1st Asia Grand Piano Concert
To practise means to repeat with intention.
To this end, music teachers should bring parents into lessons and show them how their children should practise at home. Put another way, parents should make it a point to sit in to lessons and find out what their children should be doing during practice time at home.
It would be ideal if children set a goal for every practice session, e.g. spend 15 minutes on perfecting two bars.
Hong Kong pianist Hui Ling says that merely putting in time at the piano everyday is not good enough. She was sharing her views at a forum held in conjunction with the 1st Asia Grand Piano concert organised in Kuala Lumpur in June by the Chopin Society Malaysia.
It is common for parents to ask how long their children should practise. It doesn’t matter, Ms Hui declares, as long as your child accomplishes something during the practice session. It is not how much you practise, but how you practise. Parents should not blame children if they make mistakes but rather should encourage them.
According to Ms Hui, children in Hong Kong generally learn music for two reasons – examinations and competitions, both of which have their advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is that both exams and competitions are good to get the lazy people going, while the disadvantage is that a student learns three (exam) pieces every year, which is not a good thing for the younger students as they are able to learn faster and should, therefore, be helped to learn as much as possible
