"I'm BORED" - Getting Your Child to Practice Piano Over the Summer
On the first day of summer vacation, my newly minted second grader was crying into her toast because I wouldn’t turn on the television at 7:30am. “I’m...bored,” she wailed.
Out came the crayons, numerous half-used coloring/sticker books, dry erase notebooks, etc. Pretty soon she was engrossed in writing silly phrases beginning with every letter of the alphabet, but after a while, she decided that she wanted to try for television again. “Mommy, if I practice, can I watch TV?”
I am in the trenches with my piano families all year long. The overscheduled evenings and weekends, the pressure to have your child DO IT ALL - master a sport, play an instrument, read every day, get enough sleep, eat veggies, floss, be nice - it’s exhausting and I get it. I will never make it sound like it’s easy - “just practice piano every day” - because it’s not. It’s hard, but it’s what needs to be done, because we want our kids to be the best that they can be. Not THE best - there’s a big difference - but the best that they can be. That means helping them do the things that they don’t want to do sometimes.
After the craziness of the school year, finally summer arrives, and along with it, the chance to kick back and relax! And we absolutely should...but there’s no reason why kids have to regress on all of their carefully honed musical skills that they’ve acquired during the year.
We have a loosely followed rule in our house where there are no screens until instruments have been practiced and homework has been completed, meaning no computer games, video games, or television. When I say “loosely,” I mean about 90% of the time, we follow it. I’m OK with that. When you lose the routine of the school year, it’s even harder to come up with your own schedule, but if you can come up with a list of things that need to be accomplished before iPads/iPods/video games come out, and if one of those things is practicing piano, that helps a lot.
Of course this requires some adulting on your part, meaning that it’s up to you to ensure that practicing actually happens. Kids are also experts at making excuses (wait, I think we all are) and will say things like “I’ve been practicing the same music for DAYS and I’m sick of it/I already know it/I can’t play it anymore/etc.”
Here are some suggestions to get your child to play piano over the summer and not completely lose their piano fingers:
Have them practice first thing in the morning, before they go to day care/day camp, while they’re still fresh and alert
Make a set of flash cards and write the names of old pieces, scales, etudes, 5-finger patterns, etc. Have them draw a card and play whatever comes up.
Weekly Summer Practice Challenge - if they practice 7 days in a row, take them out for ice cream
Buy the sightreading book that corresponds with their lesson book level (ask me if you aren’t sure) and have them work through it. Likewise, there are tons of supplementary books/pieces that they can play through for fun. Ask me for suggestions! I’m always happy to help.
Arrange a piano “play date” when relatives come to town and have them perform for Grandma/Grandpa, or friends when they come over
Make a video of them playing and send it to someone! Send it to me! :)
If all else fails, have them noodle around on the black keys/improvise/make sounds. It’s honestly better than nothing.
Everybody needs a break, there’s no doubt about it. But don’t let the summer break turn into a 3-month hiatus from the piano. Just a little bit every day makes a big difference!