Parents: Thank you to all the parents who continue to support routine practice habits with their children. Encouraging your children to practice will enhance your child's musical growth and progress, as well as create a great sense of motivation. If you have questions as to how long your child should be practicing, please contact me, and we can discuss a sufficient amount of time for them. With your help, together we can make piano lessons a wonderful and rewarding opportunity for your child.

Students: Do you sometimes find that you are so busy that there just is not enough time to practice every day? With everything from school and homework to sports and after school activities, your schedule may be very full. But, you know that it is extremely important to play every single day! This is because your brain and fingers will learn the music much better with even a short daily practice rather than a long one a few times a week.

Mark off on the calendar or a chart the days that you practice. Try not to miss a single day! Even on days when you are sick or have a lesson, practice at least for a few minutes. See how many days in a row you can practice. Even if you think you are too busy, you can always make some time before soccer practice, after dinner, or before breakfast!

"Have fun with piano lessons?!"

Some of you are thinking, "get real!" Well, I am! Your lessons can be a blast, if you get it together yourself. First, give yourself lots of time to practice and spread it evenly over the week. Your lesson is gonna be a bummer for you and me if you decide to get ready for your lesson the day before (let alone the hour before!). If you've had a lousy week and didn't practice much, it's going to show in your playing, so it's best to be up-front with your parents and me about it.

When you come to your lesson, just do the best you can and be sure to listen to my advice, even if you'd rather be watching TV. Trust me, I will appreciate a good attitude! If something I show you seems really hard, don't get worried. Chances are other kids have trouble with the same things and that you, like them, can do it if you watch and listen closely. Of course, then don't forget to practice it a lot at home! If you don't understand something, I will be really impressed if you just ask good questions and I will do my best to make sure that I answer all of them!

Let your imagination have fun with the pieces you're playing. If you want to, go ahead and make up a story or poem, or maybe even draw a picture about what the piece says to you. Sometimes the title of the piece can be a place to start with creating a story or picture. If not, it's cool to come up with another idea of what you think the music is about. That's what's so neat about music; it never means exactly the same thing to everyone - and shouldn't! We can all have our own ideas and thoughts about it, and use the music to share these thoughts and ideas with other people.

And remember. . . Piano lessons should be fun!!

Some additional pointers:

1. Start practicing as soon as possible after the lesson. A lot is forgotten if there is a lapse of a couple days before practicing.

2. Spend time practicing every day, not just a day or two before the lesson!

3. Practice slowly at first, gradually increasing the tempo during the week. (A metronome may be helpful.)

4. Emphasize quality and accuracy of practice. Work towards playing a section without any errors.

5. Split the song into short sections. Occasionally alternate your practice by beginning at the last section of the piece, then do the next to the last section, and so on until you have reached the beginning.

6. Think 10 times and play once!

7. Always think of the rhythm and meter before starting to play any song.

8. Tape record yourself! Recording will help detect any dangerous parts.

9. Try the oh - so - popular "5 times in a row mistake-free method" that we do during lessons. If you make a mistake, hesitate or feel uncomfortable with any part of a song, practice until you can play it 5 times in a row mistake-free! When two sections have been practiced this way, they should be joined and given 3 repetitions as a whole! Ultimately all the sections should be fitted together in this way.

10. Last but not least, don't forget the "bumpy rhythm". It's the magic trick that helps iron out any problem spots. :-)

Remember to make your practice more effective,
it is better to emphasize what is accomplished during practice, rather that the length of time.