More Practice Tips
On Practicing: How to teach your child (or yourself!) to practice a musical instrument
Joshua Brown, M.M.
On Practicing: How to teach your child (or yourself!) to practice a musical instrument
Joshua Brown, M.M.
”You know that if I buy you an instrument and sign you
up for lessons, you have to practice. Right?”
I hear parents say this to their children all the time. Of course, the seven year old aspiring musician nods his or her head enthusiastically and says, “Sure mom, I’ll practice every day” Sometime down the road, when the initial excitement has worn off, we hear it: “My child’s just not practicing, he likes the classes and the instructor and the guitar, but he just doesn’t want to practice!” Sound familiar? Every student contracts the “I don’t want to practice bug” sometime. It can strike all of us, from the beginner to people like me who have been doing this for a long time. In this article, I’ll give you some guidelines to help work through this common phase of learning an instrument.
First off, practice is the MOST important part of learning to play an instrument. NO ONE has EVER learned to play well without practice and I mean a lot of practice. Few dispute this fact, which is why we all tell young students to practice,practice,practice. The mistake we make is assuming that the child has any concept of what practice is! Since they haven’t done it yet, how could they? It’s the parent and teacher’s job to teach the student how to practice. In fact, I think it’s helpful to equate learning to play tan instrument with learning to practice. Instead of thinking, “My child is learning to play the guitar or piano” think “I’m teaching my child how to practice a musical instrument”.
When we teach our students at Allegro, we don’t expect them to know things that we haven’t taught them. For example, I would never get frustrated with a seven year old for not understanding the terminology of “quarter, eighth, half, and whole” since they usually haven’t grasped the concept of fractions yet. I do, however, teach them the value of these notes through a skill they already have (counting). Young children do not intuitively know how to practice. Therefore it is unfair and poor leadership to punish them for not practicing.
Practice is a word we use to lump together a much larger skill set. I’ll list and define some of the components of good practice:
Desire. Most students have the desire to learn or you wouldn’t be here. Parents often mistake the de- sire to play the guitar with the motivation and self discipline required to practice regularly. They are two entirely separate things.
Motivation. You need to be motivated to sit down and practice. Most of us are not motivated every day. Most students need some form of incentive.
Discipline. Discipline is following the rules. Do you count and clap, etc.? Most students don’t at first. It’s the parents job to oversee practice sessions and enforce the rules.
Problem solving. the ability to self correct. Am I holding my instrument/hands correctly? What am I messing up? Beginners can’t self correct. Parents who are attending the lessons can (and should) give pointers at home.
Time management. Scheduling time every day to practice along with homework and other activities. The parent is responsible for scheduling activities including practicing a musical instrument.
Most parents would love for their children to possess these skills. Most adults aspire to them as well. I think we’d all agree that expecting a young child to be responsible for all of the above by saying “go practice your music” is, well, unrealistic and unfair to the child.
Here’s the right way!
1. Your child already has the desire to play. You need to try and motivate them to practice every day. Use an incentive if necessary. We all need incentives sometimes.
2. Through a daily practice routine and following the directions from your teacher, your child will learn discipline. It’s your job to see that they are following the rules.
3. Help your child fix the hard spots. Help them problem solve in
their practice.
4. Work with your child to establish a weekly practice schedule that is mutually agreeable
and STICK TO IT.
5. ALWAYS reward your child for practicing. Re-ward yourself, too.
In Summary, don’t punish a young student for not practicing! It’s our job as adults to motivate, enforce rules, schedule, and reward the students for their hard work. In time, through our guidance and example, they will begin to understand and respect the concept of practicing and its value.