Getting My Kid To Play Piano Music
I’ve been trying to get my young son Brian to play piano and learn some new songs and music. Playing piano is a great and subtle skill and one that takes many children years to master. It is both hard work and a labor of love to broaden my Brian’s horizons. It took a lot of careful thought to select the right piano instructor and get Brian to actually play. He is 9 and would rather play with his nintendo DS. I hope that Brian will be a good pianist some day soon I think he is talented. At the very least I hope he has fun. Here are some of my experiences and tricks I learned to get Brian to play and practice.
Praise your little maestro often. Children are very sensitive and Brian is no excepton. I would often listen to him play and look for genuine opportunities to compliment him. I felt it was important to praise my son often so that he could build up his confidence and enthusiasm for piano and become more involved with his music. Brian is shy though so I made sure not to compliment him in front of others because he would get embarrassed.
Another element that was important to Brian’s development was sitting down and listening to him play often. I made sure I was there as his mother and not his teacher, smiling, listening and enjoying his music and not handing out criticism or lessons. This helped Brian enjoy his time playing and relax.
I also gave Brian stars and other incentives for accomplishing certain skills while playing songs and his great music. Stars work great with some young children and Brian was very responsive to them. You can set up your star incentives anyway you want. I gave Brian a sticker for every time he sat down at the piano, every time he played a song and every time he played his notes perfectly for his song.