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From: carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: How do I get my 6 yr old to practice piano
Message-ID: <188@gargoyle.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Sep-85 20:32:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: gargoyle.188
Posted: Fri Sep 13 20:32:23 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Sep-85 17:26:53 EDT
Reply-To: carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes)
Organization: U. of Chicago, Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 43

Scott Brim's suggestions are very good.  Here are some more:

I think that a 6-year-old shouldn't be expected to practice for more
than 15 minutes at the most at one sitting, and perhaps for no more
than 10 minutes.  Longer sessions tend to be experienced as
imprisonment.  You can increase the periods as they get older.

There should be two or three regular practice sessions a day:  you
can start with 30 minutes a day total and work up to an hour, a good
goal for children studying piano.  The worst time to expect a kid to
practice is right after he or she gets home from school.  Practicing
is very hard work, or should be, and requires concentration and
energy.  Put a snack (that won't destroy the instrument, e.g.
raisins) on top of the piano so your kid can nibble. 

One of the main reasons that both children and adults often don't
practice is that it is a lonely activity.  You can help by being in
the vicinity and making encouraging noises from time to time.  Don't
say, "You made a mistake -- play that over."  Of course, it gets
pretty frustrating to hear the same mistake 35 times in a row, but if
you correct the child, make sure your kid doesn't feel put down and
lose confidence in his ability to figure things out for himself.  Ask
the teacher's advice about how you should comment on the child's
playing at home.  

If the teacher doesn't have any intelligent advice to offer about
getting a kid to practice, then you should find another teacher.
Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that any old teacher is
good enough for a beginner.  But actually this is the most important
stage, and an experienced and skillful teacher is well worth the
extra money, as long as they know how to teach kids -- which is a
very different matter from teaching college students.  I was very
fortunate in my first teacher, so that playing the piano is now 
second nature to me.  

There is a book that I like, *Your Child and the Piano* by Margaret
Grant, so you might want to look for that.  For a young child, be
happy if he or she learns that music is enjoyable and rewarding --
that's the main goal at this stage.  The great artists are the ones
for whom music-making is a joyful activity and who couldn't live
without music.

Richard Carnes, ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes