Self discipline is difficult at any age. Young children especially need help in learning to be consistent. Setting a specific practice time each day will help to avoid the nagging of “Have you done your practicing yet?” It will also help them to learn to avoid procrastination. Set up rewards such as being able to watch TV or play a video game when practicing is done on time. Find the reward that will motivate your child and stick to it. Change the reward periodically or that can become boring also.

Young children will benefit from an adult sitting with them at practice time helping them to stay on task. As they learn what needs to be done you can wean yourself from their practice time. Point out the progress you see each day. Help them to see that at the beginning of the practice time they couldn’t play these five measures very well but now it is much better.

Set an appropriate amount of time for practicing the piano. Consistent practice everyday for 20 minutes will yield faster and more results than a few days of an hour at a time. Increase that time as the child’s skill grows and the difficulty of the pieces increases. Still continue to allow the child to earn rewards that will help keep them motivated. Set a goal for a certain number of days in a row of practicing the piano that will earn a special treat, reward or privilege.

Make sure the child has some music to play that he or she enjoys and is familiar to them. It is rewarding to a child and an adult to be able to play a piece of music that they know and that others know. Begin expanding the music your child listens to. If they have heard classical pieces before they are introduced on the piano then it is much more exciting to learn to play them.

Not everything in life is fun. There are things that just need to be done. But we can add some fun into those times to keep them from becoming boring or monotonous. Make sure there is some fun in your child’s piano practicing. Help them through the discouraging times and remember, not every child learns at the same pace. Maybe too much is being given at once and the child is overwhelmed. Learning to play the piano is a major undertaking and children need a supportive and encouraging adult to help them along the way.

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Self-discipline- Children who are learning to play the piano begin to develop and understand self-discipline. They learn that as they are consistent in practicing everyday they progress faster and their instructed lesson time is more productive. They can start to see how that carries over into other areas of their lives like in their school work.

Hand-eye coordination- Learning to play the piano will help to develop the hand-eye coordination of your child, especially their fine motor skills. Reading the printed notes on the page and translating that into what your fingers should do on the keyboard increases the development of those fine motor skills. Playing piano chords is a big factor too, it teaches their small hands to do exactly what the child wants them too.

Be a better student- Research has shown that those children who learn to play the piano, or any other musical instrument have higher GPA’s and score higher on standardized tests. It especially seems to help in the areas of math and science.

Self-esteem- Children who develop the skill of playing the piano or other instrument have a high self-esteem. The persistent work to accomplish goals helps them to see what they can accomplish and to make the association between results and hard work. It also seems to help curb depression and loneliness.

Learn another instrument faster- Those who have learned to play the piano and tackled the complexity of reading both the bass cleff and treble cleff at the same time find it much easier to learn another instrument. Other instruments only require the reading of one cleff and one note at a time. Thus a new instrument is learned much more quickly.

Relieves stress and anxiety- Sitting at the piano and playing a piece that you know and love can be a great stress reducer, even for children. So many emotions can be projected through the playing of music that are often difficult to express verbally. Children need to be able to have an outlet to express those emotions and playing the piano can help them.

Sense of accomplishment- Being able to play the piano, even simple pieces can bring such a rewarding sense of accomplishment. For children who may be struggling in other areas of their lives it can be very satisfying to have a skill they feel is worthwhile. There is nothing quite like the feeling of hitting some strong chords on the piano to a melody people can recognize.

The benefits of learning to play the piano are not only felt in children, but in adults as well. It is a skill that will have benefits that carry forward through a lifetime.

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1. Look over the whole piece before beginning to play. Notice any repeated sections. Once you learn that section you may have several spots in the piece already learned. Look at the tempo markings, the key signature and the dynamic markings of the song. Knowing what is coming is helpful.
2. Break the song into smaller sections. Work on a line or two at a time or maybe even just a few measures depending on the difficulty. Tackling small goals will give you a sense of progression on the piece.
3. Learn the left hand and right hand separately before attempting to play them together.
4. Practice at a slow enough tempo to get the notes right. Practicing wrong only imprints it into your brain wrong and then must be un-learned later. When learning to play the piano playing correctly the first time will help you learn faster. So practice slowly even though you want to hear it faster.
5. Practice with a metronome at least some of the time. It will help you to keep the entire piece in tempo. As we play the piano it is easy to play the easy parts or the parts we know faster than those that are more difficult. The end result is not a pleasing song to listen to if the tempo is not steady.
6. Don’t start each practice session in the same spot. Work sections separately before putting the entire piece together. If you always start at the beginning than the beginning gets lots of practice and the rest gets neglected.
7. Practice the same time of day if at all possible. That will help you to be consistent in your practicing. It also makes it more difficult to postpone your practicing when other things come up.
8. Practice every day! 20 to 30 minutes every day will bring faster and better results than cramming your practicing into a few hours a couple of days a week.
9. Don’t burn yourself out on one song. Work on several pieces at a time. One more challenging and a few simpler ones. That will keep your practice time more interesting.
10. Notice your progress. When learning the piano its easy to feel there is so much still to learn. Stop and look at what you have accomplished in the last week or month. It will help to motivate you to keep on working hard.

Playing the piano is a skill to work on over a life time, enjoy the process. It is rewarding and relaxing. Learning to use your practice time wisely will bring greater and more noticeable results.

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