This week on the Time to Practice podcast, we’re speaking with Megan Orton. Megan is a musician, parent, and former Suzuki violin teacher who now runs Mindful Media – where she speaks and coaches parents as they think about setting healthy limits for screen time and navigating parenting in the digital age. In this episode, Megan talks about the impact of modern screen time on children’s motivation and development. She discusses “persuasive design” that has been built into certain kinds of technology and screen time that our kids may interact with. She also explains the impact of “low effort, high reward” like certain kinds of screen time and how they can make real-world “high effort, healthy reward” activities like music practice seem boring and difficult.

Megan shared the science behind the challenges we may see happening with our kids and technology and offers practical advice for parents, such as creating a screen-free buffer before practice and reframing screen time as a “dessert” rather than a main course. She also emphasizes the developmental importance of boredom for fostering creativity and intrinsic motivation.

This is not an anti-technology or anti-screen-time discussion, but our conversation does address some of the challenges students may face when moving from screen-based activities to practice or music lessons and offers practical suggestions to consider. We hope this encourages you that you’re not alone in navigating these challenges and gives you some ideas for solutions.

To Listen to the full episode you can find the Time to Practice Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. You can also listen directly from the link below: 

Practice Motivation & Screen Time with Megan Orton of MIndful Media – Time To Practice

There is a place for both playing for enjoyment and focused, deliberate practice to improve our pieces when we’re learning music and practicing, and on this episode of the Time to Practice podcast, Christine Goodner and Barbie Wong have a conversation all about it.

What is deliberate practice?

Why is deliberate practice, a phrase coined by Anders Eriksson, an important aspect of music practice and why does it help explain what might feel hard about music practice for young children?

We tackle this topic, share our perspective, and offer ways to make deliberate practice work and ideas to make it more enjoyable for students, incorporating it into practice. We share a number of practical strategies for parents to implement deliberate practice into home practice sessions. Ideas like: isolating difficult spots, finding ways to count repetitions or use checklists to mark our progress, and incorporating games and creative stories to make the repetitive work more tolerable and engaging for students of all ages. 

To Listen to the full episode you can find the Time to Practice Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. You can also listen directly from the link below:

Fostering Deliberate Music Practice vs "Playing Through" with Barbie Wong – Time To Practice

Other episodes that share ideas about deliberate practice, or how to think about focused practice on specific spots:

This week on the Time to Practice podcast, I am thrilled to welcome someone whose work has had a huge impact on me and the way I understand my students and music practice. Speech Language Pathologist and Executive Function Skills Specialist Tera Sumpter joins us to talk all about Executive Function Skills & Music Practice. In this conversation, we talk about how Executive Functioning skills are like the conductor of the brain, about the way learning and practicing an instrument…

This week on the Time to Practice podcast, violinist, violist, music educator, and parent Linda Piatt joins us to continue a two-part series on supporting our children with music practice. This week we tackle the subject of challenging behavior in music practice. On our last episode Linda shared her best practices for home music practice and if you haven't listened yet I highly recommend it. You can find that episode HERE. In this installment of our conversation, Linda shares a…

This week on the Time to Practice podcast, violinist, violist, music educator, and parent Linda Piatt joins us to kick off a two-part series on supporting our children with music practice. In this week's episode, she shares with us what she's learned as a teacher, but even more so as a parent, about how families can support their growing music students at home with practice. You won't want to miss her fantastic advice! To Listen to the full episode you…

On this week's episode of the Time to Practice podcast, we're speaking with frequent guest Barbie Wong on the topic of supporting teen & preteen students in music lessons. We talk about the support students moving into their teen years need from both a teacher and parent perspective. We'd love to hear what you'd add to our list and if you have any follow-up questions you'd like to see us address on a podcast episode together in the future! To…

This week on the Time to Practice podcast I'm joined by Dr. Elizabeth Morrow - a cellist, music educator, certified dyslexia therapist, and creator of NoteSense® (a multisensory approach to teaching note reading). I first met Elizabeth at the American String Teachers Association conference earlier this year, after hearing her give a fantastic talk on this topic, and I'm excited to have her join us to talk about her approach to music reading this week. Dr. Morrow shares how she…

How do we help our child(ren) or students make more progress in music lessons? This is the topic of the most recent episode of the Time to Practice podcast. In this episode, Christine Goodner and Barbie Wong discuss several ways parents can help their child make more progress. We also invite you to embrace the fact that your child is on their own journey with music, and comparisons can really backfire. That being said, it's always helpful to think about…

This week on the Time to Practice podcast, bassist, music educator, and author Sherry Luchette is joining Christine for a great discussion on supporting music practice. In this conversation, Sherry Luchette shares her unconventional journey to becoming a bassist, her approach to working with students to find a practice routine that works for them, and a number of strategies for music practice that she has found effective for students to use in their approach to home practice. Enjoy! To Listen…

In episode 97 of the Time to Practice Podcast, we’re speaking with Barbie Wong about how to establish practice routines, or re-establish one, when practicing with kids learning music. In fact, her advice is a great starting point for musicians of all ages looking to establish a practice routine. Barbie shares with us a number of strategies for parents to help make practice a consistent habit and establish music practice as part of the family culture.

To Listen to the full episode you can find the Time to Practice Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. You can also listen directly from the link below:

Barbie Wong: How to Help Kids Establish (or Re-establish) A Practice Routine – Time To Practice