Before The Lesson Starts

All parents who have their children take piano lessons want those lessons to be a pleasant experience. In fact, I read on one teacher's website that one of the main hesitations parents felt about piano lessons was wondering if their child would enjoy it, or end up hating it. A very understandable concern! I hope it's clear that this is a concern I share as well, and that my goal is to make lessons a pleasant, fun experience for your children. But did you know, parents, that you can help your children look forward to piano lessons?

   The following five points are adapted from another post that can be found here.

 

1. Don’t Make Piano Lessons The Bad Guy: Try to avoid pulling your children away from another beloved activity, interrupting playdates, packing up from a picnic, leaving early from other extracurricular activities, and even abruptly turning off a favorite TV show. All of these situations cause children to feel as though they are missing out on something by attending piano lessons. If, however, piano lessons are the chosen activity for the day, they become the opportunity for fun and excitement.
2. Don’t “Rush and Cram”: Another thing to try to avoid is having children cram in a rushed practice session right before a piano lesson. Children won’t have adequate time for the practice session process, making their mistakes seem magnified under a ticking time-limit and causing stress. Children who haven’t already just spent 30 minutes at the piano at home are more focused students in lessons. Not that your children can't practice at home before lessons. Just not at the last minute before leaving for piano lessons. Please. 
3. Set Them Up For Success: Children who are well-rested and well-fed learn best. When possible, allow after-school time for their children to decompress, eat a healthy, protein-filled snack and receive one-on-one parental attention. Now, I know most of you are homeschool parents. This gives you the added benefit of knowing your child, really well. If you find your child is not relaxed before going to piano lessons, is there something you can change in your schedule to make the pre-lesson hour at home calmer? A physically, mentally and emotionally balanced child is a happy piano student.
4. Keep Up With Current Events: Before leaving for piano lessons, remind your children of all the fun things that will be happening in their lessons. To be able to accomplish this task, if you're not already sitting in on lessons, read your children’s lesson notes and weekly communications to gain insight into studio activities.
5. Address Unrelated Anxieties: Unaddressed anxiety can be debilitating for a child and confusing for an uninformed teacher. If your children experience separation anxiety, school-based stress, or family-related challenges, it is important that these issues are addressed prior to a piano lesson. Bringing calm and clear children to the studio is essential for musical development. And, if calm and clear children are not always a possibility, please do let me know of problems and challenges so support and understanding is easier to provide.