Creating an Environment for Your Young Musician to Thrive with Barbie Wong

This week we’re excited to have our monthly guest, Barbie Wong, who has done extensive research on the lives of professional musicians and especially their musical environments growing up. She is back on the podcast to talk about ways that you (or the families that you work with) can help create a musical environment for your children as they work on developing their musical skills. 

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

Highlights from this episode on creating a musical environment at home include:

Barbie Wong’s number one tip for creating a musical environment at home:

“If you’re a parent and there’s not music playing in your house every day, make that your first priority.” – Barbie Wong

• Exposure to live music performances, whether professional concerts or recitals by friends, can be highly motivating for music students. Some concerts can be quite expensive to attend, but there are often many free and lower-cost options available in our communities if we look for them.
• Parents can play a significant role by sharing the music they love and expressing their enthusiasm for it. We’re not just talking about classical music here. Share music you love with your child and let them see the joy it brings you!
• Providing an encouraging environment, rather than being overly critical, is crucial for nurturing a child’s love for music and it doesn’t come naturally sometimes. Barbie shares a personal story of her own journey learning to be an encourager for her children in practice.

• Opportunities for students to make music with their peers, such as through group lessons or ensembles, can be invaluable for maintaining their interest and engagement. Often as students get older, simply practicing alone for their lessons with their teacher is not motivating enough to keep them going. Most musicians we know stayed involved in music because they loved making music with others.
• Incorporating listening to great music into your family routines, such as during mealtimes or bedtime, can help create a consistent musical environment at home and help us make sure we’re listening to great music and creating the musical environment that is both motivating and getting our children familiar with the great music that is out there to listen to and maybe to one day play on their instrument.

Links in this episode: 

Barbie Wong’s website: https://Barbiewong.com

Learn more about the community that Christine & Barbie are starting and come join us: https://barbiewong.com/community/

Find blog post & Transcript for this episode here: https://www.Suzukitriangle.com/ttpepisode72

Find Christine’s Books on Bookshop.org HERE 

Connect with Christine on Instagram

Transcript