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The last article talked about how old you should be when you start learning piano, how to choose a piano teacher, what parents need to do before learning piano, how to choose a piano, etc. Seeing that everyone is very popular, the next article is here. Hey!

Read above: How to learn piano for children?Here is a comprehensive and detailed guide for parents of piano children, please check it out

Start the Long March of Learning Piano

01

How to seize the golden 45 minutes

Piano learning usually takes one session a week, and each session lasts about 45 minutes. In practice, this setting is very reasonable, and a week can just enough to digest the 45 minutes of learning content. My sister's current class is basically a process in which the teacher explains the key points of the pieces to be played this week, goes back to practice, goes back to class to see the effect of the playing, explains the precautions, and then goes back to improve.

During class, parents must accompany the class. Why? Record the teacher’s key points!

During the class, the teacher will explain how to play certain places, and I usually write them down next to them (of course, this kind of guidance cannot be used as a substitute, as it will develop children's dependence and laziness). The content taught by the teacher during class will be scattered, and children do sometimes forget.

When I practice piano for the first time at home, I will ask my child to see if she has missed anything. If she forgets, I will help her to add it. When she was practicing the piano, she focused on listening to see if the key points mentioned by the teacher were handled well.

02

elastic

The piano at home is different from the piano at school. How to determine the playing posture?

But the teacher talked about the piano playing posture in the first chapter of the book: the height of the piano bench should be such that when the child sits on the piano bench and puts his hands on the keys, the elbows and the key surface are basically on the same plane, and the child naturally droops sideways. It is appropriate for the upper arm and elbow to form an obtuse angle slightly greater than 90 degrees. When adjusting the stool, if it is too high, it must be replaced; if it is too low, add a hard object.

Also, don’t ignore the pedals. When young children learn the piano, their feet may not touch the ground. The child's body does not have a stable fulcrum, which can easily cause tension. At this time, it is necessary to put a stool under your feet. The height of the stool should be slightly sloped downward from the thigh to the knee after the child sits firmly and puts his feet on it.

03

How to schedule practice time

Start learning the piano and insist on practicing every day unless there are special circumstances. Teacher Zhou Guangren is over 90 years old and still practices piano every day. The effect of practicing every day is definitely different from practicing every day. I took my sister on trips several times, and when she came back to practice the piano, she could feel that her hands were stiff, so it was very important to insist on practicing the piano every day.

At the beginning, I practiced each piece about 5 times, which took 15-20 minutes. As the learning content deepens, the practice time will also increase. My sister is still in the top class of kindergarten. She will practice by herself in the kindergarten in the morning and before going to bed at noon. I accompany her in the evening to look for problems. The daily practice time is about 2 hours. After going to school, practice time will be greatly reduced. We plan to stick to one hour every day and make full use of weekends and holidays.

04

How to practice effectively

Regarding efficient practice, I have only recently discovered some methods.

1. Never practice when you are in a bad mood. As the saying goes, the sky in June has the face of a child. When she is in a bad mood, the music that plays is forced sound. It is better to let her play for a while or tease her, and then practice again when she is in a better mood.

2. Pay attention to the first practice after class. When I get a new piece of music, my sister and I will sing the score first and try not to make any mistakes in reading the music. I will also sing and play it while practicing.

3. Pay attention to playing slowly, the slower the better. Use a metronome to control the child, so that the eyes have time to see, the hands have time to prepare, and the correct fingering can be taken into account to avoid later changes.

4. Pay attention to break-up practice. We have been practicing with hands since we started playing the piano. However, when we break-up, we find that there are many mistakes. Without break-up practice as a foundation, there will be no high-quality playing.

5. Overcome difficulties. Almost every piece of music has a difficult part. If you practice it blindly from beginning to end, you will often not achieve good results. It is better to find the places where bugs often occur and focus on practicing, which will achieve twice the result with twice the result.

6. Listen to the imitation master. Here again I recommend Teacher Shen Wenyu. His Weibo is "Pianist Shen Wenyu". Teacher Shen has won many international awards. His best thing is that he has sight-reading almost all piano teaching materials. Before my sister plays every piece of music, I listen to his performance first. After listening and becoming familiar with it, I can also find problems with the child's playing. At the same time, after the child practices and becomes familiar with it, I will watch the video of the master to feel it and try it. To imitate.

7. Give more feedback to the teacher. Nowadays, the contact information is so convenient. No matter what problems you encounter during playing, you can ask your teacher. Similarly, after playing the next piece of music, I usually record a practice video and send it to the teacher to see if there is any problem. There is nothing to be corrected, and the way to avoid mistakes continues.

05

performance practice

I don’t know if you have noticed that when a child plays the piano by himself, returns to lessons, and performs, the effect is completely different. Why is this?

But the teacher explained that practicing and performing are not the same thing. There is only one chance to perform, and it requires one success; the integrity of the performance has special significance; when performing, you have to face the audience (examiner), and it requires a kind of mental preparation and state of mind to adapt to the performance environment. Therefore, after the child has matured the practice of the music he usually learns, you can ask the child to make a learning report.

My sister’s new school often has this kind of activity, and regularly organizes music salons to comment on and correct the children’s performance. My sister has participated twice and the results are very good. If there are no activities at school, you can let your children play in front of family and friends to exercise themselves. When he is not afraid of playing for others, he can reduce his psychological burden, focus more on the music, and play with devotion.

06

Competitions and exams

My sister signed up to participate in a large competition this year and prepared for a long time. However, it conflicted with our travel plans and she did not participate.

I haven't taken the exam yet, so I consulted the teacher. Her current level is almost enough to take the domestic CET-5 exam. There is no King's exam in third-tier cities like ours, so for the time being, we plan to mainly participate in competitions and participate in several domestic exams without affecting the study progress. In the end, we will have to take the King's exam.

How to correct problems when encountering them

01

Problems with reading music

The most common problem in the enlightenment stage is the problem of reading music. Regarding this point, it is best to use the memorization method and learn to recognize the phonetic sounds like reading, and do not rely on the method of counting the phonetic notes according to the lines to read the music.

Follow the teacher's pace in class. Learning music reading is a step-by-step process. Don't be too quick, just play more, read more, and memorize more and you can basically master it.

When my sister was little, we played some music-reading games to help her read music. For example, we drew five lines on the ground (which can be expanded to more in the future). We designated which note to which note and sang aloud, so that the notes were matched. The location left a deep impression and she loved the game.

In addition, apart from carelessness, there is another possibility that the music stand is too high. My family's piano has this problem. At one stage, my sister often made mistakes while playing the piano. I bought a bookshelf to lower the music score, and the error rate was also reduced.

02

technical problem

My sister still has many problems in playing hand shape, finger support, basic playing movements, finger independence and relaxation. These have seriously affected her finger running and playing effect. This was also the main reason why we changed teachers at the beginning. The reasons are currently being changed one by one.

Therefore, if your child has problems playing the piano, there is no need to worry, it can still be solved. But the teacher has detailed explanations of the causes and solutions to these problems in her book. Those who are interested can read it. Of course, I think these professional problems need to be solved with the help and guidance of the teacher.

03

How to save your child from frustration?

I think this is the most worrying question for many parents. My child is acting like a fool and just doesn’t want to practice piano. What should I do? I feel that the solution to this problem is definitely based on the intimacy between you and your child. There is no standard answer! How you usually help children solve other difficulties is how you solve them in piano learning. It is nothing more than giving children the courage to overcome difficulties and providing appropriate assistance in solving the difficulties at hand.

I'm here to review. I'm not a good-tempered mother. I made a lot of mistakes when I first started learning the piano. I would often blurt out "Why are you so stupid?" and even hit her hand directly when she didn't play well. When my child looks at me with tears in her eyes, I am instantly brought back to reality and apologize to her. Now that I think about it, I felt really bad at that time.

Over the years, I have continued to correct myself, and now I feel that the best way is to fart with rainbows!

I don't hesitate to praise her. When she is present, I will praise her teachers, friends, and family members for her hard work in practicing the piano. Usually at this time, she will smile; when she is frustrated when playing a piece of music, I will tell her which part you played particularly well this time. Okay, where would it be better to correct the next paragraph? When she was not good at jumping notes, I joked that she was a big bear wearing a little swan's clothes and dancing ballet. The teacher encouraged her to make up a short story for each piece of music she played, and we would Sit down and listen to her music story; when the music matures, the whole family will sit on the sofa to listen to her playing and applaud, and usually her "old lick" sister will give her a hug; we ask her to teach her sister how to sing , dance and even play the piano, and use the tuition fees as rewards. Usually she will use these rewards to buy gifts for her sister.

Two family concerts were held for her. One was for her children to come home to listen to her music, and the children present gave her flowers to encourage her. The other was a collaborative performance between her and her sister, where she told stories and played "Peter and the Piano". In the musical sketch "Wolf", her younger sister played six roles to accompany her as a dancer. Although it was not perfect, it recorded every mark of her music learning, which inspired her to keep improving.

The second way is to get through the difficulties together. When she couldn't play anymore and lost her temper and threw the book, I would try to play the parts that made her frustrated. Of course, if I played even worse, I would ask her to come over and help solve the problem together. After I felt better, she was happy to help me solve the problem together.

When I first started learning the piano, I said a lot of hurtful things to her, but now when I practice the piano, she keeps encouraging me. I really feel that my child's love for me is much deeper than our love for her!

The third way is to go to a concert, whether it is a concert by a master or a concert by a child who learned piano earlier than her, let her know that every piano child has gone through her stage to achieve what they are today. They are less resistant to the difficulties before them!

The last method is to play children's pop music. Growing up, I loved playing some pop music, and so do the kids. During the process of learning piano, I bought a book for my sister, "Selected Children's Piano Collection for Kids Who Never Get Tired of Playing It". The songs are all simply arranged, and there are also performance videos. When she gets bored with piano practice, I would suggest her to play this book. There are many familiar children’s piano songs in it, such as Frozen, Black Cat Sheriff, and Doraemon’s theme songs. It’s easy to play, and the music is The style she likes can easily draw her back into the environment of playing the piano.

postscript

What I have said in such a long way is indeed my real experience of studying piano with my sister for more than two years. It seems like there’s a lot to do, but actually it’s not much when broken down into each day. She is not a particularly good piano girl, she is just a child who keeps working hard. We still have a lot of problems to correct, and we are still waiting for her hands to grow up.

The responsibility of parents is to accompany their children into the fourth stage. After that, they will have a lot less worry. They can sit at home every day, holding tea in hand, and listen to beautiful music live.

I don’t know if she will take this as a major in the future, but I need to train her in a professional way and accompany her to continue learning. My younger sister is now starting to learn piano from her elder sister, and plans to officially start violin learning in a year and a half. Thinking about one day they will play "Butterfly Lovers" for me at home, I am so beautiful!

Please help me light it up