09/05/2022
Joanna Garcia has put into words what I try to tell all my piano parents!
I was at a course on Saturday, and one teacher said sometimes his studentsā parents felt like their children werenāt getting āproperā homework, and they couldnāt help them, unless it was a ārealā written down piece of music.
So I was thinking: what would be five points Iād *really* like my studentsā parents to know about practice?
š„ When teachers set listening as a homework, itās not just something to gloss over. Itās not just an āadd-onā, particularly where rote pieces (ie learnt by pattern, sound, focus on colour and technique etc) is concerned. Itās FUNDAMENTALLY important. Likeā¦.imagine your school sending your child home with a reading book in English, but theyād never heard English spoken at home? If your child is going to be studying a rote piece, itās terribly, terribly difficult for them to learn it if they havenāt spent days being absorbed in listening to it.
š„ Practising the piano isnāt playing through pieces. Itās working on technique; improving dynamics; working on small, small sections to learn them, internalise them, get them better. One of the best practice methods, even when a piece has been learnt, is slow practice. Ah yes - and getting your child to audio record themselves playing and listen back can be a very useful learning experience for them!!
š„ When you want your child to play āsomething they knowā, you hear a piece of music you like. We see a score with notes not yet learnt, rhythm patterns never experienced, five part chords when the student is still learning to coordinate two hands, extended hand positions that the child has never experienced and will detrimentally affect their developing hand alignment; in short, a bunch of new learning concepts that would cause cognitive overload and overwhelm. Trust your teacher to have the pedagogical experience to provide the next little rung in the learning ladder that ensures maximal progress. Then, the student wonāt even need a teacher to show them; theyāll be able to learn independently!
š„ Learning the piano is NOT just about learning to read music. Notation is only one part, and is just a graphic representation of sound that the student learns to read *for themselves* with guidance. So practice assignments are likely to involve lots of different aspects of learning, all equally important.
š„ When your child turns up at their lesson saying theyāve not practised because theyāve got a new hamster/ had their piano under the decorating sheets / been out with Auntie Marjorie all week at the haggis festivalā¦. just know that your piano teacher is silently weeping inside / having a mental breakdown / planning to set up a pet shop in Milton Keynes / wondering if one bottle of red w**e will suffice with dinner.
