Patterson Performing Arts

Hi, I’m Heather and I am THE worst piano mom. I am a professional musician with degrees in music and yet I never remind my 10-year-old to practice. I regularly forget to even have him pack his piano book to take to his lessons. And the lessons happen at MY studio!

But here’s the thing. This summer, I have discovered THE hack to getting kids to practice piano with zero nagging, zero pushback, AND zero oversight.

Ben takes lessons in my studio’s Accelerated Piano Lab. In our family of musicians, it’s just the natural thing to start some form of instrument lessons pretty early on. And Ben was open to piano (though he’d much rather spend time playing basketball or Minecraft).

I don’t care if he becomes the next concert pianist or studies piano long-term or chooses a musical profession (hence, the lack of nagging or general good parenting around his learning the instrument). But I DO hope that he finds joy in music-making in some form or another, can appreciate music as a future audience member, and learns enough to be able to pick it up later, if he so chooses.

Our Accelerated Piano Lab is unique in that the lessons themselves last longer than a typical beginner piano lesson, so he’s automatically getting more time on the instrument right away, even if he’s not practicing.

And because of the unique format, students learn how to work independently on the piano right from the start, giving them confidence and self-agency right away.

You can think of our instructor as more of a Montessori-style Guide rather than a traditional piano teacher. Instead of the teacher sitting next to the student on the piano bench, breathing down their neck, and correcting all the mistakes over and over that inevitably happen when learning something new, the student is free to try a new concept, experiment, fail, try again, improve, try more, polish, and eventually master each concept as it comes, with instruction and support from the instructor only as it is needed and at the student’s pace.

So here’s the hack! This summer, I instituted a Summer Checklist that my kids must complete to earn screen time. They balked at it at first, but now they start on the list as soon as they wake up, they knock it out with very few reminders, and then they happily grab their screens upon its completion.

The checklist is not intense or a drag. There are items like “play a game with your brother,” and “take vitamins” - easy check-offs. (My favorite is “Help mom with something!”) Well, one of Ben’s items is to practice piano for 10 minutes. TEN, that’s it.

It is literal music to my ears when he sits down at the piano and just starts playing. He opens his piano book and just starts right in. And he always tells Alexa to end the timer and goes right on playing. Because he’s enjoying it!

The hack is two-fold.

One - if you don’t already have a summer checklist for screen time, get one! My kids appreciate the structure and the pride in crossing things off the list.

And Two - consider enrolling your kid in our Accelerated Piano Lab! There’s no way Ben would be confident practicing on his own every day without the self-agency and built-in independent practice he’s learned in the Lab. He would expect me to sit next to him and teach him, if that’s what his lessons looked like. Instead, I get to play duets with my 10-year-old after he’s mastered a song, and he gets to be creative, express himself musically, and have a great time doing something that our whole family loves.

It’s a total win-win! Our studio, Patterson Performing Arts, is hosting an Open House next Saturday morning, where you can come check out our spaces, meet our instructors, find out about our unique Accelerated Lab programs, and even take a free mini-piano or voice lesson!

If you’re ready to enroll at the Open House, you can choose the day and time that works best for you, Mondays-Thursdays, 4:00-7:00pm. The best part is that we’re conveniently located right in the heart of Webster Groves at the intersection of Lockwood & Elm. You can check out our website for more about our offerings, and if you’re ready to sign up for that free mini-lesson, click the link in the comments.

www.pattersonperformingarts.com