't want to. It's not fair!" Every parent of a child learning to play an instrument will have heard these words or a variation of them more than once over the years.
The thing to remember when faced with this situation is that a child in a bad mood is an argument waiting to happen. Your approach needs to be one that avoids that argument at all costs. Why? Perhaps you believe your child is being lazy, self-indulgent or spoiled. Perhaps they are. We all are sometimes, aren't we? But now is not the time to be having that discussion. This is the time for practice and you do not want the subject of the conversation to be diverted into general complaints.
Another reason for avoiding an argument is because you don't want your child to associate practice time with feelings of unhappiness and discord within its family. You also don't want your child to feel that practice is something they are bullied into doing against their will and nor do you want to set up the habit of a ritual argument before each session.
So, how to overcome the 'I don't feel like it' days?
Another way of tackling the days when motivation is low is to work hard to encourage high levels of motivation generally. This will be the subject of my next blog.
Unsurprisingly, children have these days too (though hopefully they don't light up to deal with them). Maybe their best friend has fallen out with them, or the teacher has reprimanded them for something they didn't do, and suddenly it all becomes too much and all they want to do is play a video game to take their minds off it all.
These days can be hard to deal with. Despite all the work you've put in in supporting your child, all the driving to and from lessons and performances and all the money you've paid out for instruments, books and tuition, you're faced with a surly youngster who refuses to budge off the couch. "But I don't feel like it!" "I just want to miss one day, I promise I'll do extra tomorrow!" "You always make me practice when I don't want to. It's not fair!" Every parent of a child learning to play an instrument will have heard these words or a variation of them more than once over the years.
The thing to remember when faced with this situation is that a child in a bad mood is an argument waiting to happen. Your approach needs to be one that avoids that argument at all costs. Why? Perhaps you believe your child is being lazy, self-indulgent or spoiled. Perhaps they are. We all are sometimes, aren't we? But now is not the time to be having that discussion. This is the time for practice and you do not want the subject of the conversation to be diverted into general complaints.
Another reason for avoiding an argument is because you don't want your child to associate practice time with feelings of unhappiness and discord within its family. You also don't want your child to feel that practice is something they are bullied into doing against their will and nor do you want to set up the habit of a ritual argument before each session.
So, how to overcome the 'I don't feel like it' days?
- Stay calm. It takes two to make an argument. This means don't raise your voice, and think about the language you're using and the speed of your speech. It's important not to accuse, berate or blame, and not to interrupt or talk over your child. Doing any of these things is likely to escalate a discussion into an argument. That isn't to say that your child may not do any of these things, but you're the adult here.
- Have positive expectations. Sometimes a child will be signalling to you that they're going to put up a fuss about practising by pointedly lounging around very far from their instrument. However human beings, and especially children, are very suggestible. If you ignore their signals and maintain the attitude that practise is going to happen they will often go along with you with very little prompting. If, instead, you rise to the bait and start wheedling or cajoling then you've already acknowledged 'sides' in a dispute.
- Ignore. A child who has set himself up for a battle of wills is like a ship with the wind taken out of its sails if he gets ignored. If he isn't getting ready for practise, go and do something else until he is ready. (He isn't allowed to turn on the TV or start up a video game, though, as they aren't allowed before practice are they?) If you have set up good habits, your child will feel out of sorts until his normal routine is re-established.
- Be reasonable. If your child really has had a bad day or is feeling ill, it's important to acknowledge their feelings. Practising is not more important than attending to a genuine headache or a bruised ego. A cuddle, a chat and a compromise will leave your child feeling valued, cared for and in some control of his learning. My son and I have decided to shorten his practice on occasion, or to just get started and see how he feels after 15 minutes, or just to do his 'favourite' parts.
Another way of tackling the days when motivation is low is to work hard to encourage high levels of motivation generally. This will be the subject of my next blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)