Monday Mailbag – How Can Parents Help Motivate Their Children?

I am a new piano mom. I’ve been wanting to put my children in lessons for many years, but we’re just finally able to put it in our budget. My two daughters both started lessons a few weeks ago at ages 9 and almost 7. Their teacher doesn’t use an incentive program or anything, so I’m wondering what I can do to help encourage them to practice at home. One of them is already getting a bit bored with lessons; I can see how it would be a little discouraging when it takes a few months to start seeing a lot of progress. Thanks for any insights!

Like a lot of things in life, I’m realizing more and more that there will be seasons of great enjoyment in working on piano assignments and there will be times where you just have to be disciplined and do it when you don’t feel like it. A piano teacher can only do so much in a short weekly lesson; the rest is up to the parents to make it a priority and the student to take responsibility. In the end, it has to be a combination of everyone working together to make learning any instrument a successful endeavor. That’s the only way to progress.

That said, probably the two biggest motivators in general are:

1. Learning music that the student loves – pieces that sound cool, are fun to play, and give the musician the opportunity to play musically.
2. Having an outlet to play for others – recitals, group classes, festivals, and church specials are wonderful, but even if it’s a family gathering every month where each child is given the opportunity to perform a piece that they’ve worked up to a polished level, that does wonders for giving a child a reason to practice and learn a piece well.

Any parent can help influence and motivate their child by expressing enjoyment in their music, asking the teacher if he/she has additional suggestions for fun music their child could learn, and providing opportunities for them to play in a variety of settings. If you have other suggestions, either as a parent or a teacher, feel free to share! What can parents do to help motivate their children when it comes to learning and practicing an instrument?

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!