What do you do when your child’s enthusiasm for playing piano seems to wane? In most cases, the child is simply fatigued with having a full schedule, so it’s up to you as the parent to work this out with your child and give them more breaks. This would also give you the opportunity to come up with other activities that can keep your child interested in learning to play piano.
It all starts with helping children develop an appreciation for music itself while showing how creating music through piano playing can be fun with the right lessons. Here are some great ideas to achieve just that.
Switch up the music
Here’s one painful truth for many parents: playing Bach, Chopin and other classical piano pieces may not be a hundred percent relevant to your child’s everyday life. Your child may have a wide variety of other interests, such as soccer, astronomy, dance or world history. However, here’s another truth that can make you feel better: you can keep the fire burning through music in general. What songs does your child like to listen to? What genre of music makes them bop their head or move their body? If your child seems to grow bored with playing classical piano pieces, then switch to something they are more familiar with and would enjoy playing. This would make them look forward to learning a new piece and practice.
Go to concerts
Your child needs a break from the piano every once in a while. Take every opportunity to go with them to watch live gigs and concerts of the artists they like, and even those they are not familiar with yet. Attending live performances broadens your child’s musical experience and lets them learn about other musicians. Watching musicians in action can help them reflect on their own playing, realize how much piano means to them and motivate them to keep on playing.
Make games a part of practice time
For children learning to play piano, practice is more effective when it’s more like play. Playing something on repeat so one can become better at it sounds necessary but ultimately boring for a child. However, when you package practice as a time of play while making music, it’s a lot more appealing and fun. Toss in some rewards or prizes (like colorful beads they can string together into a bracelet) and you’ll make practice time something that your child will definitely look forward to. There are tons of piano practice games you can play with your child and tweak according to your child’s interests and level of learning. You can even come up with your own practice games!
Compose a simple song
Another way you can help your child develop a deeper appreciation for piano is by encouraging them to create their own simple musical pieces about anything and everything. A ditty about their dog, a silly song about losing a tooth, even just a do-re-mi song of your family members’ names is sure to get your child’s creative juices flowing and make them more motivated to learn.
Do you know of other ways to keep piano lessons fun and interesting for children? Share them here!
