In part one I discussed how the child changes around the age of eight. In a nutshell: the child goes from highly motivated to please her parents to wanting to become independent. This shift in the source of motivation can cause quite a bit of at-home tension.
So the first thing to do is acknowledge who wants want. That adult/parent wants the child to play. The child wants to play by herself. A middle ground must be reached.
Since the child is motivated by independence, the adult should acknowledge this need. Approach this slowly. Find easy tasks that the child doesn't seem to need much help with. For example, sight reading assignments. If there's no new complicated rhythm in the sight reading, it's not unreasonable to have the child work on figuring out the sight reading on her own. The goal of the assignment (to read notes) is very cut and dry.
The same goes for figuring out a new piece. Provided the child has all the appropriate tools (sheet music and a recording) then there is no reason why she can't start this process on her own if that's the assignment from the teacher.
The adult's arena is to ensure quality. This is less cut and dry and will also be met with resistance. But it's also the adult's responsibility to establish the boundaries. Establish what areas the child can do independently and what areas must be done together. And then stick to those boundaries.
Anything that requires detailed perfecting should be a joint effort. This is not simply about the number of repetitions. This is about the number of quality repetitions. So, for example, if there is a tricky passage in a piece of music. The child may have an understanding of the passage but the adult is there to see that the passage is executed the same way every time.
A really good strategy for working with children of this age is to have a reliable neutral party. This means having a recording device or a mirror readily available. The neutral party removes the conflicting points of view. Both the adult and the child knows the assignment. The neutral party is there to prove if the assignment is being done correctly.
Monitoring quality does not mean that the adult has to be an overbearing tyrant during the practice. Sometimes just being in the same room is enough to remind the child that quality is going to be important. The job of the adult is to assert the lesson that practicing is not a simple task and is about more than establishing independence.
So the first thing to do is acknowledge who wants want. That adult/parent wants the child to play. The child wants to play by herself. A middle ground must be reached.
Since the child is motivated by independence, the adult should acknowledge this need. Approach this slowly. Find easy tasks that the child doesn't seem to need much help with. For example, sight reading assignments. If there's no new complicated rhythm in the sight reading, it's not unreasonable to have the child work on figuring out the sight reading on her own. The goal of the assignment (to read notes) is very cut and dry.
The same goes for figuring out a new piece. Provided the child has all the appropriate tools (sheet music and a recording) then there is no reason why she can't start this process on her own if that's the assignment from the teacher.
The adult's arena is to ensure quality. This is less cut and dry and will also be met with resistance. But it's also the adult's responsibility to establish the boundaries. Establish what areas the child can do independently and what areas must be done together. And then stick to those boundaries.
Anything that requires detailed perfecting should be a joint effort. This is not simply about the number of repetitions. This is about the number of quality repetitions. So, for example, if there is a tricky passage in a piece of music. The child may have an understanding of the passage but the adult is there to see that the passage is executed the same way every time.
A really good strategy for working with children of this age is to have a reliable neutral party. This means having a recording device or a mirror readily available. The neutral party removes the conflicting points of view. Both the adult and the child knows the assignment. The neutral party is there to prove if the assignment is being done correctly.
Monitoring quality does not mean that the adult has to be an overbearing tyrant during the practice. Sometimes just being in the same room is enough to remind the child that quality is going to be important. The job of the adult is to assert the lesson that practicing is not a simple task and is about more than establishing independence.
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