Helping Kids in Piano Connect to their Inner Artist - 5 Tips for Recital Time

Piano students spend a lot of time preparing their music, especially at recital time. Here are 5 tips to help piano students maximize their creative energy and get the most out of their practice time.

1. Ask Questions Along the Way - Feel free to stop and investigate any areas of the music you're unsure of or have questions about with thoughtful review. Just playing the piece over and over without changes limits the possibilities for improvement.

2.Make sure the objective is creative work at the piano, not just 'time at work' - Practice with a specific goal in mind that adds a creative purpose to your playing. Such as counting out the rhythms, checking for accuracy of the notes, or improving your playing technique.

3. Target your best attention to challenging areas - At the beginning of practice our minds are fresh and our attention is best. So begin practive on areas in the music that are most challenging. Then stop for a few minutes and start again fresh in another area. Look for areas of the music that need work and focus attention on these. Then play through the piece many times. Start the next practice session with another area of the music that is more challenging.

4. Don't gloss over the notes - To let the music speak clearly, become familiar with the melody. Your ear needs to hear the music clearly to play clearly. Also, don't rely only on your own creative ideas, listen to how others have interpreted the music as well.

5. Add the human element - Creative ideas come to individuals. To connect to your inner artist, make it personal. Imagine each note is an important word in a personal conversation you're sharing with your very best friend. This will bring your own, magical personality into the musical conversation, so that each note resonates as part of a coherent, musical idea that's important to you and honors your audience.

For more information on how piano lessons benefit children, read my earlier post How Piano Lessons Benefit Young Children.

Best wishes for a great piano recital,
Cynthia Marie VanLandingham

Easter Sheet Music - Level One

I had several requests for a level one version of my Easter Composition, The Easter Egg Hunt. So here it .... Level One