PPP107: The First 24 Hours - Teacher chat with Dawn Ivers and Becki Laurent
Today’s episode brings you not one, but two teachers! Today, Becki Laurent, Dawn Ivers and I chat about the topic of practice and the value students receive when they practice within 24 hours of their piano lesson.
Becki and Dawn are not strangers to the podcast. You can hear their previous episodes here:
Becki Laurent
Episode 037: Teacher Interview with Becki Laurent
Episode 046: Our Favorite Music Education Apps with Becki Laurent
Dawn Ivers
Episode 061: The Importance of a Good Practice Environment with Piano Teacher, Dawn Ivers
Listen to the full episode here
Today's topic idea came from Becki's session at TMTA
Becki presented a session at the Texas Music Teachers Association Convention this past June.
Hosting one of the most active conventions for students, the Texas state convention also has many parents and grandparents in attendance. Becki seized this opportunity to share the value of practice, and practice that occurs as soon after the piano lesson as possible, with parents.
I am so glad that Becki and Dawn agreed to bring this conversation to the podcast today!
Different Types of Practice
Practice happens in your home all the time. Students are practicing chores (or how to avoid doing chores), homework, social skills. Children learn and hone their skills through practice constantly.
Different teachers of various subjects have different practice rules:
Driver’s ed includes written work along with active driving with the instructor critiquing along the way. Until a student earns their permit, ALL their practicing must be with the instructor.
Competitive swimmers practice daily and their coaches are often instructing from the side of the pool. Unless they have access to the pool at other times, ALL their practicing is done with the instructor.
The same is true for sports, dance, gymnastics, etc.
Piano lessons are not the same as these other activities. The majority of practice happens away from the teacher. Teachers use lesson time to instruct and correct, yes, but in essence, teachers use the lesson time to teach students how to practice at home on their own.
Many times, after a piano lesson, students won’t get back to the piano until the next day or after several days.
That is a problem….
The Curve of Forgetting
Many years ago a German statistician named Hermann Ebbinghaus developed a theory about how our brain retains new information. You can read more about his experiments here.
This video explains the theory:
Our brain is constantly taking in new data and information. It must decide what information is important and must be stored for future reference versus what is unimportant and can be disregarded.
The way we help our brain know something is important is by reviewing and repeating the information. The above video is aimed at college students retaining information to pass tests and, ultimately, the course.
Piano students can apply this same strategy to their piano studies. At the lesson, teachers give students feedback about their performance along with new musical concepts. The student’s job is to take that information and repeat it regularly to help their brain store it in their long term memory.
The mistake many students make is to wait a day or two (or more??) to try to play their pieces. By this time, their brain simply does not remember.
Students who follow this strategy of reviewing their pieces as soon as they get home from a lesson end up practicing less because they are remembering more.
Students can use this strategy when they are studying shorter passages and the fingering for that passage. Dawn says, “You have to tell your brain it is important. Otherwise you’re not going to remember it.”
When parents see the value of having their children review lesson materials within 24 hours of a lesson, they realize the return on their investment is exponentially greater.
Piano kids can practice this reviewing skill with their piano lessons but they will also find it useful in their academic pursuits.
Different Ways to Review
What if you have multiple activities booked in your schedule after the piano lesson? (To hear my thoughts on too many activities for children listen to Episode 102)There are still ways you can work in a review on the go:
Listen to recordings of your music
Review concepts with apps on your phone or tablet (Like Jelly Jam! Check it out on iTunes)
Let your eyes read the music and imagine the sound in your head. This is called audiation and is a great topic for a future episode.
Squeeze in just a few minutes of practice. It doesn’t have to be a long, full practice session.
Avoid mindless repetition. Listen actively as you play a short section to discover errors or tricky parts, then practice fixing the problem.
Practice right before bed so it is the last thing on your mind as you fall asleep.
The early stages of learning new pieces and new musical concepts is very labor intensive, requiring lots of mental effort. The music feels very external. By following a slow, intentional, and regular practice schedule, the music begins to become more automatic as your brain retains the information. Ultimately, the music becomes internal.
The more “automated” the music becomes, the more likely a student will be successful during a recital or stressful musical situation.
Piano parents, if you have a question about how to help you child practice at home or what the priority is for a particular piece, please do not hesitate to ask your teacher.
The three of you: child, parent, and teacher must work together and communicate well in order for your child to have success at the piano.
Piano parents are the most important component for getting your piano kid to the piano during the days between lessons. We teachers appreciate you so much!
If you only remember one thing from the chat today....
Dawn’s one thing:
“Take hope and enthusiasm toward scheduling practice time this week. I know sometimes scheduling practice can be daunting but take time to set up your child for success.”
Becki’s one thing:
“Know that your teacher is aware of new developments in piano pedagogy and music education. We are using as many strategies as we can get our hands on to help your child learn.”
Shelly’s one thing:
“Parent, it is your responsibility to have your child back at the piano as soon as possible after their piano lesson. Help them reinforce what they have learned during their lesson. You will be amazed at the results!”
Fall Into Music Practice Challenge
During the month of September we are encouraging piano kids to practice at least 20 days. You and your piano teacher can determine what the goals are for each day’s practice. You and your piano kids can make sure to get to the piano to accomplish those goals.
Students across the country are using this week to prepare for September’s “Fall Into Music” Practice Challenge. There is still time to join the fun!
Learn more about the challenge and get your own practice challenge kit at www.PianoParentPodcast.com/fallintomusic.
I’ll race you to the piano!!
Thanks for listening!
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