# After Judging Nearly Two Hundred Children in a Piano Competition, I Discovered Something Parents Rarely Notice

This is Wonder Piano. In China, we make an AI practice companion for piano practice at home, and we also take a close look at a harder question: what can families do when children do not want to practice, cannot settle into practice, and parents do not know what to say? Here, you will find practice methods, along with the difficulties families can encounter when they try to put those methods into everyday use.

A piano competition judge once publicly shared an account of a judging experience. The competition involved more than eight consecutive hours of judging, with nearly two hundred children taking the stage one after another. She said that, by the end, her attention was no longer on “Was that note wrong?” Instead, she found herself noticing something subtler: how different the children's states of mind were as they walked onto the stage, approached the piano bench, sat down, and finally began to play.

Some children walked onto the stage quickly, almost jogging to their seats, and began playing as soon as their hands touched the keys. Others first adjusted the position of the bench, took a deep breath, and then began. Still others paused onstage for two or three seconds, as though silently counting something to themselves.

![After Judging Nearly Two Hundred Children in a Piano Competition, I Discovered Something Parents Rarely Notice — Illustration](https://static.lianmuse.com/image/blog/dc164fa993667367756b69d44c9a2943.jpg)

The judge said that these differences in those few seconds were a better predictor of how a child would perform than whether they went on to play the notes accurately.

## The Few Seconds Before Taking the Stage Reveal Preparation That Usually Goes Unnoticed

The article argues that a child's state in those few seconds before taking the stage is not determined by their innate personality, but directly reflects whether they have developed the habit of preparing before playing during everyday practice. Children accustomed to sitting down and immediately playing are likely to practice the same way at home: they open the score and start playing, without taking a moment to check that they are ready. In everyday practice, this habit is not a major problem; at most, they play a few extra wrong notes and start again. But in a competition, where they have only one chance, nerves combined with the rushed feeling of starting unprepared make mistakes significantly more likely, in the author's view.

By contrast, children who first adjust the bench and take a deep breath often already follow the full sequence of “prepare, begin, finish” in their everyday practice. A competition simply brings that habit onto the stage, and the familiar routine takes some of the edge off their nerves.

## Parents Can Help Children Build This Habit at Home

You do not need to wait until your child is about to enter a competition to think about this. During practice at home, try having your child do the same small thing each time they sit down, before they begin playing. They might adjust their posture, mentally run through the first few notes of the piece, or simply take one deep breath. The point is not the action itself, but helping children get used to giving themselves a moment to prepare before playing, rather than starting and stopping whenever they feel like it.

Once this habit becomes familiar, the author suggests that children will find it easier to settle into any situation that calls for a proper performance, whether it is a competition, a student recital, or an unexpected request to play something for visitors at home, instead of being thrown off by a sudden wave of nerves.

Does your child have a small routine before they start playing the piano? If not, try helping them build one this week. You can tell us in the comments which one you tried.

[Original WeChat article](http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=Mzk2NDI0NTYzOQ==&mid=2247488113&idx=1&sn=017d2125eed619d6a28bb2b29d16b85a&chksm=c4773399f300ba8f11a70db2653b44ad3cbdb22b90e0d60a3e87409158c9456330fbac903981#rd)