But how can children of the smartphone generation be inspired to play the piano?
1. you can improve your ability to concentrate by playing the piano
When you play the piano, your senses are sharpened, because you have to pay attention to many things: Tempo, rhythm, pitch, note values and posture. This is a demanding exercise, which improves your concentration skills. Research shows that there is a real fireworks display in a musician’s head as soon as the instrument is played.
Although a piano is a wonderful musical instrument, it cannot compete with the many advantages and functions that a modern smartphone offers. Piano and sheet music are not very convincing here to get children to learn to play the piano. Unfortunately, there is no all-in-one solution, but there are a few tips to help parents motivate children to play the piano.
The right piano teacher
A really decisive factor in making children enthusiastic about learning to play the piano in the long term is the selection of the right piano teacher. If it just doesn’t fit between piano teacher and piano pupil, you won’t be able to make your children enthusiastic about learning to play the piano.
Because if the new generation has something against the piano teacher for some reason, he will also not bother with learning to play the piano. As parents, you should therefore keep a close eye on the relationship between your children and the piano teacher. A good piano teacher will inspire your children and motivate them again and again, so that your children will dedicate themselves to learning to play the piano full of euphoria.
It is important that parents can distinguish between the normal complaining of children learning a complicated piece of music and an antipathy towards the piano teacher.
At the same time, parents who are the source of tension between the piano teacher and the children should not directly exchange the piano teacher, but first of all seek the conversation with the children and the piano teacher separately in order to fathom the possible causes. If the differences between piano pupil and piano teacher cannot be bridged, a change of piano teacher remains inevitable.
If there are tensions between the piano teacher and the children, then the piano lessons will neither be a pleasure for the children nor for the piano teacher and therefore no progress will be made.
Learning to play the piano in the right way
In addition to a good piano teacher, the duration and frequency of the practice sessions also contributes to children’s motivation when it comes to learning to play the piano. Therefore, the practice times should not be too long, especially at the beginning of piano learning. Regular repetitions are important, but it is absolutely sufficient for children if they first play or practice the piano for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.
However, it is not very effective if children only learn to play the piano once a week for one hour – so it is better to spread the exercise programme at the piano over several days with short exercise units.
Parents enjoy everything children learn. You should also show your children how proud you are of the fact that they have rehearsed a new piece of music on the piano and thus provide your child with an immense boost of motivation. At the same time, however, parents should avoid putting the children under pressure through a certain expectation, because this can lead to your children quickly losing the desire to learn to play the piano under the pressure.
It is also important to allow the child to learn to play the piano at their own pace. In order to bring children back to the piano, smaller rewards can also be given. In this way the children develop a kind of routine in learning to play the piano. For example, a reward can be given in the form of an extra time watching television. The points system is also very popular here.
Each exercise unit is symbolized in the form of a dot. Whenever the child has reached a certain number of points through a corresponding number of piano exercises, there is a further reward. With this score system you can provide special incentives and keep motivation high when learning to play the piano. Especially for the very young piano players it is important that you set small milestones – also in consultation with the piano teacher.
Take advantage of the natural play instinct of your children
Computers, smartphones and tablets are extremely popular with children. This can also be used for learning to play the piano. You can even include a tablet in your piano lessons – with a digital keyboard on your smartphone, children can learn to play the piano or learn to play notes. This also provides the children with a successful change. Special apps can also be used to impart musical skills and musical background knowledge.
Always setting new and different motivational stimuli
In the beginning, parents don’t have to do much to get children excited about playing the piano, because as a rule, curiosity about the new is so great that there is a corresponding motivation. It is important that parents and piano teachers take this initial motivation with them and maintain it permanently.
This is especially true when children are confronted with more complex pieces of music. Don’t just rely on a motivational injection, but also ensure changing motivational incentives, because variety certainly increases the motivation of your children.