Encouraging music making

I find the best way to encourage your child to practice the piano is to let them play music that interests them.

Find out what music your child enjoys listening to. Is it pop, rock, classical or something else? With the plethora of music genres available there is bound to be something that appeals to them. Don’t forget, their choice of music genre may not be an obvious one, and may not align with yours!

Where to access music online

Quality contemporary music is available on many websites. If you can’t find what you’re looking for please do ask me to arrange something for you.

I particularly enjoy using Noviscore.com. It’s a great website selling music for all levels of ability. It’s created for pianists by pianists, and the arrangements they sell are quite beautiful. I recently downloaded music by Adele and Cindy Lauper from the site and a student of mine is learning an arrangement of from Star Wars by John Williams alongside his LCM piano exam repertoire.

Finding opportunities

Find opportunities for your child to make music away from piano lessons. Encourage them to join a music club, group or band. There are so many available. At Singlegate Primary School – where I teach piano – there are many opportunities for music making such as the school choir, recorder lessons, ocarina lessons and steel pan lessons so check what your child’s school can offer.

Spotlight Students:

Zahra is highlighted here because during the Christmas holidays she found opportunities to make music away from piano lessons. She took the initiative to play a duet on the piano with her Grandfather. The duet that we worked on during term time was, Skip to my Lou, which was arranged for piano in the Piano Safari tutor book. Her parents sent me an audio file of Zahra and her Grandfather’s performance of the arrangement – which was delightful.

Competition:

I’ve decided to run a little competition for the student who practices the most and logs it in the Practice log of the Parents and Students Portal. I’ll mention their good work in one of my blogs. This competition will be held over a period of several months as it may take time for students to adjust their lifestyle to include more practice time.

Future Events:

I am currently planning a fundraising concert to raise awareness for a good cause. The date and cause is to be confirmed but provisionally will be in the summer. I do hope that some of you will support the event.