Improvements To Practice Environment

Piano students can improve their progress by making improvements to their practice environment. Making some simple changes to the practice environment can help students learn more, especially young beginning students. Too often students compare themselves to experts they see on television and their teacher without considering what went on behind the scenes to make that happen. Parents can help their beginner gain a more realistic perspective about what needs to go on behind the scenes at home so that students make the progress they want to make and feel good about their lessons.

The practice environment will do one of two things.

1. It will detract from learning; or
2. It will support learning.

Make a list of things in the environment that support learning. Make another list of things in the environment that create distractions. Since kids tend to self-distract a lot, the environment needs to be as helpful as possible. Here are ten examples of factors that detract from the learning environment. You can probably think of more.

Practice Environment Distractions

1. No routine practice time established.
2. Busy running errands with parents so no time is left for practice.
3. Television is on in the piano practice room.
4. Friends coming to play at practice time.
5. Eating snacks at the piano during practice.
6. Music books scattered around the floor, they get lost or "misplaced."
7. Pets or younger siblings demand student's attention.
8. No routine practice time established.
9. Busy running errands with parents leaving no time left for practice.
10. Keyboard is moved to student's bedroom where they isolated during practice.

Supportive Practice Environment

1. The television is turned off during practice.
2. Student is undisturbed during practice, but not isolated.
3. Music books are kept in a piano bag with a lesson assignment book.
4. Student follows teacher's directions in assignment book, finds appropriate books in their music bag.
5. Student uses a timer at the piano so they don't have to keep wondering, and stopping lessons to ask how long they've been practicing.
6. Parents politely thank their student's friends for wanting to play and give assurances that after piano practice you will call them, and not during or before.
7. Younger siblings are kept occupied during practice and pets are outside.
8. Parents give positive encouragement and help with basic knowledge, but student is encouraged to practice independently.
9. Parent's make sure students nailed are kept trimmed so student learns to play with ease.

It's a good idea to talk about these things with your child and get their input as well. Ask your child to help make a list of what creates distractions during practice and what supports their learning at home. This will make your beginner feel that their opinions are valued and that you trust them to be responsible. Once you have your child's agreement on the list, it's a whole lot easier to get them to buy into it because it makes sense to them.

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Campaigning For Environment

Pressure groups that campaigned for the environment, such as Greenpeace, started out on the fringe of society. Nowadays, environmental issues are high on the agenda of the major political parties. Has it all been left too late? Hopefully, the will to overcome problems will be strong enough and practical solutions can be implemented.

Politicians have realized that their voters are worried about carbon gas emissions, pollution and climate change and these environmental issues must be addressed. Traditionally, the political parties have been more focused on winning elections and introducing voter friendly policies with a quick turnaround. Tackling the environment is about finding long term solutions.

Big business has also joined the debate. Oil companies fund their own research into alternative energy sources. Of course, cynics will say, this is more to do with commercial reasons and not as a matter of conscience. The oil will run out sometime and alternatives have to be found.

Sometimes, the ordinary individual feels swamped in the face of such global problems. We are all urged to reduce our carbon footprint but it has to be a unified effort. Taking personal responsibility is the first step. It doesn't take much effort to recycle, buy long life light bulbs and leave the car in the garage for certain journeys. Everyone can get involved in environmental issues. If there is a problem, then there is a solution waiting. Wasted energy is a big factor. Heat escapes from homes with poor insulation, central heating is set too high and most people are guilty of leaving electrical appliances on stand by.

So what are the solutions? For people to be persuaded to leave their cars at home, there must be an improved public transport service. Some local authorities in the UK are piloting a scheme, whereby householders are fined if they don't recycle their waste. We all take our appliances for granted and it's inconceivable that people will do without their washing machines, fridges, TVs and stereo systems. Do we really need leaf blowers, garden heaters and electric carvers? Would civilization come to a halt if we got rid of dishwashers?

The other thorny subject is travel. Plane tickets get cheaper all the time and the British and Europeans particularly enjoy holidays abroad. Some people campaign for holiday airplane trips to be limited. Perhaps domestic plane journeys in small countries such as Britain could be banned. We all like to be mobile but there is a high price to pay. If we don't compromise, we will have to explain to our grandchildren, why we didn't stop constant floods, acid rain and other environmental issues.