Piano Parents: The BEST Home Practice Assistants

Piano parents should be as equally committed to piano practice as their children. Parents don’t need to be remarkable musicians or know how to play the piano to help.  A parent’s main goal is to get their child to practice daily, and the best way to encourage daily practice is to be engaged with your child during home practice!

Regular practice is essential for musical proficiency. Children with engaged parents will benefit most from their investment in lessons.  To engage with children in a positive way, parents are assigned “tasks” to create a teamwork environment.  Nagging children about practice makes them miserable.  So how can you be the BEST Home Practice Assistant to your child??  Here are TEN awesome ideas!

1. The Practice Bouncer: This job requires parents to keep family pets, siblings, and friends out of the piano room. Even more importantly for older students, this job requires keeping cellphones quiet during practice sessions.

2. The Piano Piece Request Line: Parents can request children perform pieces they have enjoyed hearing from past recitals, which allows students to brush up on old skills and revisit old favorites.

3. The Lead Vocalist: After children learn their piece well, parents can sing along with lyrics while their child plays.  (Sing-alongs do not work when a song is first being learned.)

4. The YouTube Liaison: As students get older, parents can transition from an authoritative role to an assistant role.  One simple task is for parents to find quality YouTube performances of pieces their children are playing. It is useful for older piano players to hear quality performances of the pieces they are about to play.

5. The Janitor: If parents are looking for a simple task, getting the home piano practice space clean and organized before each practice session is helpful to children.

6. The Concert Promotor & Videographer:  Show off your children!  Encourage children to perform when friends and family visit, initiate FaceTime performances, or send videos to family and friends of your child performing. Videos can also provide the instructor valuable recordings that can be used to improve technique, posture, rhythm, and more.

7. The Sticker Giver: Piano parents can distribute stickers when they hear a piano piece or a technical exercise that was performed particularly well.

8. The Role Reversal: Let your child take the authoritative role and teach you something, like how to clap a rhythm, play a piano game, or perform a simple duet.

9. The Assignment Book Keeper: Piano parents can assist in reading the assignment book notes to keep practice sessions focused.  Parents can check off tasks on the assignment sheets and provide notes for the instructor. Parents can note difficulties and challenges for the instructor to focus on during the next lesson.

10. The Active Audience Member: Whether musical or not, piano parents can lend an ear as a piano practice audience member. Parents should only provide positive feedback as they listen to their children perform repertoire and exercises.

What are some other ideas parents can use to help their children practice at home??? We would love to hear your comments below!!

Contact The Music Studio of Noel Smith to register your child for piano lessons today!

Noel Smith

mrs.noel.smith@gmail.com

614-929-8512