26Sep 2016 by Shelly Davis

Students sometimes feel even their practice should be perfect. They need to be encouraged to keep trying and work through mistakes.

Kids are often surprised to learn that their parents don’t know something…until they become teenagers, and then they don’t think their parents know anything.

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Ted Talk “The First 20 Hours”

Josh Kaufman’s Book: The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything . . . Fast!

Josh Kaufman’s website

Episode Highlights:

Four Main Points from Kaufman’s talk:

Deconstruct the skill – (Episode 008)
Learn enough to self correct
Remove practice barriers – (Episode 001)
Practice at least 20 hours – 45 minutes per day for a month

Let your kid see you deal with the “frustration barrier”.

Play a video game with your kid.

My daughter is fluent in Minecraft – I am not.

Wii Sports levels the playing field between kids and parents.

Mario Cart is the fast track to my own frustration level!

How do you deal with frustration?

Do you throw things or spew negative talk?

Do you give up too quickly?

Do you pause, take a deep breath, and try again – from a different angle?

Do you see these same reactions in your kids?

Students sometimes think their PRACTICE is supposed to be perfect and mistake free. As a parent, it is your job to encourage them to keep working at it and remind them that playing the piano is a gradual process. They should expect their fingers to play wrong notes and figure out how to get to the correct notes.

Parents and piano teachers are using the medium of piano to teach children many life skills such a perseverance, time management, discipline, and respect for themselves and others.

Piano playing is not brain surgery; our mistakes are not a matter of life or death!

What is something you’ve learned recently? I’d love to hear about it in a comment below 🙂