What should we expect with practice at home?
Practice is imperative for progress. When a student progresses, they feel confident and excited. Lack of practice many times causes frustration and dissatisfaction with the lesson process. When a student and family makes the commitment to lessons, they are also committing to making a best effort to practice consistently.
Learning HOW to practice effectively is a skill students have to be taught. During lesson we talk about effective practice, we demonstrate it during lesson, and talk about what they should do at home. There are multiple handouts that will be coming home soon — one for the parent and some for the students.
As a parent, how can I help my child practice?
Parents are encouraged to help students establish a consistent routine. They can also ask students to play certain pieces throughout the week. Please encourage them in their good effort! Another idea would be to stop your student in the middle of practice and ask them what their goal is. If they do not have a specific goal in mind, help them come up with a goal.
How much time should my student be practicing?
Each student must make a commitment to practice at least five days a week.
For young students, it is less a certain amount of time as quality repetitions, every day. If time limits help, I would suggest 15 minutes/day for the first year of study, and 20/minutes per day for the second year. By the third year, students should be up to 30 minutes/day.
As students progress, their time at the piano will naturally need to be longer, as they will have longer songs and more detailed things to practice.
What does my tuition fee cover?
I will be prepared to teach 30 lessons for each student. Monthly lesson fee factors in not only lesson time, but teacher preparation, studio classes, materials used in the studio, and various other overhead costs (insurance, professional association fees, continuing education, piano maintenance, etc.). I reserve the specified lesson time for each student as set by the studio calendar at the beginning of the year, and I am committed to providing every student with a comprehensive music education.