The wonders of a prize basket! Most every student came prepared and ready to learn due to their 5 practices last week. They knew that if they came with all five boxes initialed, they'd get a prize. Exciting day! Here are some ideas to keep the practices fun and encouraging.
by Jenny Smith
1. Have a baggie of their favorite treat (skittles, m&ms, smarties, chocolate chips). Give them 1-2 little treats after each song
2. Have them teach you how to play a song
3. Say, "HOLY COW! You can play this? This looks hard! Check this out everybody, Max can play this!"
4. Set an appointment with them and set an alarm so you don't forget. They get your undivided attention and you get to play with them.
more ideas:
5. listen to their practice from another room. When you hear something you like, quietly place an incentive on the piano. Try a penny, or a smartie.
6. play along, sing along, and point along!
7. When something is new and frustrating: "It's too hard!" you say, "This is sort of hard, isn't it? Would you like to be able to play it? How can you get better at it? I'll help you."
8. Let him catch you playing his songs and doing his practice. You can even make some mistakes. This leads to 9
9. Let him teach YOU.
There are some great scenarios here and here too!
You can also refer to the parent section of the student manual for more ideas and dialog examples.
Have fun playing music!
No comments:
Post a Comment