Group class
Keeps you in good shape - like dribbling and passing drills in basketball - these are the fundamentals and once you know how to do them you keep them a part of each practice - they are the foundation of other skills you will work on.
sample practice chart
How do I get my child to WANT to practice without being reminded?
In episode 76 of the Time to Practice podcast, Barbie Wong joins Christine to answer this frequently asked question that we have both heard often when working with families of music students. “How do I get my child to WANT to practice without being reminded?”
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:
How do I get my child to WANT to practice without being reminded? with Barbie Wong –
Time To Practice
A few highlights from this episode:
We start off this conversation acknowledging that students can want to play their instrument, but also at the same time not want to do the hard, focused work of practice. This is perfectly normal given the amount of focus and discipline it takes to practice. Even some professional musicians that Christine has interviewed have shared that they don’t “want” to practice, but they love to perform and make music with other people so they make themselves do it.
When we realize how normal this is, we can take away the worry that something is wrong or our child isn’t “cut out for music.”
That being said, we want to share ideas about how to help inspire more interest in practice and willingness to get it done.
1.Have a routine for practice in your house. When practice is part of the daily routine, there is often less resistance to getting started, and because the student knows when practice will happen, they may be mentally ready to get started each day. This doesn’t mean you won’t have to remind them necessarily, but it does help to get practice to happen more regularly, with less resistance.
2. Create a practice challenge: Using external motivators like practice challenges or small rewards can be effective in getting students to the instrument, while still keeping the focus on progress and enjoyment. Your studio may be holding a practice challenge you can participate in, but if not, you can create one in your family.
3. Make sure your child has a piece of music they LOVE to play. This could be a piece assigned by the teacher, a piece they work out by ear, or if they are reading music a piece from a movie or video game they love the sound of (sheet music can often be purchased online). If students have music they genuinely enjoy can help build their intrinsic motivation and relationship with music. It can be the thing that gets them to their instrument to get started.
4. Make sure your student has something to practice FOR. Often, when there is a concert or recital coming up, students will feel more motivated to get their piece ready to go and put in the practice time. If this is true for your child you can create more opportunities to perform informally (for relatives online, for the family, in the community) and that can give a consistent reason to practice that your child connects to.
You can listen (link above) or read the transcript below for more details that came up in this conversation. Overall, we want to leave you knowing that we understand it’s a big job to remind and try to inspire a desire to practice in our children. One that both Christine and Barbie have experienced firsthand. It isn’t always easy, but it’s so worth it! Thank you for all you’re doing to support your child’s music education!
Links in this episode:
Sign up to attend Christine’s session for teachers on Friday, April 11th at 9am Pacific all about holding parent-teacher conferences in your program HERE
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