Practice Makes Better

You may be wondering “how can I get my child to practice their instrument consistently?”

Great question! The old adage says, “Practice makes perfect!” I would amend that to “practice makes better!” Some children may avoid practice because it reminds them that they aren’t perfect, and they have a low threshold for frustration. (Don’t we all sometimes!) In our instant culture of fast food, microwaves, and digital photos, it is especially easy for the youngest generation to forget that sometimes results take time. It’s helpful to have short term goals that are easily achievable to combat this thinking. The short-term goals can then snowball into the desired long-term goal.

I encounter many teenagers who want to be YouTube famous. They want to do covers of their favorite artists and “go viral.” Sometimes they become discouraged when they realize that they are not as talented as they were told by a doting grandparent or that they will not become famous overnight. Part of maturity is realizing that you aren’t the smartest, the prettiest, or the most successful. Contentment and joy can be achieved, however, by setting realistic goals and competing against ourselves.

It’s always best to use positive phrasing and reinforcement to encourage your desired result. For instance, if your child is begging for “screen time” or some other privilege, instead of yelling at them about all the things they haven’t completed, just quietly and calmly state “After you practice piano, you may have (x amount) of (x).” And I will let you in on a parenting secret here: your child will actually listen to you better if you lower your voice. We instinctively try to hear a whisper. State your case calmly and walk away. You don’t want music to be viewed as a punishment.

When talking about lessons, be careful of your phrasing. I cringe every time I hear a parent refer to a lesson as “music practice.” Practice is something that happens at home! Otherwise, you are paying top dollar for your teacher to sit beside your student while they practice. We are here to teach. If you view lessons as just practice time, it’s likely your child does also.

A realistic goal for an eight-year-old student might be practicing their assigned pieces three times each day. This should take them anywhere from 5 – 10 minutes. It’s not a long task, but after six days (and by the next lesson), they will have accumulated an hour’s worth of practice. Often with simple pieces, they will have them memorized. This makes the next lesson a lot more satisfying for both teacher and student, as we can quickly review whatever material was learned the previous week and move on to something new. Students who don’t practice at all between lessons cause what I think of as the “inch effect.” We are only able to move forward an inch at the next lesson, instead of the foot we could have gained if they had mastered the previous material.

A realistic goal for a thirteen-year-old student might be practicing their assigned pieces for thirty minutes each day. After they are mastered, they might spend some time looking ahead at other pieces in their book or other music and attempting something new entirely by themselves.

How do we make practice consistent? We need to make practice a daily habit. One of the best ways to do that is to attach music practice to an activity that occurs daily, such as brushing our teeth, taking a shower, or having an after-school snack.

When I was in middle school and high school, I unconsciously attached my piano practice to the after-school routine. After getting home, I had a snack and caught up with my mom on the events of the day. Then I immediately went back to the piano and practiced for at least thirty minutes. This also gave me a welcome break from academics. Later, after my homework and chores were completed, I often returned to the piano just for fun.

And this is when you will realize that your child loves their instrument. As they become more competent and start seeing progress, their confidence will soar. They will start playing just for fun, and eventually you won’t be able to get them to stop!