Practice Tips

MUSCLE MEMORY

Learning to play an instrument is muscle memory, just like sports.

Like sports, this means practice.

HOW MUCH TO PRACTICE

Consistency is the key.

Practice a new song three times back to back for a couple of days.

Then twice back to back a couple of days.

Once the music is mastered, once a day.

Of course, you can practice even more if you like!

How much time? As long as it takes. You might only need five minutes to practice. It might take you a half hour.

For stringed instruments, I recommend no more than a half hour at a time. And you’ll have to work up to that because pressing on strings makes your fingers sore at first. Record the time you started. Play until it starts to hurt, then stop and record the time you stopped. Add one minute of practice every day you practice until you reach 30 minutes.

This is the bare minimum and can vary depending on the age and skill of the student and on the difficulty of the music and the introduction of new concepts and skills.

Knock it out of the park the very first time? Practice your music once a day until the next lesson. Struggling? Practice it three times back to back each day until your next lesson.

KEEPING TRACK

There are lots of ways to keep track of practice time.

Many of these ideas came from parents over the years.

Post a calendar next to your practice area or on your piano or on the wall and mark each day practice requirements have been met. This can be a smiley face or a sticker or a checkmark- whatever motivates.

Put a smiley face or sticker on the assignment every time it’s practiced.

Print out a practice record form from on line and record each practice.

REWARDS

Whether you’re an adult or a youth, both short term and long term rewards help motivate us to practice. Short term rewards can be as simple as a smiley face or sticker on the sheet music or calendar. Other rewards include 15 minutes of electronic time, playtime at the park, etc. Be creative!

Long term rewards can be a new book when a student levels up after a 6 week session or purchasing their own selection of music from a music store or a trip to the public library to choose new music. At the end of each 6 week session, you might have an ice cream date. In the spring, after a school year of hard work, you might reward them with a trip to the zoo or COSI or a museum. Make a list of possible long term rewards.

Dressing up and inviting their friends and family to the recital to hear them perform is a huge motivator. It’s an opportunity for family portraits and get togethers after the recital. They go out to eat to celebrate or go on a picnic or have a special dinner at home.

PARENTAL ROLE

Parents are required to sit next to their kids in class. Can’t tell you how many parents I’ve taught to play in the side seat over the years! Why do I ask this of parents? Because they keep track of assignments, are able to help when their kids have questions at home, and are an encouraging support system their kids need.

Successful students have personally involved parents.

They won’t always need you. But they absolutely need you in the beginning. Every student is different. The older or more experienced students, including teens or students with prior music experience, tend to not need parents as long as younger, inexperienced students. But they all need their parents in the beginning. We’ll both know when they’re able to manage on their own.