The Resistance Factor

If you are saying to yourself or someone else, "I have to practice my piano lesson today" in manner that suggests you would rather be doing something else, it may be an opportunity to engage in some self-reflection. If you are a parent of a youngster involved with piano lessons and your approach to having him or her practice carries with it any sort of negative connotation, you may want to reconsider another way.

Now, this is not a message about parenting and we are not suggesting that piano lessons cannot be used as a vehicle of responsibility. The concern here is the underlying message that goes along with how you tend to this. What is the child's emotional association with practicing? If it's a negative one, it doesn't have to be.

As an adult, you can act as your own "parent" in a sense. You can alter your attitude anytime you want to. If things are going great with your practice/playing routine and you associate joy and enthusiasm with every moment you are at those ivories, then don't change a thing in terms of that attitude. If it works, it doesn't need fixing.

A simple way to put this is: is your time practicing a joy or a job? It never need be the latter. Your thoughts about your experience lead to your emotions about it which, in turn, lead to how you practice and what kind of results you get.

The Thoughts

What does practicing mean to you? Some people genuinely equate the word "practice" with the opportunity to improve skills and they do it with high levels of joy and enthusiasm. Many don't approach practicing piano with the same jubilation. Their focus is on the hard work that goes along with overcoming an obstacle, whether that be fingering scales, getting through a musical passage with confidence, or something else.

Your thoughts about that hard work are what make for either a terrific piano practice session or a miserable one. Let's say, for example, that you are working at perfecting the Ab Major scale ascending and descending over two or three octaves. You can think, "Gosh, I have to get through this scale... this fingering is driving me crazy!" You also have the choice to think, "Wow, the fingering for this scale has its moments. Let me try another approach today to make this easier and more fun!" Which of those thoughts is likely to lead to an emotional state that gets you the result you are looking for?

Now, what if you nurtured a habit that led you to adopting thoughts like the latter on a regular basis? Over time, do you feel that your overall experience sitting at that piano or keyboard of yours would improve? You bet it would! You'd feel better about things in a lot of other areas of your life, too.

Exercise Your Power Of Choice

You see, when you approach a fork in the road, it's up to you which direction you head, right? If you knew that one of those choices was sure to lead to a happier journey, wouldn't you take it?

Take a look at the picture to the right. That cute little guy surely brings great joy to his owner. On the flip side of the coin, it's entirely possible that another person entering the home just might have a different reaction to his existence, even one of fear. Only difference is in the thoughts of the beholder. Get the idea?

"I have to practice" can indeed be changed to "I get to practice!" Wow, see the difference? One creates a feeling of necessity within you... the other creates the feeling of having a privilege (and it is!).

Remember, it's how you think about it...

The choice is always yours.

Let's hear your viewpoint on this. Is there anything you would like to add? Please let us know. We're curious!