I am looking for videos of kids playing piano really well.

My 7-year-old started off very well. His ear and reading ability are very strong. He lost momentum when commitments to other activities got too busy. Getting him to play was like pushing on a string. He regained interest when he saw a video of a prodigy his same age and wanted to be like him.

It is so easy, in our culture, to see examples of athletes. Piano playing is such a solitary activity that the average kid never gets stimulated by a good pianists.

YouTube is FULL of videos of young people playing the piano. Some of them are truly astounding (the true prodigies). Some of them are quite good for their age. Some of them are merely average (or worse), but you can skip them very easily.

Start by picking some pieces that a young person might aspire to play and search YouTube. You'll see good examples quickly enough.

Here's an example. If you search for Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 you'll see Mark Yu pop up pretty quickly. Check it out.

Every day, I drive past a skateboard park. I see children and teens out there rain or shine, putting their personal safety on the line to show their technique and style to each other. Their parents do not force them there, and few if any have professional instructors. The power of COMMUNITY is overwhelming.

We as instructors need to harness this. I have begun monthly group performance sessions this year, modeled after the "skatepark experience", something that I have a lot of experience with as a kid.

I've tried to think of other ways to get this going...Youtube listening assignments ect. Any other ideas?

Well, what about organizing trips to the symphony when younger pianists are playing concerti.

My son's youth orchestra is doing precisely that and the venue offers large discounts. We're paying $25 for a three-pak of tickets. We'll get to see three separate orchestras (Dublin, Warsaw, and Cleveland) for a bit over $8 an evening each. The youth orchestra is not interested in concerti per se, but fortunately for us each concert features a piano concerto! Double benefit for me and my son.

If you are fortunate enough to live in an area that is large enough to sponsor concerto competitions for young people, that is another thing to go to as a group. That way you can see true peers (late elementary through high school) performing at a high level.

Jeremy said: "The power of COMMUNITY is overwhelming."

Yes, it is. Also the power of connecting with others in music.

I would be cautious about comparing other students to this student. Comparision of self to self (past to present to future) would be possible helpful if the student is able to foresee goals. Age 7 is rather young for a child to use logic and plan. "If" and "then" are teachable, but choose your time carefully.

Participating in musical events as a family, either live, you tube, or together at the instrument in your home, puts people into the picture.

Communication with others with our music is important....there are opportunities to be had.....and the quality of them is more important that the quantity of them, I think.

Just get started and find a path of enrichment together.

Go to a harp concent - university recitals - listen and watch mariachi bands and study a map of Mexico - Linda Ronstadt is an afficienado and has switched to mariachi music.

On you tube there were several players of pan pipes using vegetables as their instrument. Don't you think that would get a childs attention?

It doesn't all have to be serious, does it?

Ideas, anyone?

Betty

I'd suggest attending another teacher's studio recital. It'll be even better if your child knows the kids playing at that recital. Ask the classmates at school if they are having private lessons.

One of my private piano students is now willing to take the theory test because several of his friends at school are taking the test. Peer pressure, I presume.

This 'community push' style may be great, or may backfire too - it depends on the kid's instincts.
I would have been extremely frustrated[/b] to see other young ones pushing with the huge raw willpower I could not match (so many Asians now expend...).

Well, at least in the communities around where I live, this "community push" style is very, very powerful. You will witness good areas getting freakishly better, and the bad areas getting worse and worse. I like to use public school classrooms as an example because they mirror what's going on in the surrounding communities. I've observed schools that are in the top 5% of the entire country! Kids in those schools continue to push each other to do well. Then there are schools that are living in a culture of apathy. I continue to see students who actually care about school getting bullied or pressured into not caring. Caring is no longer cool.

Take the kid to a music festival. I've found ragtime festivals to be quite inspiring, though I'm sure that other piano-centered music festivals would be similar in effect. There are always plenty of talented kids at the festivals I go to, and the general community is very friendly and accepting. It's not so much about a grim struggle to practice 8 hours a day on raw willpower, but more about having so much fun at the piano that you want to get better at it.

Here's an 11-year-old kid:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2BoPB9uciJo&feature=related

This is a really good idea!

I did this years ago, but had to stop when my roster filled up. It made a huge difference.