Notes on Practicing at Home
a skill, not a subject
This is an important distinction. Learning an instrument is not like learning a school subject, like history or geography. Subjects can and should be taught and “put to rest” for a while. The reading, hearing, and playing of music, however, are skills—very much like language—which require daily practice in order to become abilities. Can you imagine trying to learn language with only one hour of exposure per week? It’s simply impossible, and the same is true for playing an instrument. Without some level of consistent exposure and practice, piano lessons don’t make much sense. Because instead of being a source of positivity and excitement in the student’s life, lessons will result in discouragement, an outcome I’d like to avoid. The student’s healthy emotional and intellectual development is the primary concern.
guided study
All young children need some level of supervision when practicing outside of lessons—how much usually depends on their age. For very young students just starting out (ages 5-7), parents are required to be present at lessons, learning with the student so that they can help with practice at home. Enthusiasm, constant encouragement, and positivity from the parent is absolutely essential for this age range. Imagine how parents coo over their babies’ first words and phrases when they are learning language—the same needs to happen for music “words” and “phrases.” Children are seeking approval in almost everything they do and we must give it to them, while also gently guiding them towards proficiency (just as we did with language!). For this age, about 10 minutes daily should suffice, which should gradually increase as the material gets more complicated. If a day is missed here and there, it’s okay. But ideally, little fingers should get into the habit of touching the keys almost every day of the week.
For ages 8 to 12, I encourage parents to observe lessons, to see what we are working on in order to gently guide at-home practice. Rare is the student who can self-regulate their practice until they reach a certain age and expertise. But in this age range, students may wish to be more independent. It is still important for parents to check in on practicing to make sure it is both effective and happening. We will discuss in our lessons how much time is likely necessary, but usually between 10 and 30 minutes daily.
For older students, practice is agreed upon between teacher and student in the lesson and should be generally self-regulated, and lack of practice is usually based out of a lack of desire, in which case, it should be determined if piano lessons are worth the investment.
age matters
The chances for a good relationship to the piano are much higher when the more parents are involved—up until a point. Parents’ presence in lessons tends to lose its usefulness when the student reaches teenage years, particularly high school, when young people understandably develop a very strong sense of self and wish to establish themselves as intellectually independent beings. At that point, decisions about how to spend time outside of school become a battle of wills, and piano lessons (as something once prescribed by the parent) may seem to lose their appeal.
As a teacher, what I can do is create the circumstances for creative discovery at the piano, which I hope will fuel motivation for practicing at home. But one thing I cannot do is force another person’s interest. This can be a difficult conversation to have. As parents, we don’t want to encourage “quitting,” or risk our child having regrets later on about abandoning a skill too soon. On the other hand, forcing an adversarial relationship to the piano at this sensitive time in life may be doing more harm than good.
work smart, not hard
The type of practice you do matters. Students should prioritize intentional practice at the piano. Passing by the piano on the way to the kitchen to grab a snack and nonchalantly playing through a passage from a song we’re working on is not practice—in fact, approaching practice this way as a habit is more harmful than helpful! Teaching children to be intentional about how they approach their practice is itself a skill that will help them in every facet of their lives as they get older. The goal is to help reinforce positive habits in the mind of the student.
The transition from lesson to at-home practice a very important feedback loop: As a teacher, it is up to me to set expectations, clearly explain how practice should happen, and be sure to assign an achievable amount of work each single week. The student’s job is simply to take this and give it their best try each week. If what I’m assigning isn’t clear, then I know I need to make adjustments. But I can’t know how to improve, if the effort is not made at home.
life happens
I understand life happens and modern families can be very busy—there may be a week here and there where practice was very light. If this happens every now and then, please just communicate, we can still find things to work on. If it’s become a consistent issue, however, you will want to reconsider whether this is the right time for piano lessons. Signing up for piano lessons when the student’s schedule does not permit time for at-home practice does not set students up for success. It’s important that we be on the same page about the kind of commitment you are making!