Practicing Tips

“How do I get my child to practice?”  The music parent’s eternal dilemma!  The answer varies from student to student and family to family, so I give you here several ideas in the hopes you’ll find the right one for you.

·      Designate specific Practice Times, and don’t let anything interfere with them.  If it’s 4:30 Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for example, then the young musician must stop whatever else they’re doing at those times and attend to their instrument.  If it was a scheduled soccer practice or karate class, they’d be there.  Treat Practice Time the same way.

·      Pick a daily Practice Time.  Right after dinner might work, or after snack but before homework.  If you’ve got some extra minutes in the morning, that can be an excellent time, as the student is fresh and morning routines generally don’t change.

·      Schedule in Practice Times.  If every week is different, sit down with a calendar on Sunday night and figure out when Practice Times will be for the upcoming week.  Write them on the calendar and stick with them.

·      Don’t skip out.  No fair missing a Practice Time by promising to do twice as much the next day.  It’s far more effective to practice regularly than it is to cram it all in on the day before a lesson.

·      Stack the deck with loaded choices such as “Can you help me with these dishes or were you about to go practice?” or  “I’d like you to fold the laundry, unless you were on your way to practice…?”

·      A sticker chart, that old stand-by, works well with younger children.  The concept of sitting down to practice 5 Steps Up today so they can know how to play a Mozart sonata in many tomorrows may be too abstract to motivate them. The knowledge that they’ll get to pick a sparkly sticker and that five stickers equals a trip to the park isn’t.

·      A no-screen-time rule until practicing has been done.

·      Practice right after a lesson while all the new concepts are still fresh. Waiting a couple of days and forgetting what the teacher said makes everything harder. 

·      Lower your expectations.  This wouldn’t be the first thing I’d advise, but if you’re really struggling to get in practice time, it may be that you’re trying for too big a chunk.  Ten minutes a day can yield remarkable results if it’s consistent.  And it’s hard to argue against just ten minutes.  Often the student ends up playing for longer without realizing it.

·      Call it “rehearsing” instead of “practicing.”

·      Request concerts.  No need to wait for the next recital.  On a Friday evening or Sunday morning or whenever the family has some time together, ask your student to play for you. They can perform the pieces they’ve been working on that week plus some old favorites.  This lets them know you value their effort and, most importantly, want to hear them play. Praise them and leave the correction of mistakes to their teacher.  Celebrate their accomplishment…have some cake.