Definition of Intelligent Practice for 11 year old.

[slane]

I'm trying to instill a growth mindset in my daughter, especially wrt to piano practice ...
to that end I'm making a flow diagram of learning a piece. The main step is practice intelligently. What does that look like to an 11 year old?     
I'd say 1. play slowly enough that you can play the whole piece with few mistakes,
          2. repeat the phrases you get wrong until the are better (no not perfect, perfection comes after several steps of better)
          3. spend more time on the hard bits

what else? Or is that enough for an 11 y.o
She was doing pretty well the last few weeks and then the teacher didn't tick something she thought was good (he was right, the pieces were poor) and then everytime to sat down to practice this week she'd get into a rage. Its very, very wearing. I might sell her on ebay.

[chopinlover01]

That sounds about right. But I'd add in "take frequent, short breaks". Most actual learning is in condensced time of about 5-10 minutes, so 20 minutes sessions provides good times for learning with 10 minute breaks in between.

[Bob]

11?  If it's a "normal" kid...

Learn to play the assigned pieces up to the standard done in the past.

Fix the things the teacher has commented on.

Keep up with scales and theory.


Repetition.
Focus on the hard spots.
Break things down into pieces, work on the pieces, and put it back together.
Work from the end to the front maybe.
Don't be so concerned about playing straight through the whole piece, unless it's practicing performing.  Playing straight through is kind of a mindless way to practice (and not ineffective.  I can't really knock it since it works well enough for some things for me.  Start... pay a little attention... piece gets better with very little effort.   With more effort... more results.

Depending on the teacher's philosophy... Get the notes down, then add dynamics, etc.  Ideally, get everything down and together right away.  Realistically, get some doable achieved and then adjust that creation later.

If it's memorizing... Chunks, sections... Practice performing.

I would call that intelligent for an 11 year old.  Following standard, traditional, classical piano lesson thinking.


It's the same ideas for practicing.  There are lot of ideas on here about practicing in general.

[bernadette60614]

I'd add:

Have fun with it! 

DS and I share a wonderful teacher (though we have separate lessons), and what I've noted about her is that each lesson is fun..she makes things into a game.  When I'm checking on DS's practice I'll frame it as "Tell me about the fun you had practicing." Then, he'll show me something he's worked out on his own or something he's created on his own.

I'd also allow for some time each practice session just to compose...nothing on paper, but just let her make up her own songs for herself.

I want DS to play long after I'm around to check on him, and composing is something which he loves and I can see him doing for his lifetime.

[slane]

That's a good idea Bernadette,about fun, but that's advice to me.
I will implement that today.


But I thought of another one ... practice the left hand too!
Lately her teacher has been having her play hands separately, which I'm not too keen on, but of course the right hand is much more fun and so she neglects the left. So she's getting the idea that she's nearly finished a piece when she's not even half way. And when the teacher points that out to her, the next day I'll have to deal with the angst. Sigh!
One thing the teacher does, which I should encourage her to ask me to do, is play the right hand while she plays the left. Then she gets the left hand in context because often the left hand is chord, rest, rest, chord, chord, rest, rest ...which makes no sense without the right.

[bernadette60614]

A very simple system, but it involves bribery! 

Put some pennies on the left side of the keyboard, and as she practices the left hand, she moves them over to the right.  When she gets enough, she can trade them in for some kind of treat. (Okay, you may have to up that to nickels!)

[bernadette60614]

Also, my piano teacher does the same, and part of the rationale is to strengthen the left hand, which typically (since most of us are right handed) is typically weaker and less dexterous.  Right now, I'm working on the Bach Two Inventions, not only because of the beauty of the music, but because there are many opportunities to work on the left hand dexterity and expression.

[Bob]

Making parts of practice a game, yes.  I still do that for repetition.

And play whatever you want to at the end.  Or finally play through the whole thing.

[bernadette60614]

Also, saying hello to a Carol Dweckian?!

[slane]

Also, saying hello to a Carol Dweckian?!

Well I'm not sure I'd call myself a Dweckian, but that's certainly where I got the term "growth mindset" from.
I read parts of her book to my daughter and we were both strongly influenced by it. But before that I read NutureShock to her, and that is really fascinating. A must read for parents.