On piano lessons.

Its been a long time, but here goes. I'll be short and to the point. My daughters are now taking piano lessons. A friend was lamenting how her daughter just lost interest. It was the same old story. She couldn't be motivated to practice, and without the practice she was unsuccessful.

I suggested the following: sit down with her every time she needed to practice. Yes I mean take 20 minutes a day to act interested/involved in her musical development. Make the practice time special. Once a week make the practice time a performance time. Time to share a short piece with other members of the family. I imagine that if every subject had this kind of attention, American children would be absolutely unstoppable in all areas.

That is a very different message than that which most beginning piano students get. Instead kids get badgered to practice, then threatened to take the lessons away if they don't practice. I've seen this over and over. Worse, kids are told to stop playing with their siblings so they can go (alone) to the piano. . . while everyone else in the household goes about their business. (watching tv, playing video games, etc) It sort of sounds like the practice session becomes a punishment to me.

Imagine if our young athletes were treated the same way. See your coach once a week; practice on your own; perform once or twice a year.