It’s Monday evening and your child has a piano lesson tomorrow. You didn’t get any practice in this week (or hardly any), but you still want to do what you can at this late hour to help your child have a good lesson tomorrow. Keeping in mind you don’t have much time left in the day, you look at their assignments (probably 5 or 6 different things) and decide to pick one piece to focus on. Rather than get into the details of the assignment, you ask your child to practice it once or twice before bed. At least you’ve done something before lesson day!!
Your instinct to help your child get ready for their lesson even though they didn’t have a good practice week is awesome! But let’s talk about the execution. If your child hasn’t thought about their pieces since their last lesson, just diving in and playing a piece without going through the details of the assignment isn’t likely to yield good results. In fact, they may even be reinforcing bad habits.
So, what do you do when you only have 15 minutes between dinner and bath time to practice the night before the lesson? Listen, listen, listen. Have your child listen to all their pieces. If you’re in my studio, you likely have multiple listening assignments on any given week, but they are usually not long. Practicing the piece at the piano is almost always Step Two of the assignment, not Step One. So, if you don’t have much time, just do Step One. On the couch! Or even in the car while driving to the lesson! Your child will come to their lesson with all their pieces fresh in their ear and mind, ready to learn!
Your instinct to help your child get ready for their lesson even though they didn’t have a good practice week is awesome! But let’s talk about the execution. If your child hasn’t thought about their pieces since their last lesson, just diving in and playing a piece without going through the details of the assignment isn’t likely to yield good results. In fact, they may even be reinforcing bad habits.
So, what do you do when you only have 15 minutes between dinner and bath time to practice the night before the lesson? Listen, listen, listen. Have your child listen to all their pieces. If you’re in my studio, you likely have multiple listening assignments on any given week, but they are usually not long. Practicing the piece at the piano is almost always Step Two of the assignment, not Step One. So, if you don’t have much time, just do Step One. On the couch! Or even in the car while driving to the lesson! Your child will come to their lesson with all their pieces fresh in their ear and mind, ready to learn!
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