Summer is HERE! In Texas, we’ve felt the heat for months now, but for kids, it’s all about ‘school’s out.’ Which in their minds means I don’t have to:

Go to school
Wake up early every morning
Do homework
Practice the piano

Wait a minute… not practice the piano? Wrong!

Piano students have to practice during the summer. Piano progress is lost so quickly, especially in the early stages of learning. If students don’t practice for months, the downhill slide is fairly significant.

What do I mean by ‘fairly significant?’ I’ve seen the following from students who take the summer off:

• Struggling to read music
• Loss of finger coordination and dexterity
• Poor finger technique and posture
• Forgotten scales
• Fogginess with music theory concepts
• Inability to get back into the daily practice routine when school starts
• Less motivation for continuing to learn the piano
• Lack of preparedness for judged events in the Fall
• Difficulty memorizing music
• Increased frustration levels

When students are not travelling, they should still be practicing daily. Summer is a great opportunity to really make some learning strides, especially if students’ practicing habits during the school year fall short at times.

15 tips to help students practice more this summer:

1. Give a few days off (a week at the most) at the beginning or end of the summer where students don’t have to practice the piano but they do have to at least play the piano.
2. Create a weekly summer practice chart that results in meaningful family rewards at the end of each practice week (getting to play a family board game or choosing the next movie the family watches together).
3. Be present for the practicing sessions, even if it’s just a few minutes, and even if your child is older. A parent who shows genuine interest in what a student is learning is more likely to increase a student’s motivation to learn.
4. Schedule a mini family recital in your home.
5. Make performance videos of mastered pieces to share with friends and families.
6. Research a composer together; make a game out of it. “Let’s learn more about Mozart and see who can find the weirdest fact about him.”
7. Simultaneously work on something while your child practices (read a book in the same room or do some stretches; it’s kind of nice to not practice “alone” all the time.)
8. Make a quiz game of what your child is working on. Quiz them on the meaning of words you find in their music, flashcards, and symbols.
9. Add on a fun activity to the end of their practice. “When you finish practicing, let’s draw a picture of Beethoven with his crazy hair.”
10. Listen to music together. If your child is learning a piece by Bach, explore a few other Bach pieces to listen to together.
11. Attend live concerts together, even if they are not piano related or Classical.
12. See which one of you can find the craziest, funniest piano video on YouTube.
13. Find music-related library books in the kids section of the library. There are actually quite a few these days!
14. Listen to different kinds of music in the car and talk about them/learn about them together. Kids love learning about world music.
15. Share music from your youth and compare it to today’s pop music. Ask your child how the music is the same, how it’s different, if they can tell what instruments are used, etc.

Conclusion

Even if you’ll be gone for large portions of the summer, you can help kids stay connected to music learning and excited to be part of the music world. Try some non-practicing activities while you travel to help kids stay engaged, such as listening to music together, attending concerts, and researching music history facts. If you’re overseas, try to attend local music performances or take a tour through a cathedral, opera house, or go to a restaurant with live music. Pause to listen to street performers – there are a lot of amazing musicians out there!

Add some new elements to the practicing sessions when you are home – discussion, art/drawing, quick games, even just asking a few specific questions about their learning that shows your interest besides “Did you practice today?” Consistency in learning and practicing is the key to continued progress, but being engaged and showing interest as the parent can do wonders for motivation.