To Thread - Forum Home

The Mudcat Café TM
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=29426
22 messages

Rachel

10 Jan 01 - 05:40 AM (#372077)
Subject: Rachel
From: GUEST

I am having a difficult time to make my piano student study daily. How can I convince her that studying is important and make her practice every day?
Message posted on January 11, same person, different thread, same thread name:
Subject: The importance of practice
From: GUEST,Rachel
Date: 11-Jan-01 - 12:33 PM

How can I convince and make a student to study the piano daily? My student does not practice daily no matter what I say. What shall I do?
-Joe Offer-


10 Jan 01 - 05:56 AM (#372081)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Zebedee

Try hitting her, keeping her in the cellar and not giving here any food...

You can't. Playing music is for people who want to play it. Forcing in on anyone will only cause resentment

btw it's practise

Ed


10 Jan 01 - 07:31 AM (#372101)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: manitas_at_work

No, Guest is correct it is 'practice' 'tho the Merriam-Webster online dictionary gives 'practise' as an acceptable variant.


10 Jan 01 - 07:43 AM (#372103)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Naemanson

I hated music when my mother forced me into piano lessons. Now I mourn the fact that I resisted. There is so much I wish I had learned as a child.

But you cannot force the issue. You need to teach in such a way as to make the discovery of music a joy and a pleasure. Not easy but better than forcing music on someone.


10 Jan 01 - 07:44 AM (#372104)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: GUEST,Sarah at work

Well, the spelling depends on whether Guest is in the UK of the US.

Sam Johnson was given a double dose of sorts for the letters S and U, but the molds for the Cs and Zeds broke, so Johnson gave it up and used the S for most of whatever he might have otherwise spelled with a C or Zed, and tossed an extra U in, hither and yon, for the fun of it.

Meanwhile, the fellow making sorts for Webster ran amuck with Cs and Zs, causing an overflow in the US. Webster had his own kind of fun with that.

Whaddya mean, theory? I'm so old, I WAS THERE!

Give each other a break...

Sarah


10 Jan 01 - 07:44 AM (#372107)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: GUEST,Sarah at work

BTW, Guest, have you tried asking your student what song or piece SHE'd like to learn?

Sarah


10 Jan 01 - 09:09 AM (#372119)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: GUEST,Russ

I agree with Sarah at work.

This is a little vague, but if you are very lucky, your student will be studying piano so she can duplicate a sound she's heard. Ask her what she wants to play and take her answer seriously. Make that sound your shared goal and make sure she can see that the two of you are moving in that direction with your lessons. For example, if she wants to sound like Elton John, work out a simple arrangement of "Candle in the Wind" or whatever and start working on it.

If you are not lucky, your student will be studying piano for some other reason. Unfortunately, you, as the teacher, have minimal (actually no) control over your student's daily life. It is really up to the parents to get the job done, so you need to get the parents into the loop. If they're not willing to help you and do what it takes, there's no hope.


10 Jan 01 - 09:15 AM (#372122)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: McGrath of Harlow

The rule with spelling in the UK (and I believe in most countries where they speak English) is that its C in a noun and S in a verb - so you give advice , but advise someone; or your practice is to practise regularly and so on. Advise is the one to remembber, because you pronounce it differently.)

The best way to make kids learn to play an instrument is to have someone try to forbid them. "I'm not having any son of mine play the violin!"


10 Jan 01 - 09:52 AM (#372140)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Grab

How old is she?


10 Jan 01 - 06:07 PM (#372464)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: mousethief

Cool rule, McG, but I have a couple of questions:

Do police polise an area?
Do mice mise?
Does a poultice poultise a wound? Or a doctor poultise the wound with a poultice?
Is the product of revising a revicion?

It's hard for me to understand just how far to take these things.

Alex


10 Jan 01 - 06:51 PM (#372517)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: McGrath of Harlow

That's the basic rule abouit English - the rules always get broken.

I think the difference with those words is probably that the noun came first, and the verb was coined as an extension of it, whereas with the other ones it's the other way round, or something like that.

As I've said elsewhere, Spanish would be a far better world language than Engklish.


10 Jan 01 - 06:53 PM (#372520)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: CarolC

In the U.S. which (as of the last time I checked), is a largely English speaking country, according to my Webster's Dictionary, "practice" is the accepted spelling for both the noun and the verb. "Practise" is only given as an alternative spelling for the verb.

Guest, get her started on an accordion. She'll get so addicted to it, you won't be able to get her to stop playing it.

Carol


10 Jan 01 - 07:13 PM (#372543)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Snuffy

But we're talking about English, not some obscure, uncouth regional dialect where they're so short of U's that they don't have honour or valour

(**BG** Running and ducking! - we love you really!)


10 Jan 01 - 07:44 PM (#372573)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: CarolC

We love you too, Snuffy.


11 Jan 01 - 12:45 PM (#372839)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: GUEST,Rachel

She is only 6 years old


11 Jan 01 - 12:51 PM (#372843)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Bert

Then Zeb has it right - Beat her severely;-)


11 Jan 01 - 12:53 PM (#372846)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Mrrzy

Definitely bribery then - Why don't we learn this song so you can impress your gramma? Or for every day you practice, you get a Bon Point or something, and any week you get all 7 you can have an ice-cream sundae?


11 Jan 01 - 12:54 PM (#372848)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Sarah2

Rachel,

Pianos are awfully big when you're six years old. Octaves are an enormous reach. But I'll stick to my guns: Find out HER favorite songs, and get her to work on those with little scale runs incorporated "for flair."

You might also ask her parents if someone is making faces at her when she tries to practice (or, if you're in the UK, practise) at home. A sibling can be a royal inhibitor.

Sarah


11 Jan 01 - 02:00 PM (#372876)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Mary in Kentucky

I think Marvin Hamlisch said that his mother bribed him with cookies. Motivation really is they key, but some things help one survive the plateaus until motivation kicks in again.

1) Young children love to put check marks in a daily practice book...or gold stars, or stickers...

2) Parental involvement works wonders for motivation. A kid likes to prepare a special song for mom or dad. One student even played "The Pink Panther" just to see mom run into the room and dance. I once rewarded a young student with jelly beans for each scale that was played. (favorite colors for hard scales and least favorite for easy scales) When dad got involved playing scales for jelly beans, it got to be a contest.

3) I told my students that the hardest part of daily practicing was to go to the room where the piano was.

4) back to motivation...I think some kind of goal helps keep on track...some kind of performance (I hate recitals)...playing with others, duets, playing with the CD or a tape of the duet part.

5) Above all, if it's not fun, you may have won the battle but lost the war. I've heard lots of folks say that they were glad mom made them suffer through lessons...but I don't feel these people really have a passion or love of music.

6) It's much easier to teach a child than an adult! Get 'em while they're young.


11 Jan 01 - 03:01 PM (#372914)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Richard Bridge

6 year olds probably like Steps or S Club 7 or some other awful manufactured band (I'm sure the USA has something just as nasty). Use a keyboard, not a piano, and get some easy play along bass parts to add to the video.

If she really likes that then get her to do a proper piano scale before she's allowed to do 5 minutes of pop


11 Jan 01 - 03:20 PM (#372923)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Mary in Kentucky

...one thing I forgot,

The age is crucial. Here in the US, and I think this is universal, 8 years old is a very important benchmark. There is something about the brain development at this age, concrete/abstract, that makes it much easier to read notation after this age. I found that you can teach an 8 year old in one year what it takes two years to teach a 6 year old.

When teaching younger ones, the approach should be much more imitative and not require reading. That's why the Suzuki method is so successful. You might even check out Suzuki for piano, but remember, parental involvement is crucial for its success.


11 Jan 01 - 03:37 PM (#372932)
Subject: RE: Rachel
From: Joe Offer

Hmmmm. A duplicate of this thread appeared today, so I'm going to dispose of it. The only message posted to it was from GUEST annd
-Joe Offer-
From: annd
you can't make any student 'want to learn' The student must have his/her own motivations of wanting to learn. Find out what those motivations are. Why are they coming to the lesson. Maybe they don't like doing their scales. Change your lesson structure to suit their needs. More update tunes to practise. Get another student saves time Good Luck