Starting in two weeks we are going to begin the Sunday Night Concert series at our house. Everyone is going to play a piece for the family, and sometimes we will have other guests join us. I'm hoping this will help the kids realize why they practice piano...to enjoy music together. It seems like we've lost that joy.
I'm also thinking about how to incorporate a 100 day practice challenge with them. The hardest part about this idea is deciding if there should be a reward at the end. I'm familiar with all of the work done talking about external rewards, but I'm not sure is it a such a terrible thing to reward a huge effort. I think this is something I will discuss with their instructor.
Ultimately I realize that their lack of progress is due to my magical thinking that they will just begin to enjoy practicing, and that they have all the skills they need to make practice efficient. Sometimes it is so hard with gifted kids (or any kids for that matter) to know when they need your help and when they don't. I'm certainly no tiger mom, but I can see the value in continuous work. Thus begins another assessment and brainstorming about how to improve things.
