Be Positive when Teaching Young Children to Play the Piano
The Animal Notes came into being to help take part of the frustration of learning to play the piano out of young children’s lessons. They help more than words can ever express, but note reading is not the only frustration found in learning to play the piano. Every lesson there are so many corrections and “NOs” that the child must hear. It is so easy for them to get discouraged and negative about the challenge they are facing. Because of this I encourage you with all of my heart to be positive with them.
How can a person be positive yet give the necessary corrections needed to develop the good techniques required to become a confident and skilled musician. Every individual is capable of achieving this worthy goal when music is approached with positivism.
In the next few weeks I want to share with you some of the ideas and techniques I have found so very helpful with my students in the 39 years I have been teaching. Hopefully you will find a few of these ideas useful to you as well.
For today I want to stress, that regardless of how rough a lesson goes there are always some simple positive words that can be given to your young student. I like calling these comments “warm fuzzys.” It might be as simple as, “I appreciate how hard you tried today,” or “I know you had a tough lesson today, but you stayed with it and that is so important, I am proud of you.” These are simple word, but when given with sincerity the child goes from his/her lesson with a good feeling, not “This is too hard, I don’t want to do it.” A sincere smile and possible a farewell hug from you is a real bonus.
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