01/14/2025
Candid and probably too long of a post, but wanted to share.
Parents, when was the last time your child sat at the piano to play ONLY for enjoyment? Nothing that was assigned to them but purely for the sake of playing for fun. If I were to answer this question about myself, I admit it’s been far too long. Probably 6 months or more. Of course, I haven’t been away from the piano and have still practiced but it wasn’t strictly for fun (even though practicing can be a blast too)!
It just hit me today how important it is to set aside time for the sole purpose of making music. It’s easy to lose the joy of playing music if we are only playing out of duty or habit. We lose that connection to why we were drawn to music or what about it we first loved. Thankfully, I hadn’t lost my joy but playing piano was starting to become a mundane task. That is not what it should be!
Tonight, I took out one of my grandmother’s piano books. One of my favorites is this one in the picture. Just playing it brought back memories of playing this in school, recitals, and even some harmless mischief (story for another time).
Parents, encourage your kids to have a practice day where they play nothing that I assigned to them! Instead use their practice time to play only pieces they have already mastered and love to play for fun. Ask them what their favorite pieces to play are. While preparing dinner, ask them to play only for fun for background music. Stay interested in what they’re playing.
Keep that musical fire burning! 🔥🎵