A checklist for parents
A checklist for parents.
1) Create a home in which music is an essential part of daily life, in which a child is immersed in music and musical culture. Sing and dance with your children. They won’t care if you don’t have a beautiful voice, or agile feet. As a family, go to concerts, listen to recordings, and talk about what you hear. Children gain an intuitive knowledge of style by listening to great performances, and learn the profound and enormously varied expressive powers of music.
2) Constantly remind your child that the great performers they hear have had to work very hard. If a young child hears a very accomplished musician, they usually assume that the musician is simply talented and was born with the ability to play.
3) Emphasize the joy and satisfaction that result from becoming better at music. Children need support and encouragement in dealing with their struggles and frustrations..
3) Maintain a positive atmosphere around piano work. Practicing can be difficult even for children who love music. Helping parents and children work this out is one of the most important parts of my job, so please talk to me.
4) Help your child establish a daily routine for practicing. A post-it note is the perfect scheduling tool.
5) Be enthusiastic about your child’s accomplishments, even when they seem small. They are not small to your child, and every compliment you give not only adds to your child’s confidence, it shows him that you care enough to notice.
6) Give your child the belief that he can become not just a good, but a great pianist, if he is willing to work hard. The presence of at least one parent with a fundamentally irrational belief in the child’s potential seems to be a constant in the backgrounds of the best musicians.
7) Read the notebook, and help your child follow the instructions.
8) Be engaged in your child’s music but respect her ownership. Ask questions, support her efforts, give moral support.
9) Help me find music that engages your child. The reward children receive for all their hard work is the ability to play music they love.
10) Help your child structure and schedule his preparation for the monthly performance classes.
11) If your child is discouraged or unhappy with what’s happening in her music, let me know immediately. I try to get this information from students at their lessons, but if things aren’t going well, they usually are embarrassed and find it difficult to answer my questions. Parents need to help keep me informed.
12) Once your child has learned a piece, record it and listen to it together. This gives the child the sense of a concrete goal having been achieved.
Music isn’t just learning notes and playing them. You learn notes to play to the music of your soul. - Katie Greenwood.
