How to Help Your Kid Practice
As musicians ourselves, we understand the importance of practicing. We also understand how difficult it can be to get your kid to practice. Here are some pro-tips for ensuring that your child is making progress with the instrument they are mastering.
Establish a Routine
Keeping a consistent and short routine can help kids get into the habit of practicing on a regular basis. It’s better to keep every-day practice periods on the shorter side. For ages 6-12, we recommend between 15 and 30 minutes each day. However, depending on their learning style, 10 minutes a day might be a better fit for your kid. Rule of thumb: a few minutes each day is much better than a longer practice period once a week. Practicing every day will help your child become more comfortable with their instrument over time while also allowing them to master what they are playing.
Set Reasonable Goals
As a young person, setting standards that are too high can lead to disappointment for your little musician. That’s why we recommend focusing on smaller wins. Encourage your child to focus on one different part of the piece they are playing during each practice session. For new pieces, focus on the beginning, and then move forward to the next part of the piece once they feel comfortable. Try to figure out what parts of the piece are the most difficult and spend more time on those. Doing this will have your child mastering pieces before you know it.
Have Fun
If there is one thing that kids love to do, it’s have fun. Use this to help your kid practice their instrument. The last thing you want is for your child to see practicing their instrument as a chore. Playing an instrument is a wonderful thing that should bring joy to their lives. Having fun will keep their spirits up and help their progress, and there are a bunch of ways to achieve this. You can turn practicing into a game by incorporating their favorite board game, have them play the music they enjoy, or even use a reward system for their progress. You know your child best and can figure out what will work for them.
Stay Involved
Being part of your child’s journey in playing an instrument is a beautiful thing, and we applaud you for doing so. After all, you wouldn’t be reading this article unless you wanted to stay involved. Our biggest piece of advice here is to listen to your kid. You don’t have to be a musician to know what they should be playing and what it should sound like, so simply listening to them can help you help them. Make sure they aren’t distracted while they practice (no screens!) and try to hear how they are progressing when you can. After they practice, ask them questions about their feelings towards the instrument or what they are playing. Maybe the drums aren’t for them, and they are more of a trumpet person. Maybe their learning style doesn’t match how their teacher is coaching them. Staying involved in these ways will give you the understanding to help them and let us know how we can improve on our end.
Getting your child to practice their instrument is not an easy feat, but using these tips will guide them in the right direction when they’re not with their music teachers.
As an institution that is a beat above the rest, Breaking the Barrier School of Music provides quality music lessons in a family atmosphere to students of all ages and skillsets. For more articles like these or information on this school, visit https://btbschoolofmusic.com/
