學鋼琴與天份

savan

想請教有孩子學鋼琴既mami, 你地小朋友初學每週練幾多次琴呀？同埋有天份和冇天份容易分辨嗎？

tungtung_mama1

savan,

  我囡囡佢學左幾堂, 未學之前同佢講一d鋼琴野,
但一講佢好似唔開心咁, 重叫我唔好講~~
第一堂, 一開始都幾擔心, 因為我同阿sir講囡囡情況時,
囡囡竟然同阿sir講, 佢唔會練琴, 重趕阿sir走~~
但15min之後, 佢開始對鋼琴有興趣, 因為阿sir不斷咁同佢講可以彈到乜野歌仔, 囡囡就好留心咁聽....
   過左第二堂, 囡囡自己開琴黎練...唔知咁係有興趣定有天份~~而我每日都會俾囡囡練30min至45min唔定~~
睇下佢果日的狀態啦~~

tungtung mama

kfwong

我有2個仔仔,在比較下,有無天份睇得出,
但除了天份,努力先是成功的主要因素。
好似我細仔,明顯天份高d,學一首歌仔,只要教佢一次單手,
第2日就彈得幾好(拍子同音),學咪雙手到第3日佢就自己彈到,(但佢是無練琴的,有時有都是每首彈一次咁大把)
佢而家上tomlee 的jmc book 3,但自己會睇譜,有d新歌老師未教,我又無教佢,佢都會自己睇譜彈,d人唔知仲問我佢是不是好努力練琴。
但佢真是唔肯練琴,以為自己叻,彈到就算,好多時首歌未做到最好就唔肯彈,咁點會進步、點會成功呀 :cry:
相返哥哥可能比細仔爭小小,但佢肯努力練琴,我會覺佢得d囉 :

centre

你地點樣令小朋友乖乖練琴,可以分享下嗎?
我囝囝4嵗,剛剛學琴幾堂,佢大致掌握用1234手指睇譜,但唔喜歡練琴,成日亂彈?

ngyanting2000

我覺得天份同努力都好重要. 要小朋友學琴及練琴, 首先要小朋友有興趣, 唔比小朋友覺得學琴好辛苦. 咁小朋友就學得開心.

comama

我也想知有甚麼方法可今小兒練琴,4-6歲時很勤力練琴,還以為他很有天份又勤力,誰知7歲開始漸漸怕難不願練,還時常提出不學,他說只想彈而不學,這樣便可繼續彈他懂的歌,真不知怎樣好.   

Katpiano

The reason why children don't like to practice is because of two things.

First, we teacher and parents have shown them that "practice" is a horrible thing.

For example, we keep nagging about "how many hours have you practiced?" "Have you practiced yet?"And as teacher, we keep reminding our students to practice. But we know it just does not work out.

Practice is not fun and is like a punishment. See, who likes to be punished everyday?

Second, children do not see the result of practice. Very often there is no goal in the children's practice. Neither they are shown the correct way to practice. They simply repeat the mistakes again and again. No wonder children get disappointed and refuse to practice.

Katpiano

Motivation is the key to happy practising.

Children don't practice because they are lack of motivation.

First, we need to change our attitude and thinking about the word "practice"

Why don't we use the word "improve" and "play" which are more positive? What did you improve last week? What are you going to do to improve this passage?

We need to make practice a happy experience.

How?

There are two kinds of motivation
Extrinsic motivation, where motivation coming from extenal stimulation.

For example, we get a reward for doing something, our motivation comes from the reward.

Intrincive motivation, where motivation coming from the person himself.

For example, we want to practice even without any reward. This motivation is driven by the person himself.

How to trigger Extrincive motivation?
Use reward to attract children.  For example, if they can play(not practice) the passage correctly for 5 times, they can get a small sticker. If they get 10 stickers, they can have a small reward. It does not need to be a materialistic reward like toys. It can be something like, going to Mac Donald, or going to play badminton. You can adjust your own sticker system.

This is laying the foundation of intrinsic motivation. Because the child is now practising more, the playing is now better. Oh, the child will feel good about it. If they want to feel good about themselves, they know they need to practice more!

Bring children to concerts! Hearing more advance piano playing, I am sure that in their heart, they hope one day they could be like that.
Be careful not to further discourage the children by saying, "see, how bad your playing is compared to the pianist"

Personally, I believe that intrinsic motivation will work in a long term.

We need to create a sense of acheivement and success so the children would eventually want to practice because they love to.

1) praise for every task that they have completed. No matter how samll the task is
2) have small family concert at home, so that they can perform the piece. Praise for the effort, even if there are slips and mistakes. Gradually, with the right way of practicing, the child will improve. The more they perform and play, the more confident and better the child would feel.
3) when the child feel confident to perform at home, let the child to play in a concert. I am sure piano teacher organises concert at least once a year. Because the child wants to show his best in the concert, he will be strongly motivated to practise

Practice involves a lot of effort. Sometimes we parents don't appreciate the hard work. The child always practises alone, while the parents are watching T.V. or doing something else and they feel that no one cares about it. If possible, practice with your child together. Even if it is only twenty minutes every day. If parents show that they care and would support the child, the child would be more willing to practice.


These advices come from the Suzuki philosophy: Nurtured by love

Happy practising!

Darrenma

Katpiano,

Thanks for your advise!!!      

嘉晴媽咪

Thanks!     

Chole

我個女6歲學

savan

我阿仔5歲開始學，學左半年，老師話佢有天份，學得快！而家每星期練琴1-2次，佢仲話想練多d，可能佢真有興趣彈琴吧。

有時練琴都愛取易不取難，我都擔心新歌唔熟架。

kfwong

我分亨一下我自己的做法,有d方法同katpiano差不多。

1. 我自己去學琴,一來可以去提點仔仔佢地,二來比個樣板地睇。我仲會同佢地比賽,看誰做得好d。

2.由細到大,由tomlee的jmc到單對單學琴,我都會每次都陪佢地一齊去同上堂,如大仔/細仔上jmc,我同佢講果堂乖就同佢去tea同行商場,而家成個商場的食店都食過晒; 又如同大仔上老師單對單學琴,學之前就同佢去食佢仲意的食物,行一陣街(15-20分鐘到)。

3.每次做到練琴的要求, 會叫爸爸一同拍手讚佢地,同叫佢地表演多一次比爸爸聽。細仔我會在佢做到的歌仔上貼貼紙/給印仔;大仔就會抱佢一下,鍚佢一下(因佢人意我咁對佢) 佢地老師就會貼貼紙/給印仔。

4.我會叫佢日日試下練,唔會要佢練幾多先可以,只會話比佢地聽佢地覺ok就得。

ps:我仔仔佢地都ok我這些方法,但細仔唔知是自信過頭或懶,
成日都只彈一次二次就話ok,要佢做好d就要靜悄悄叫老師話佢,再同佢講老師都話要練好d架喇。比佢激C我

Charitymami

每週最少練５日, 每日至少 30 mins 至 60 mins

分辨天份????? 我覺得後天努力比較重要 Ｄ. 如果唔保持練習, 有天份和冇天份 有乜分別呀?  

savan 寫道:
想請教有孩子學鋼琴既mami, 你地小朋友初學每週練幾多次琴呀？同埋有天份和冇天份容易分辨嗎？

Katpiano

My former piano teacher trainer has been an inspiring teacher. She has very special attitude towards practicing and the word "difficult".

I have already explained a little bit about practicing in the previous articles. I will share with you about her attitude towards the word "difficult".

In the lecture, she did not allow us to say the word
"difficult". She said that the word "difficult", or "nervous" should never introduce to children.

She explained that the technique is not "difficult", it is just "unfamiliar". More practice will make the "unfamiliar" passage more familiar, and in the end it becomes so easy because we are too familiar with it.

She explained that in one lesson, there should not be too much new material introuduced to the children. Too much new material means that the children would feel very bad because they don't seem to achieve anything!

I think that children feel scared of new material, therefore they don't want to face them. We need to help them to overcome this fear.

In order to help them, teacher should not make the children to feel that the task is impossible. Teacher should smooth the learning path for them. Make the passage easier to play!

Break the new material in small patterns. Learn one phrase at a time. Praise for the completed task. Master one technique at a time. Never hurry. Move on only when the child has really mastered one phrase.Then builds up the second phrase. Now join the first and second phrase together! It is easy! We have to make the children find out that it is so easy to play!

I believe that if teacher could break up the passage into small parts, the passage will be much more easier to manage. Small steps work!

Only practice both hands together until they can play with separate hand absolutely secure. This can avoid building up insecure technique.

(Never build up insecure technique such as inconsistent fingering. It will take 7 times to correct a wrong habit.)

Play piano tennis! That means, play right hand five times, left hand five times, then slowly together just for a tiny bit. The teacher said that it is just like the game of tennis, swapping the "ball" from the left and right or vice versa.

****************************************

My teacher also has excellent strategies to encourage student to repeat the phrase few more times. She uses small games.

One strategy she uses is that she takes out a jar. When a child could play one phrase beautifully, she will put a 通心粉into the jar. The more the child could play one phrase beautifully, the more 通心粉 are there in the jar, and it starts to fill the jar up slowly.
When the jar is full, there would be a reward. Perhaps they can have pasta for dinner!

Another strategy which is very useful is that my teacher takes out some coins. She will determine how many coins(not real money) to use according to how many repetition the child needs. Now, when the child could play one phrase beautifully, the teacher will take one coin into the bag. The child will keep playing the phrase until all the coins go into the bag.

The third strategy I have seen is that my teacher uses the dice 骰子. She will ask the child to throw the dice.If the dice turns out to be a five, then repeat five times, and so on!

Hope these will give you some inspiration!

lovagal

My daughter's 8, she started piano at 6 and will be having the grade 2 exam the end of this year.  she too, doesn't like practicing.  i try to make piano learning as fun as it can by not putting pressure on her.  for example, i did not suggest the upcoming exam, her teacher asked if she wanted to have the exam and she said yes.  and now after i've register for the exam, she never wants to practice.  everytime i ask her to practice she would say "HUH???"  I don't know why she does that, she's the one decided to go for the exam!!  for the school music festival in march(she decided herself to join this too, i didn't pressure her), she did quite well and got 80 (merit)  i thought after this acheivement it would make her want to practice more.  but she said she just want to learn to play piano but doesn't want to practice.  what should i do?   

btw, i've already done "intrinsic motivation", i've always praised her after she's played a nice piece of music!!

Katpiano

Perhaps the first thing you need to do is, not give up on your daughter. She is still learning how to become a responsible girl.

I think the core problem is that practice and play is still two separated concepts for your daughter. Think about it, fun practice is nearly not practice, but play.

How about stop mentioning practice for a short period of time but keep observing your daugther's behaviour. I learnt from some psychology books that in this case, it is better to shift your attention by not mentioning the problem.

If your daughter likes playing the piano, she will certainly play it again. Let her plays the piano when she wants.She will soon discover herself that after a week of not playing, she might forget how to play her favourite piece. Then she will realise that she needs to "play"more often.

Apart from that, are there other underlying reasons why your daugther does not want to practice? Is it because of the examination? Is it because the examination pieces are played too many times and become boring?


Don't give up! I believe that what you did was great!You are concerned with your daughter's process, which shows that you are a responsible parent!
I believe whatever strategy or method we use, we need to be consistent and that means, not doing once or twice, but do it all the time.Perseverence is the key. Keep doing what you have already been doing,i.e., praising and encouraging your daughter.


Perhaps what we need is to have some parents posting their successful stories to encourage each other.

All the best!

lovagal

My daughter's reason for not wanting to practice is simple:  lazy!!  She'd rather be watching TV or playing on the computer!  I thought after getting an 80 (is 80 considered a good mark btw? the 1st prize was 83) on the school music festival would be a big encouragement for her, but I guess not!

What if I tried your method and not mention practicing for week and she really forgot about practicing and simply didnt' care?  what am I going to do then??  

Anyway, I'll try and  let you know what happens after a week!!

Katpiano

I will pm you to talk about it in more detail.

laukennis

Katpiano:

請問你以前的鋼琴老師,現在仍會教琴嗎 ?
或你本人會否教琴呢 ?
你的老師真的很用心教琴啊 !
請回覆: laukennis01 @yahoo.com.hk,謝謝。