26Sep 2016 by Shelly Davis

Episode 009: Let Your Child Watch You Learn Something New

Communication, Practicing and Motivation
[caption id="attachment_124" align="alignnone" width="960"] Students sometimes feel even their practice should be perfect. They need to be encouraged to keep trying and work through mistakes.[/caption] 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.  (more…)
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05Sep 2016 by Shelly Davis

Episode 006: Progress is Not Always a Straight Line

Podcast, Practicing and Motivation
[caption id="attachment_96" align="alignnone" width="652"] Listen to the full episode here Episode Highlights: Sometimes it seems like no progress is being made in lessons. Keep an audio record of your child's piano playing to compare musical maturity Let them listen: to critique their own performance and to realize how they have improved over the course of time Intermingle easier pieces Students face a new challenging piece as soon as they complete the current one.  This can be frustrating. Allow students to play an easier piece before jumping to the next challenge if they are feeling pressured or frustrated. In my studio, students are assigned a "for sure" piece and a "bonus" piece. This gives them a second piece of equal difficulty to the assigned piece they may choose to study or not.…
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