Make Practice Fun: Reward Repetitions

This time of year can mean that your family ends up with LOTS of candy or treats in the house.  You can use all those treats as a reward for doing repetitions during practice time. This is a fun way to moderate when your child gets those sweets, and to make practicing a positive experience.

1. Choose a small section of a piece (1-4 measures) that is tricky or has been a problem spot.  Make sure that the size of the section is appropriate so that your child can succeed at playing it with no mistakes.  Set a specific goal for the repetition.
        For example: Play the whole measure with no mistakes.
               OR
                               Get the jump in the right hand perfect, without a pause.  (In this case, you might let a different, small mistake, that only pops up once, slide.)

2. Agree on the exact way your child can earn their reward.  
        If you have small candies like M&Ms or Skittles, they might earn one piece per repetition.
        If the treat is larger, you might agree that 5 or 10 repetitions earns the treat.

3. Have your child play the section while you listen.  Did they reach the goal you set? 
      If they met the goal, give them the reward.  If you hear other things that you need to work on, let it go until the next practice time.  

Non-food rewards

You can do the same practice technique with other rewards, with just as much success!

• Use blocks.  Set an agreed upon number of blocks on one side of the piano. When child completes a repetition, they may move one block to the other side of the piano. When they finish, they could build a tower with the blocks they collected! (This also allows them to see when they will be finished.)
• Use pompoms.  These fluffy, colorful balls are fun to move from one side of the piano to the other, or to place in a basket. 
• Use pennies. Kids love to earn money.  Grab those extra pennies and let your child earn one penny per repetition. 
  
  Have fun!

Performance: For the Fishes!

   Music is a wonderful language that all the people in the world value. There are many kinds of music, and many places to perform music. There are all kinds of ways you can share your music with other people.  

   Here is a video of a cellist sharing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD. Maybe some of you have been to this aquarium.  What do you think the fish thought about the music? You can see that people stopped to listen.

   As you watch Alisa Weilerstein play, you will see that she is very expressive with her body as well as with the sound of the music. How does the music make you feel?