Motivating children

[sybre]

I've just started to teach a group of 7-8 year olds who have just finished and passed their grade 1 piano exam (Associated board exams- ABRSM) last year. Now i'm starting to prepare them for grade 2 and they aren't motivated to practice! When they look at the music all they say is "It's so difficult!".  I keep telling them it's not and I go through everything with them, a note at a time. They aren't very good at note-reading (They were taught using solfege at yamaha), so now i have to teach them C-D-E instead of do-re-mi..so their note-reading is generally weak.

Any ideas of how to tell these children that it isn't difficult and all it needs is practice? They are progressing but it's slow.

[redberry]

make it more fun-like game, funny pictures with colours etc...

[glamfolk]

is there any way to stop the yamaha program?  I've had to reteach so many of my students after the yamaha program sent them down that path, and many of them never did catch on.  They all bought the yamaha keyboards, though, and so some of them had some semi-nice electronics...but I digress.    

I try to get my students on a pure chord approach, playing modal, blues, and I-V-V-I patterns in a variety of keys while they improvise melodies using major, minor and blues scales.  I'm finding that some of them attach themselves to this visual keyboard approach rather than the note-reading approach, and they quite like it.  It doesn't work for all of them, but it's another approach.  

I've recently heard that several of my students get together in the practice rooms at school during lunch for free-form jams.  i couldn't ask for better results than that.  As a rule, they're not my best readers, but they are the most "musical" by far.

[bernhard]

When they look at the music all they say is "It's so difficult!".  I keep telling them it's not and I go through everything with them (...) Any ideas of how to tell these children that it isn't difficult and all it needs is practice? They are progressing but it's slow.

Have you ever seen this happening? A child (usually a toddler) falls and bangs his/her head. S/he starts crying. Some grown-up picks it up and says: “it is not hurting, it is nothing, it will be all right…” The toddler screams even more…

Now, when I see a toddler in this situation, I try to get there before any other adult makes a mess of it. I say “Wow, this must really be hurting!” The toddler usually stops screaming and looks at me surprised to see an adult who actually understands what s/he is going through. Then I say “Did you break your head? Is there any blood?” We run to the mirror. No there is no blood Great Relief! The toddler by this time is usually smiling. Did the floor crack? We run to look at it. No, it is ok. By now the toddler is giggling, and all is forgotten.

I suggest you use the same approach with your students. If they say the piece is difficult, agree with them. If you say it is easy, you loose any authority, since they know through their own experience that it is difficult. You must join them before you can lead them. In fact introduce them to their new piece by stating bluntly: “Your new piece is extremely difficult. In fact it is a virtuoso piece. It is so difficult I am reluctant to give it to you. In fact we will leave it for a couple of years” If you do it right, by this point they are demanding to be given the piece. Then you ice the cake: This piece is so difficult I doubt I can play it. Then try to play it and make a mess of it. “Oh dear, this is really, really difficult! There is no other way, I MUST PRACTISE IT!!!”. Then go on and right in front of their eyes, practise it, making sure you start badly and slowly improve until you can do it perfectly.

You will have accomplished many desirable things: You will have asserted your authority (my teacher really knows what s/he is talking about! S/he could see straight away that the new piece was difficult). You will have kept the student’s self-esteem intact (“I am dumb and lazy, I could not even get an easy piece right” by practising as oppose to: “I was given a piece so difficult that even my teacher had a hard time with it, and look at me now, after we practised the way the teacher showed me, I can play it! That teacher really knows how to learn!), You will have encouraged him/her to search for new learning experiences (instead of “Why bother learning anything, I cannot even figure out an easy piece!”). You will have shown them that even someone who finds a piece difficult (you) can eventually play it well if they practise!

Try it. You may not get it right the first time (there is much that cannot be properly shown in writing  - like body language), but as your experience with this sort of reverse logic increases you will obtain magical results!

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

is there any way to stop the yamaha program?  

Hi, glamfolk!

What exactly is the Yamaha program? I keep seeing it mentioned here an there but I have no direct experience or knowledge of it.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[sybre]

You can read about the Yamaha method here.

https://www.musicstaff.com/lounge/article55.asp


Bernhard, I understand what you're getting at. The reason why I tell them it's not hard is because I don't want them to get a psychological block, I think the word 'difficult' is a very negative word thats why I'm approaching this differently. I would be treading on thin ice if i do tell them it's very difficult because the kids will shut down their minds and would gladly put the piece away and ask for an easier one. The first thing some of them do when i buy a new book for them is they look through all the pieces and find the easiest piece to play. I want them to know that just like everything else that adults try to accomplish- things might seem hard at first glance, but things can 'magically' get easier - just with consistent practice and hard work, and the results will show in a few weeks.

[Chitch]

As simple as it may seem, I haven't read anything about rewarding younger students with stickers. Trust me, if you buy the right kind they'll work their tales off. I have a 6 year old who finished books one and two of Leila Fletcher's piano course in less than 3 months because he liked getting stickers. I guess it's kind of an odd fetish for them, but when you see them progressing it's rewarding for both of you.

[Robert_le_diable]

Bernhard! A very wise and informative reply.


Another trick, but more difficult, is to tell a story that belong to a certain piece. The children will be able to refer to the piece in their minds and possible be motivated to play the piece to tell the story. Though, the story need to be on their level and exciting in some way.

[cziffra]

if they ask for an easier piece, give them something like mary had a little lamb, and then when they play it for you, fall asleep.  they'll want to fall asleep too, probably.

[namui]

I'm not a piano teacher, but I have taught my children to play piano (I won a few prizes in competition when I was young) and have taught my children many things else (as most parents do).

I agree mostly with Bernhard's concept. It's much more effective when the children feel like you are on their side. It's very difficult even for a grown-up to accept that what s/he perceived as difficult is in fact easy BEFORE s/he can really do it. If the teacher can act like the leader of the children's group and work on the problem with them from their side, the children learn happier...at least that is applicable to my children.

On the other hand, the teacher may demonstrate it to look easy enough to change her/his students' mind (like in many direct-buy advertisement on TV, every product looks easy to use). But that requires some demonstrative talent (like those salesperson normally quote "if I can do it, you can do it" ... ).

What about making the children buy the idea that it's not difficult by looking at the piece as small sections (2 - 4 bars at a time) ? Work on one section at a time. To have more fun, learn the sections out of order, probably stimulate them to fill in the missing sections. This structurally simplifies the goal.

[bernhard]

On the other hand, the teacher may demonstrate it to look easy enough to change her/his students' mind (like in many direct-buy advertisement on TV, every product looks easy to use). But that requires some demonstrative talent (like those salesperson normally quote "if I can do it, you can do it" ... ).

Children regards teachers (and parents) as nothing short than demigods who know all and are all powerful (well, at least until they are 9 - 10 years old! ). So When a teacher or parent says "It is easy" and proceeds to show them, they think inwardly "big deal! you are the teacher, you know everything, everything is easy for you!" and then they sulk.

The best way to demonstrate to a child that something is easy (or that even though it might be difficult, it is possible to master it), is to get a child of similar age to play it well (if not perfectly). It is even better if the child who plays well is not considered by the child who cannot play as particularly brilliant or as a genius /prodigy (in which case s/he would be right there with the parents - teachers - as a demigod).

This is one of the main advantages of recitals: they allow the children to see other children playing, and this leads to the "if s/he can do it, so can I!" attitude.

So choose amongst your students one who can play the "difficult piece" with ease, and let the other children watch.

Everything else said so far in this thread (making stories, working in small sections, stickers etc.) is also good. The important thing is not to limit oneself unnecessarily. Try everything, and if something does not work, try something else! Then you will realise that you need different approaches for different children. Knowing who needs what will ultimately depend od good judgement. As someone once said:


"How do you get good judgement?
- Experience.
How do you get experience?
-Bad judgement."

Best wishes,
Bernhard.