Practice Tip - "my turn, your turn"

Typical practice fight - your child is half way through a piece when you decide that you can't stand to hear that wrong note or rhythm played for one more second. SO, you stop them...they give you that look...you tell them what is wrong...they get feisty...you get feisty...they hate their instrument...THE END.


Nobody likes to be interrupted. I remember trying to play a piece for my college professor and her stopping me every single measure for a correction. I felt like an anxious car on a road with a million speed bumps - would you let me play already!
We've started to play "your turn, my turn." The deal is, she can play the piece one time through without me saying a word. THEN, she plays it again and I can say anything I want. We rotate until she has played it about 5-6 times. During "my turn" I find the 10x measures that we'll use M&Ms or some other counting method for. (see M&Ms and Dixie Cups)

Practicing ~ Fighting tip #1

One of the most common reasons parents give up on their children's lessons is due to fighting the child to practice. I promise, if you can find a way to get past this, it will be the secret to your child's music success.


How to battle. First you need to remember that you are in control and not the child. Dr. Suzuki's wife always said "your children will love you now and hate you later, or hate you now and love you later." Hate is a strong word (maybe there was something lost in translation...) I never "hated" my mother but I am SO glad that she stuck with me through the hard times and found creative ways to get me through. I can't tell you how many letters of appreciation I have written her over the years thanking her for fighting the fight and sticking with it.


Battle #1 Getting the child to the instrument


Solution #1 ~ make it routine- like brushing teeth, making their bed and eating breakfast. Do it at THE SAME time every day. If you have to miss a day of playing, do something in its place like theory or listening to some music--just make sure you call it "practice."


More later...