Help! My child enjoys piano lessons but doesn't want to practice at home. 

I totally get it! I was a student -once upon a time.  I remember going through phases when piano wasn't as important to me as other times.  But thankfully, I didn't give up before reading and playing music became more automatic. 

I understand that the first five or so years (give or take a few years) is all about learning to read music and mastering the fundamentals and it can be very challenging at times.  But it is the most important time to put in the time and effort. So how do we help your children push through this phase?  (I say "we" because we are in this together!)

First is the "why". All motivation stems from that little word: "Why". Why did they want to learn to play the piano in the first place? The desire to practice is directly related to the answer to this question.  

Now that we know why, we need to know what the goal is.  Are we just hoping to provide  a little brain activity 30 minutes a week or are we going for virtuosity? It's probably somewhere in between.  

Now that we know what we are trying to accomplish we need to know what it takes.  This will vary depending on the answer to the previous question. If we are just hoping for a little brain activity from piano lessons then the "how" looks very different than the goal to be a virtuoso.  The amount of time and practice necessary is directly related to this question. It's simple really.  The more we practice, the quicker and better we get at something. Unfortunately, there isn't a shortcut. If a student doesn't practice at all during the week then they are EXACTL Y where they were the previous week, which is fine if you're only looking to stimulate the brain for 30 minutes every week. Anything above that level, requires practice of at least 10-15 per day for young students and 20-30 minutes per day for older students (4-5 days a week).

Now that we know how much practice is necessary, let's figure out when.  I have students tell me every week that they didn't have time to practice. Not even 5 minutes! Poor things are running themselves ragged!   I decided to investigate.  I pulled out my paper and wrote down 24.  I subtracted 10 hours for sleep.  I subtracted 7 hours for school and subtracted an hour for  necessities and chores. I subtracted  here and there for various activities on specific days. Then I  wrote the days of the week on the paper. I wrote down: Before School, After School and After Dinner.  I had my student tell me each day in the upcoming week when they could practice at least 10-15 minutes. Some days they really couldn't practice. But more often than not, they had plenty of time to practice. They had to cut down on the video games or TV a bit but that never hurt anybody.  When we create a schedule on paper it helps us sort through the excuses in our minds. 

Now that we know when to practice, we need to know how to make it consistent.  It's all about brushing your teeth.  How long did it take before your kids remembered to brush their teeth without you telling them to?  Not there yet? I get it. That means they need you to tell them to practice. If they automatically brush their teeth every day, then they have developed the habit.  Hooray!  How do we develop habits? We consistently repeat the activity until we just do it without any excuses to distract us.  How do you feel when you don't brush your teeth for a couple of days. (I hope you don't know the answer to this question).  You probably don't feel very good about yourself, maybe like you've lost some control?  How do you feel if you consistently brush your teeth everyday? You probably don't even notice because it's so ingrained in you.  That's when the magic happens!  

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