What do eating Broccoli, doing homework, and practicing an instrument all have in common? They are all hurdles you have to get your child to do. If your child is taking music lessons and not practicing at home you are wasting your money. The good news is, getting your child to practice may not be as hard as it sounds. So before you give up, read on and learn how to make music lessons a great experience that your child will carry with them for the rest of their life.
Thirty minutes a week is not much time. No one can play an instrument once a week and expect to get better. Music teachers simply give students the guidance and exercises that will help them improve when they go home and practice. Some kids will go home and practice everyday without prompt, if this is your child, consider yourself very lucky. For the rest of us, we as parents have to motivate our children to work at their instrument everyday. There are four major things that will help you make sure your child is practicing, and help your child want to practice.
1. The first step is to make sure they have an instrument that they can practice on. This may sound obvious, but there are some examples I have seen over the years that are worth pointing out. If you child wants to learn how to play the drums, do not just buy them a practice pad and think they are going to practice. They do not want to learn how to play a practice pad, they want to learn how to play a drum kit.
If your child is old enough and big enough to play a full size guitar or bass, do not buy them a 3/4 size instrument just because it is cheaper. Nothing is more embarrassing for a teenager than to be playing a guitar that is clearly made for a young kid. I have mentioned this in other articles, but the super cheap guitars you find at Walmart or any other department store are almost always built so poorly that no student is going to practice on them. Almost every student I have ever taught that had a department store guitar gave up in the first year. The guitars are literally built so badly that they are difficult to play. I have sat in a lesson room for 15 minutes without even being able to get one in tune. If every time your child tries to play their instrument it sounds bad, there is no way they are going to want to keep playing it (more on this can be found in our article about picking out a students first guitar).
2. Just like eating well or doing well in school, it takes commitment from the parents to invest in their child's experience. Once your child has a guitar, you must help make it a part of their routine to practice. Most families have some sort of schedule once their child gets home that incorporates dinner, homework, other activities, etc. Plan on including practice time in that routine. If you do not help your child set aside time to practice, most likely, they will not practice.
Practice is not enough, you need to know what they should be practicing and plan to help, especially with younger students. Any music instructor will be MORE than happy to sit down with you and explain what their child is working on, what they should be practicing and how. I have taught many students where I talked to the parents every week at the end of their lesson teaching them what I taught their child.
3. Make sure they are happy with what they are learning. This may be less true with lessons that are more purely intending for a classical instruction. If your child is wanting to learn any form of popular music, the instructor should be working with them to make sure they are excited about what they are learning. Most all teachers will include some scales, finger exercises, maybe even some sight reading or ear training, but their should also be an element of learning songs your child enjoys and is excited about.
4. Nothing is going to get your child excited about playing music like the opportunity to play with other musicians. Playing with other musicians, or forming a band is not the beginning of a life of crime and academic failures. I have seen time after time that students who play in bands, or even just with some friends are much more motivated. Their development is being evaluated by their peers and nothing will make a student practice like knowing that doing so is going to make them look more impressive. Supporting them playing music with others will increase their commitment to lessons, teach them self confidence, and install a work ethic and level of dedication that will make every penny you spend on lessons worth it.
In summary, how much your child gets out of their lessons has a lot to do with you. It is a commitment on the parents part just as much if not more than on the child's part. Make sure they have the right instrument, have your support and structure to practice (and practice correctly), make sure they are excited about what they are learning, and help facilitate them taking ownership in their musical journey by playing with others and setting their own goals and you will see your child grow musically and personally, guaranteed.
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