Congratulations to you and your child for embarking on this musical journey! It is a journey that I have loved passionately my whole life and am very excited to share with your child. In addition to living in the beauty of music, your child will also learn valuable life skills and experience profound neurological enhancements, including but not limited to self-confidence, teamwork, goal-setting, self-discipline, intrinsic motivation, problem solving, memory skills, self-expression, focus, abstract thinking, balance between the brain hemispheres and the ability to shift between and use both hemispheres simultaneously due to a stronger, thicker corpus callosum- a physical quality that indicates greater intelligence.
You may, or may not, have asked yourself whether your child “has what it takes” to do well in music. It has been my, and many other teachers, experience that the key ingredient to musical success for children is not “ innate ability”, or even “talent”. These very vague concepts, I believe, are inherent to all of us to greater or lesser degrees, and it is my job to help willing students to develop their own relationship to their own inborn ability for artistic expression. Neither is this key ingredient the ability to read and respond to musical notation, a skill that can be taught to most anyone. Don’t get me wrong. All of these factors are extremely helpful, but they are not crucial. What is crucial to your child’s success in music is support of music in the home. The importance of parental involvement and support can not be overestimated.
WHAT TO DO
These are some of the ways that you can give your child the best possible support:
- Encourage your child to play for family and friends in whatever way they are comfortable.
- Offer compliments and encouragement regularly.
- Expose your child to a wide variety of music. There are many inexpensive and free concerts at the music departments of our local colleges and elsewhere, as well as recordings on Youtube.
- Encourage your child to talk to you about their piano lessons.
- Make sure your child’s instrument is always in good working condition.
- Allow and encourage your child to play music other than their study pieces, to compose their own music and to improvise. Remind them to let me know what favorite songs they would like to learn.
- Listen to your child’s practice and acknowledge improvement.
- Help your child develop a personal music library.
- Help your child fit regular practice times into their schedule and provide gentle reminders to practice, especially in the beginning of taking music lessons.
- Encourage your child to make a 2-year commitment to piano lessons.
WHAT NOT TO DO
Your child’s progress will be greatly enhanced if you:
- Don’t use practice as a punishment.
- Don’t force your child to play for others if they don’t want to.
- Don’t ridicule or criticize your child when they make mistakes or when their playing is less-than-perfect. Even the most accomplished professional musicians make mistakes when they perform.
- Don’t apologize to others if your child’s performance was weak.
- Don’t start your child’s lessons with an instrument that is in poor working order or condition, or start lessons without having an instrument in the home.
- Don’t expect rapid progress or development in the beginning.
- Don’t express frustration when your child experiences inevitable learning plateaus.
If you have any questions or comments regarding these guidelines, or anything else for that matter, feel free to contact me.