• When lessons first begin, make it clear that music lessons are a long-term process. Avoid saying, “we’re going to try it” or “we’ll see how it goes after a month” or “I’m not sure how long she’ll stick with it.” Music is a language. Parents don’t give up on a child when she has difficulty speaking and ask if she wants to quit talking! Music lessons will have their difficulties, but with great communication among the teacher, parent and student, everyone will work through those together.
• Every child learns at a different pace, so please refrain from comparing your child to another. All music students have something special to give; going through a book more quickly than another is meaningless in the long term.
• Take some time to contemplate how you can best help your child. When do you dive in supportively? When do you encourage? When do you withdraw and give your child space? Be sensitive to this. Whether you have any knowledge about music is not the point here.
• Stress and reward the quality, not quantity, of practice time.
• “Music comes to the child more naturally when there is music in his mother’s speaking voice,” said Shinichi Suzuki. So be pleasant and encouraging about your child’s practicing. Naturally, there will be occasions when you will need to be firm. But remember with “music in your voice,” coach her, guide her, but don’t police her. Having the attitude that the child gets to practice rather than having to practice can make a huge difference. It is an honor to get to practice! It is not a chore to add to the chore chart next to other dreaded responsibilities.

• When you help your child, be at her side -- not at the other end of the room or in the next room. Teach her to treat the practice session with the same respect he gives to his lesson.
• During a crisis, always talk it out with your child in an atmosphere of mutual respect. If the issue is serious, you may need to discuss it with the teacher first. Allow your child to participate in the final decision so he feels that his voice has been heard. Teach her to interact constructively in group decision making.
• A sense of humor is a powerful tool with which to resolve disagreements about practicing. Be patient, and try the ideas in the book To Learn With Love by Constance Starr.
• Always let your child feel you are proud of her achievements, even when they are small. Music lessons can be difficult at times, so celebrate every achievement! Then, and only then, get to work on the other things needing focus.
• Help your child to be able to listen to the Suzuki CD every day, and help your child to play the piano or sing every day that she eats!

• Never belittle your child’s efforts.
• Avoid making excuses in front of your teacher for not practicing, especially with young children. Since adults run the schedule of young children who cannot practice on their own, it is up to the parent to set aside that time. Privately discuss any practicing issues so that the teacher may help with them.
• Don’t despair at temporary lapses in practice. Your child will make progress in the lesson itself, although less rapidly. There may be what the teacher calls “practicing lessons” if your child has not practiced. You can read more at SaraMarieBrenner.com about the teacher’s perspective on practicing, and her patience when there is a lack of practice.
• Don’t threaten to stop her lessons if she doesn’t practice. Threats can work during periods of high motivation in music but may do the opposite during a “growing pain” period. The day may come when she will remind you of your threat and insist that you make good on it. In addition, we want to focus on positive reinforcement since the negative rarely works correctly.
• Don’t criticize your child in the presence of others, especially the teacher. The teacher focuses on building up a good relationship with your child, and your child’s loss of face with the teacher will tend to undermine this. Definitely speak with the teacher any time there is a problem.

• Refrain from correcting or teaching your child during the lesson. During the lesson, the teacher is working on the relationship with the child and knows what is coming next. Something may not be mentioned that needs to be fixed because there is something else coming up in that lesson. And, if the teacher disagrees with what you’re doing, you’re putting the teacher in a place of either letting it go and having something incorrect taught to the child, or correcting you in front of the child. Both can be very difficult situations, so please help the teacher not be in that spot by simply refraining from teaching your child during the music lesson.
• Your financial investment in your child’s music lessons pays its dividends through the skills he acquires over the years, not by the amount of his daily practice, nor in how much he plays for you or your guests. Remember you are giving your child a music education for his artistic use, for his self- expression, and for his pleasure. Don’t expect a child to be grateful for your sacrifices. Her gratitude will come years later when she can play and enjoy music as an adult.

• Arrive on time for all lessons. Attend all lessons.
• Always bring all materials, including assignment notebook. For most students, this works best by having a bag specifically set aside for piano books. Students, not parents, should pack their bags the day of or day before lessons.
• Keep your home instrument in good working order. If you don’t have an acoustic piano, get one or begin budgeting for one now. If you do, have it tuned twice per year by a reputable technician.
• Schedule a regular practice time, and hold your child accountable to that time. Practicing should be a routine (like chores / brushing teeth / etc.), not a constant battle. Many students thrive by practicing in the morning before school. If your child’s practice time doesn’t seem to be working, consider why -­‐ is he hungry? tired? -­‐ and try another time of day. Remember that one of our jobs as parents is to help our children form healthy habits. It may take 2-­‐3 weeks of consistent reminders to form a new practice habit.
• Check in with your child’s practice. This doesn’t mean you must practice with her. Simply ask her a couple of times throughout the week, “Are you reading your notebook?” or “What does your notebook say about that piece?” or “How does Miss Janna want you to practice that?” One parent said she noticed a marked improvement when she asked her son to read his notebook assignment out loud as he went through it. Check in with your child about the big picture. “Do you feel prepared each week?” “Do you feel that you are making progress in piano?”

• Sit in on your child’s lesson once per semester to see how things are going. Check in regularly with your child’s teacher to keep in touch. If you have a repertoire suggestion, by all means offer it. If you notice your child particularly enjoying some part of piano, by all means share!
• Offer positive feedback on your child’s practicing when you hear improvement. Rather than criticizing mistakes, try asking questions like, “Do you think slow practice would help on that section?” Remember that most practice sessions won't sound like a concert. Students will often need to repeat small sections of music to get better at them. You may be tired of hearing the same thing again and again. That’s ok.
• Avoid commenting on your distaste of a piece that is in progress. It’s hard to judge how wonderful a piece will sound when it’s brand new! Your child takes her cues from you and (in most cases) will not be motivated to play a piece about which you have been negative.
• Encourage your child to review old pieces frequently, and have your child perform regularly for you, grandparents, friends, relatives, etc. If you have older relatives living in a retirement facility that has a piano, ask if your child can play for them there -­‐ they usually love it!
• Use your video camera or audio recorder to have students watch themselves perform or practice. They might be surprised by what they hear! It’s also easy to share video of performances (at home or elsewhere) with friends and family out of town via YouTube or similar sites.
• Take your child to live musical performances of all genres. There is very little in this world that rivals good, live, musical performance. When at home, listen to Classical (and jazz and Broadway and other non-­‐pop genres of music) via the radio, CD’s, Pandora, Spotify, etc.

How to Get Your Kids to Practice Piano
by Robert

Estrin Robert is the son of a concert pianist, a performer of classical music on piano and French horn, a piano teacher and more.

Watch this seven minutes video about the subject.

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Things for you to keep in mind. Most important is learning to READ the notes. Keep the eyes on the music and away from the fingers and keys. It is never about how many minutes are practiced. Nor is it about how many repetitions are made. Instead focus on learning small bits, that measure that has a problem. First correct the problem and then repeat it correctly up to 7 times in a row. Then add a measure before, leading into the corrected measure, repeat that correctly a number of times, and add the measure following the previous two. Finally, add those three measures to an entire phrase to make sure that it is still correct. These are effective ways to learn. Use on ANY problem spot, on any instrument.