Practicing A Musical Instrument

Practicing a musical instrument should not just be done during each lesson with an instructor, but also at home. Helping your child build their routine, patience and love of playing is essential to the development of their skill and passion. Use the techniques below in helping your child experience the possibilities.

If starting lessons for the first time, the teacher should give your child a practice assignment journal, or copies of assignment sheets. This assignment journal can be used for communication between you and the teacher and for you to be able to track your child’s practices and progress.

Guidelines for practicing at home are that your child should practice the length of the lesson time 5-7 days a week. In other words, if he or she is taking a 30 minute lesson, they should be practicing 30 minutes per day 5-7 days a week. The 30 minutes do not have to be consecutive. So, for example, if you lead a busy lifestyle, as many of us do, your child could practice 10 minutes before school and 20 minutes after school in one or two sessions. It is preferable to practice steadily every day. However, as a matter of practicality, if necessary, your child can practice less on days that have a lot of homework and other activities going on and more on days that are quieter, for a total of 2-3 hours per week. So many of our schedules today are constantly keeping us on the run. Managing time and fitting practice into yours and your child’s schedule is important. Music is exciting and fun and should always stay that way, however, stress can quickly take that excitement away. Keeping the lines of communication open between you, the teacher, and your child will help in executing the best methods that seem to have the best effect for your child. Let’s face it, every child responds a little differently to situations.

Success with the study of a musical instrument requires steady practice and good communication and support between the student, teacher and parents.