Growth Mindset at the Piano
I have been reflecting lately about the parallels between monitoring my daughters’ piano practice and working with students in the classroom. I consider my time at the piano with my girls every day my own personal ‘growth mindset’ bootcamp. (Any teacher-parents in my reading audience will almost certainly identify with my experience.) The Thursday Problem Piano lessons are on Wednesday for my girls. Faced with new pieces of music the next day (Thursday) my older daughter (age 8) is usually fairly calm, entering the situation with reasonable expectations of success. My younger daughter (age 6) can be a handful on Thursdays. She is a perfectionist and meets every mistake with a groan (moan?) of frustration. She knows that her performance will improve each day and that she will master each piece eventually but this does not help her handle these moments gracefully. The support my kids need from me on the first day of practice is very different than subsequent days. New n...