Atomic Habits: Helping Music Students Build the Habit of Practice

“We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act it’s a habit.”

– Will Durant (often attributed to Aristotle)

 

As a music teacher, I think a lot about excellence. How do I teach with excellence? How do I develop it in my students? How do I help my own children develop it?

I’ve always loved the quote about excellence being a habit because I have come to realize how accurate it is that what we do over and over is what develops us.

So how do we help instill good habits in ourselves and the children we work with?

Recently I read a great book that explains how habits are developed. It is on my list of books to re-read every year – it’s that good! I highly recommend reading Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. The author weaves together lots of research about habit formation, and I want to share one piece of what he talked about and how it applies to music students.

In the book, James Clear lays out a framework of Four Laws of Behavior Change:

1. Make it Obvious
2. Make it attractive
3. Make it easy
4. Make it satisfying

This really got me thinking about how true this is when we are establishing the habit of practice.

Maybe you are just starting lessons with your child and trying to set up a practice routine for the first time. Or, maybe your child needs to get back into the habit of regular practice after being inconsistent about it. This framework is a great way to think about getting the practice habit going.

Make it Obvious

Make sure you and your child know what to practice. It is hard to get started if it’s unclear what to do first. This can sometimes keep us from doing anything.
Make a plan before you start. Take notes in lessons and ask your teacher to clarify if you’re not sure what practice should look like at home. I like families to think about following the format of lessons which might be something like scales, note reading or specific exercises, review material, and new music.
Just saying “Time to practice” or “go practice” does not make it obvious what actually has to be done. You can use my Three-minute method of planning practice if you need help getting started with this.

Make it Attractive

Practice is hard work. It is not naturally attractive to most students, which is why it can be so hard to be consistent. A lot of what makes practice attractive is the environment we practice in.

Is it positive?

Are we getting encouragement or criticism?

In his bonus chapter on Atomic Habits of parenting, James Clear says
“Interestingly, one of the best ways to motivate your children to act a certain way is to act that way yourself.”

Are you showing enthusiasm for practice as the practice parent?

Are you setting up a positive practice environment? (read more about that here)

Do you practice something on a regular basis that your child sees you working on?

As children get older, it is often peers that make practicing more attractive to get done.
Is your child attending group classes regularly?
Are they part of a youth, school, or community orchestra?

Make it Easy

The practice itself is hard. But, we can make it easier to get started practicing. We can make it easier to transition into practice with a routine and with a clear plan for what we’ll work on.
Practice is easier to accomplish when we have a scheduled time for getting it done each day.
It’s easier when we have a space to practice in with minimal distractions.
It’s easier when we have an instrument in working order, and that gets a good sound.

“The idea behind make it easy is not to only do easy things. The idea is to make it as easy as possible in the moment to do things that pay off in the long run.” – James Clear in Atomic Habits

Make it Satisfying

“If there is a reward associated with a behavior—that is, it feels good and has a satisfying ending—then we have a reason to repeat it in the future.” James Clear

Clear points out that one of the most significant ways parents can provide rewards in this way is through praise.

Recently I attended a workshop where Charles Krigbaum was speaking, and he talked a lot about asking parents to listen to review pieces and just offer encouragement – I think that is an excellent example of this idea at work.

Clear also suggests ignoring the bad but giving tons of attention to the good.
He also suggests coming up with some kind of token system – the key being that you give them out when good things happen but don’t take anyway when there is something not as good happening.

These ideas make us focus on building a habit with positive reinforcement. It’s very tempting only to point out what needs work, but this is not making it a more satisfying experience to practice and can actually be counterproductive.

I recently read a post from a parent in one of the facebook groups I am a part of who used this type of reward system. The parent shared that each time their child practiced something well, they put one penny in a jar. After one hundred pennies were collected, they went to the dollar store to pick out a reward.

Think how satisfying it is to see all that positive feedback add up – it makes practicing the next time much more appealing!

I hope you’ll take James Clear’s framework and some of the ideas and try them out in practice this week. Building the practice habit is a huge key to success. Happy Practicing!