Music Practice from a Parent & Teacher Perspective: A Conversation with Violinist Andrew Miller

This week we are talking about music practice with violinist, parent, music educator, and the co-director of the Southside Suzuki Cooperative in Chicago, Andrew Miller. Andrew shares his musical journey, from starting violin at age 14 to becoming a violin teacher, parent of young musicians, and his current role at Southside Suzuki Cooperative. He discusses the importance of group music-making for motivation, as well as the unique challenges and rewards of practicing with his own children on violin and cello. Andrew shares practical advice for parents on managing practice time and creating a positive practice environment – I can’t wait for you to listen!

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 of this conversation with Andrew Miller include:

Andrew shares his journey as a 14-year-old beginner and what motivated him as he was learning violin, including making music with peers and a little bit of healthy competitiveness as well. : “I was a little bit competitive, which I didn’t know about myself until I played violin and I remember my aunt and uncle being like, well, if you practice, you’re going to get better than your cousin. And I was like, oh, that’s possible!”

On Performing as a young musician “Even in that, I feel like bringing in my personal family to those concerts made a big impression on me because my aunts and my uncles and my grandparents would come, and some of those were the biggest moments that changed my life.” 

Advice for parents and caregivers on music practice, especially when life is busy:

“If I could go back, I think I would tell myself, you have time. There’s no need to rush. Enjoy what you can do. Know when to quit, have I quit? I mean, know when to, that’s enough practice for the day. That’s good. We don’t have to repeat it one more time and just be invested. From the beginning, I kind of knew, okay, we’re going to do this. We’re going to see it through and we’re going to have some hard days. And so some days I think we listened and maybe played one thing and that’s all we could get that day. And other days we got a couple of good hours and of repetitions and things like that. So treat every day as a new day and do what you can on that day.”

You’ll want to listen to the full conversation to get all of Andrew’s words of wisdom!

Links in this Episode:

Southside Suzuki Cooperative

Andrew Miller’s Bio: https://www.southsidesuzuki.com/jandrewmiller

Before the Beginning: Free Teacher Talk with Crystal Boyack’s Wee Violin Think Tank

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Transcript