Being a Parent of a Musical Child - Part 2: Solid Practice Routines for Kids
- Aug 5, 2017
- 3 min read
A solid practice routine is important for your child’s musical success. The younger the child, the less likely they are to be able to develop an effective routine on their own; it's in your hands! Be willing to take the time out of your day to supervise their practice time, and make it part of their daily routine, like brushing their hair and teeth.
Start with a goal for each practice session, and hold them to that goal. It might take them a few minutes to achieve it, it may even take an hour or more. That's okay!! They will learn at their own pace, one goal at a time.
For younger children, keep each block of practice time small, five to ten minutes working on a few bars of music at a time, so they don't become overwhelmed. The more excited they are, the more of these smaller blocks they will want to do.
Create a practice log so your child can visually track his or her progress. This helps build excitement as it grows.
Practice most often needs to be focused. After all, it’s difficult to learn a thing if you stop just before mastering it each time. That is not to say that no one should ever play around during practice; creativity is important too. Give your little one time to play with their instrument as well as playing on their instrument.
With regards to creativity, be sure to expose your children to a wealth of different genres from very early on. We exposed our kids to everything from the great classical composers as well as traditional regional folk music forward. As a result, though they have developed their own personal favorites, they have extraordinarily diverse palates, and they recognize a great deal of compositions spanning not just genres, but centuries.
When your child is struggling with a particularly gnarly measure, make a game out of learning it to keep them motivated. One parent tackled it in this way:
“You put three pennies on the left side of your music stand. On a troublesome measure, you play it once, and if you get it right, you move the penny to the right side of the stand. If you play it again and get it right, you put the next penny on the right side of the stand. If you play it again and miss a note or rhythm, then all three pennies get put to the left. You must play the measure correctly three times in a row in order to keep the pennies. The next step is to connect the troublesome measure before it and continue playing.”
If you continue to struggle getting your child just to sit down to practice, try changing the time of day that you have blocked out for it. When you find a time that seems to flow well with their willingness, stick with it.
Also, if your young one is balking at a particular instrument, but showing interest in another, listen to them. They may struggle until they find the instrument (or instruments!) that’s right for them. It isn’t flakiness; there are a LOT of instruments these days, and finding the one that feels right to your little maestro is a process.
As your child gets older, the responsibility for practice fulfillment needs to shift to them. Be certain that as you transition them, you are getting the lesson across that they will only get out of their efforts what they put in, and the importance of following through on their goals and their responsibility to themselves to take the journey to achieving them.
Finally, take great care to remain positive in all aspects of this journey. Encourage your musical trainee. Praise them for each small achievement. Coax. Cajole. Never ever EVER criticize or belittle them. That’s a very fast off ramp for the lifelong enjoyment of the gift of music. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and the rewards are immeasurable. There are very few gifts that are more precious that you can give your child, and the dividends are near constant and forever.
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