Five Oaks Beginning Band

Kiernan McLain (left) and Aran Robison-Oehme practice in their band class at Five Oaks Middle School in Beaverton in October.

(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

If you've got a budding pianist, violinist or drummer at home, chances are you've encountered foot-dragging, eye-rolling and general resistance when you gently suggest it's time to practice.

Practice is what makes lessons pay off, but it can lead to arguments and tension at home. The good news is that parents can take steps to make the experience fun and productive. At least that's what local pianist James Walls, a longtime instructor at a Portland studio, told us when we asked for his advice on how to make the most of practice time at home.

Get involved. If your child is young, sit in on the lesson so you understand what he or she is learning. Take notes. Think of yourself as a teacher's helper, Walls said in an emailed response to questions from Omamas. "At home your job is to monitor, guide, encourage your child through their music lesson 'homework.' "

Kids who are learning to play an instrument should keep a journal where they jot down the amount of time they spend practicing each day and the pieces they're working on.

"As a teacher," said Walls, "I need to see how much time has been spent playing and practicing in order to assess progress." The point, he said, isn't to "shame and blame," but "to find the key that unlocks the student’s interest to the point that they can’t wait to play and improve."

Shoot for 30 minutes of practice a day. Walls said to encourage your child to play daily, but don't focus too much on the clock. "It isn't just how long the student practices," he said, "but how effectively."

Try doing a "dry practice." Walls asks his students to step away from the piano, look at the music and tap and sing the piece before they attempt to play it.

"Students often want to jump in and work out technical aspects of a piece before examining the meaning of the music, what the composer had in mind, and what images or ideas the music seeks to communicate," he said. When his students go on vacation, he asks them to take a piece of music with them to read and sing "as they would read a book."

"It’s surprising how well they can learn pieces by getting away from their instrument," said Walls.

Spice up the scales. Sure, scales can be a drag. Many kids want to "rip through" the scales and arpeggios without giving any thought to the notes. Walls said parents should encourage kids to think of scales as fun.

"Why play them in a cold and boring way without shape or color?" he said. "Encourage your child to think about what they’re doing. Have them imagine that their practice 'scale' is part of an ascending scale, light and nimble, that fades away to nothing. For fun, practice it that way — then change it."

Slow down. Walls recalled a student who played well for his age but kept making mistakes on one piece. When Walls asked the boy to slow down, the child resisted. "I can't play it slowly because I make mistakes," the student told Walls. Walls, who laughed when recounting the story, said many budding musicians want to race through pieces, but playing fast doesn't help.

"I remind students that fingers have memory," Walls said. "Play passages incorrectly a few times and you begin to memorize it that way. Your fingers want to go to the wrong notes. They have their own minds."

Exercise those fingers. Walls asks parents to play finger games with their child to develop "finger independence." A simple game looks like this: Have your child place his or her hands down on a surface firmly while you call out numbers (1,2, 3, 4, or 5) in different order. Student lifts that finger number in each hand, while trying to keep the other fingers firmly on the surface. He said kids learning violin, horns and even drums can give this a try.

Stick to the score. Play the music as it is written, said Walls. Don't add or delete notes. Walls recalled how his own instructor once warned, "Let's hear it a la Bach and not a la Jim!" Walls said that when students make a mistake, they should go back and play the measure again. After the second mistake, circle the notes and play the passage five times. "If you make the same mistake a third time," Walls said, "you're striking out and not thinking."

Learn to listen. Play recordings of famous artists performing the piece your child is working on. But instead of having them listen casually, have them follow along with the score in front of them, "following every note and phrase — paying attention to dynamics, shading, tempo, interpretation."

Join a choir. Walls encourages his students to take part in choir, which helps young pianists develop an ear for the music. He said singing in a choir helps pianists to know "when the right hand must shine forth and the left hand remain more in the background."

"Until mastered, accomplishing this on the piano can be like patting your head and rubbing your stomach," he said. "Choir participation is the best remedy for reaching higher standards for solo performance."

Get Grandma and Grandpa involved. Grandparents, friends and neighbors can give your child a boost. Walls said parents should have their kids play for others over the phone or on home movie clips. Organize a neighborhood or family talent show.

Finding delight in playing an instrument is the point of lessons, said Walls.

"It isn't my goal to see that you become a concert pianist," he said. "What I would like you to do is consider the piano your friend all your life."

-- Noelle Crombie