What is the best way to learn any new song on any instrument

[mom17]

Just curious to know How kids who are doing good start their new pieces ? DS tries new songs (2 on an average) and shows it to teacher after a week(once a week class) and teacher corrects his mistakes and makes him do practice in class till OK and next week goes in preparing playing old songs of current book and 2 more new songs. Old songs are played once a day and I try to convince him to play new song 5 times a day as initial 2-3 days of any new songs are generally full of pushing as DS complains of them being difficult( he says this all the time till he gets hang of it) and I am getting sick of pushing for those everyday as he is always reluctant to play it 5 times. BTW, this is for Piano ( nearing Grade-1 level, started 7-8 months before). I want other parents opinion as I am at my nerves convincing him to play new songs 5 times a day(3 days goes in frowning).

Wooriedandlost: which grade level Clementi Sonatinas suitable for ?

It's quite possible to works on 10 pieces in a week but obviously it's only possible if the difficulty level is a step or two down from the student's maximum technical level :)

My daughter learnt to play guitar like this - she plays a very high volume of pieces but usually ones she can master quickly. It's been a very successful approach for her.

worried I know what you mean by nagging, I also have a DS soon to be 14, no musical intrest but academic. He needs a lot of nagging and sometimes I feel like I can't do it anymore.

Dd loves routine and if I introduce something in her routine she will stick to it no matter what. So evenings in our house are very much a routine of dinner, a bit of maths work (she needs some extra work as it is not a strong area for her) piano and reading. She is in fact so much in this routine that only my suggestion here and there not to practice her piano pieces comes as a shock to her and she will in fact not go to bed unless she does it. I find it refreshing after having my DS always refusing to do anything extra.

Misti

it's only because she works hard, about 5 hours practise/practice a day.
Maybe less sometimes, depending on what she has on.
It's a bit of an extreme I know, but good for sight reading and its what she wants to do as a profession, not a hobby.

The way she practices pieces is because a good family friend told her this is how he practised, she tried it and it works well for her.
Its supposed to help with fingering to play phrases rather than distinct bars.
playing them out of order helps stop monotony and gives the same amount of work to the beginning middle and end of the piece. Apparently

Glad I am not the only one who is nagging :)

mom17, I don't know about Clementi, sorry! I still did not have a chance to buy this book. But the bit called Allegro is in current grade 3 syllabus.

morethanpotatoprints I think 5 hours of practicing a day is not surprising for a child who sees music as a profession.

By the way, there is a fiction book about young pianists making their way to fame, written by professional musician, if anyone is interested :)
www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Ketil-Bjornstad/dp/1904559352/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425042118&sr=1-1&keywords=ketil

mom17 I also found this if you want the graded studies

Graded Pianoforte Studies, First Series, Grade 1 (Primary) (Graded Pianoforte Studies (ABRSM)) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1854720422/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_i1g8ub0W0DS6K
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1854720422/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_i1g8ub0W0DS6K

morethan 5 hours practice is indeed impressive but normal if she is taking the professional music path.

I was talking to a professional pianist once, practice is daily 5-7 hours. Not sure if this is what dd will want in the future, at the moment she does an hour at her own accord, not timed but by the time she's finished with all she wants to do that is how long it takes.

Do you all attend the music lessons your DCs are having? I currently stay in lessons as her teacher is happy with it, makes it easier for me to remind her what the teacher asked her to practice.

Fleur, your dd is very motivated at a young age and sounds very talented. It sounds like she has fun as well which imo is key to progression.
Nothing annoys me more than seeing children playing the same 3 pieces and scales for months on end to pass an exam.
I know exams have their place and are great to assess progression and as a form of goal, but its sad when it is at the expense of the child having fun.
Does your dd sing in a good choir? This helps so much and again is fun.

Dd is in the school choir and also does singing lessons privately as part of s group. Nothing formal, just 30 min lessons a week where they are having fun singing various songs.

I have to say being the first grade exam she is taking next week I did get a bit frustrated in the last two months as it was all exam preparation. She did have fun though working on all the dynamics of the pieces and funny enough the last piece she learnt is her strongest probably because she didn't "overplayed" it (if there is such think). I feel with the other two she is now beyond improving them and got bored of them, even though she still plays them with a certain satisfaction of achievment, last one though is amazing once she attached all the dynamics to it. She will play it in the school concert end of March also.

Fleurdelise, I always attend lessons, yes, I feel I still need control the whole process. I also try to supervise practice, though at times, when I am away, she is doing it on her own. Thank you for the link to the Graded Pianoforte Studies, it sounds interesting. So, your dd has exam this spring?? Good luck to her and I hope she is not too nervous on a day, and neither is you!

morethanpotatoprints, thanks for pm!

need to control that is :)

Clementini Sonatinas range in difficulty from grade 2/3 to 6. Easiest is no 1 in C major.

Thanks ShellingPeasAgain

Is there any good forum discussing children's violin study and teaching?

BettertoChange, there were quite a few discussions in the past, just type in violin in search box. If you find something else, please share, as dd is playing violin too and I am very interested :)

DD pays for her (cheapest possible) lessons out of her own pocket money and earns the money back with practice (she is practising exam pieces and scales). This is the only way I can motivate her to practice her main instrument.

They are given single keyboard pieces to play in music class (year 8). Dd is fiercely competitive and will practice obsessively if it means she might get a publicly stated top grade.

That's the only good way (for me) that DD does practice.

Hanon:
javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/1/1b/IMSLP91547-PMLP03129-Hanon_Final.pdf

DS2 piano teacher does not teach during the summer holiday. I downloaded a video of this book and DS2 followed it and almost worked to the last page. DS benefits from it for many years. It was when DS2 was 6 years old. I sometimes took out this book and DS still likes to play for few minutes.

I am surprised that DS's piano teachers never suggest this book.

betterto and worried

I hate to take you away from Mnet but have you tried the ABRSM forum.
You need to register to post, but can read without.
Just go to the usual website and at the top is the forum link.
There are teachers, students and parents areas as well as instrument specific.

Morethan, thanks. Been there before. Not much useful information. I wonder, sometimes, violin is such a popular instrument in UK but can't find a forum about it.

morethanpotatoprints thanks for the recommendation. I actually was reading ABRSM forum at some point but than forgot about it, but it is a good idea to come back to it.

I spoke to piano teacher about Clementi book-her reaction was "Good idea, let us use pieces from there!", so I am going to buy it too now :).

it is a long time since I played but I would always start with a section of it and practice that bit over and over, it was obviously much quicker to do that so then I felt more confident about adding on the next section. So I would do say the first however many bars over and over until I felt it was getting there then I would try the next bit and then join them all together and practice and then add the next bit.

no idea if this is a good way to do it or a bad way but it worked for me, I always lacked confidence in my ability and it made me realise I could learn the piece so it could be worth a try.