At some point, every piano parent will have to wrestle their children out the door when it’s time to go to piano lessons.
And when this happens, many piano parents will all be thinking the same things: Why doesn’t she want to go? Is forcing her out the door turning music into a bad experience? Should I let her quit or should I tough it out?
As piano teachers, we do not want our parents asking themselves these questions because they arise from the assumption that piano lessons are the problem. In reality, however, piano lessons are rarely the reason for a student’s reluctance to get in the car and head to the studio.
So, to keep your studio growing strong and to make sure piano lessons don’t take the blame for what’s really going on, today we’re sharing five things piano parents should do before bringing children to lessons.
5 Things Parents Should Do Before Driving To Piano Lessons
One of the most important things we can do as teachers is to act as assistants to piano parents. Sharing information, resources, and advice, and being readily available for dialogue is important not only for the health of your studio, but for the benefit of your piano students. And the best time to share tips with piano parents is before a problem arises.
So, to make sure your piano students are always chomping at the bit to get to lessons, share these five easy-to-implement strategies with your parents so they never have to deal with pre-lesson melt-downs and wonder if the piano is the problem.
- Don’t Make Piano Lessons The Bad Guy: While not always possible, it is best if parents attempt to keep “Piano Lesson Day” as “Piano Lesson Day” only. They should avoid pulling their children away from another beloved activity, interrupting playdates, packing up from a picnic, leaving early from other extracurricular activities, and even abruptly turning off a favorite TV show. All of these situations cause children to feel as though they are missing out on something by attending piano lessons. If, however, piano lessons are the chosen activity for the day, they become the opportunity for fun and excitement.
- Don’t “Rush and Cram”: Parents should avoid having their children cram in a rushed practice session right before a piano lesson. Children won’t have adequate time for the practice session process, making their mistakes seem magnified under a ticking time-limit and causing stress. Children who haven’t already just spent 30 minutes at the piano at home are more focused students in lessons.
- Set Them Up For Success: Children who are well-rested and well-fed learn best. When possible, parents should allow after-school time for their children to decompress, eat a healthy, protein-filled snack and receive one-on-one parental attention. A physically, mentally and emotionally balanced child is a happy piano student.
- Keep Up With Current Events: Before leaving for piano lessons, parents should remind their children of all the fun things that will be happening in their lessons. To be able to accomplish this task, parents need to read their children’s lesson notes and weekly communications to gain insight into studio activities.
- Address Unrelated Anxieties: Unaddressed anxiety can be debilitating for a child and confusing for an uninformed teacher. If piano parents have children who experience separation anxiety, school-based stress, or family-related challenges, it is important that these issues are addressed prior to a piano lesson. Bringing calm and clear children to the studio is essential for musical development. And, if calm and clear children are not always a possibility, then piano parents should inform the teacher of problems and challenges so support and understanding is easier to provide.
Piano Parent Central
Are you looking for more problem-solving information to share with piano parents? If so, check out these past posts below. And, if you are looking for amazing resources that will take your lesson from “okay” to “Oh WOW!”, check out Teach Piano Today’s PianoBookClub and PianoGameClub.
Creating a “Practice Nest” – 5 Ways Piano Parents Can Improve Home Practice
Hi Andrea! Yet another wonderful resource – thank you!
How do you share this information with parents in a friendly way? Do you have a print out you send home? An addition to a studio newsletter? How would YOU like us (fellow piano teachers) to present this information to our families (citing your site as a resource, of course) in a way that is effective?
I appreciate all of your suggestions!
Hi Lacey – you are welcome to print it out, add the text from the 5 points to your studio newsletter (with a small citation of TeachPianoToday), link to the article on your website or share it on Facebook or Twitter. If you are printing it or adding it toy our studio newsletter, I would phrase it as “5 Ways To Keep Your Child Excited About Attending Piano Lessons”. You can either share it with your entire studio population, or with certain families as you see fit 🙂
I think these are wonderful ideas! My concern is addressing these things to the parents in a tactful and positive way, and getting them to read what I send home via paper or email. Parents tend to not read what I send especially if it looks long!
Hi Nancy! You could try posting it in your waiting area if have one? You have a captive audience there! 😉 Phrase it as “5 ways to keep your children excited about attending piano lessons” and then you can copy and paste what we have above (#1-5) and hang it in your waiting area or leave it on a table as a “take-home”. Even though parents are busy and it can be difficult when it comes to written communication, it’s important to continue to try as it may really assist those who do have the chance to read it.
Hi Nancy! Do you have an article about informing parents of an increase in tuition? I enjoy your articles and products so very much. Thank you!