What to practice

Is that what your teacher wants you to practice?

I never heard you play that before?

Stop fooling around and get to work!

Ever heard those statements?

I have had so many discussions with parents about what their kids SHOULD be practicing that I think this is definitely worth a few words.

Firstly, I am a firm believer that ANY time spent on their instrument is good, regardless of what the kids are doing.

Secondly, I would hope that they ALSO spend conscientious learning time.

In a perfect situation, the child reads her teacher's comments for the week and runs through everything assigned daily.  That's in a perfect world.  If your child actually does this, you and her teacher must be congratulated on a job well done!

Encouraging your child to follow the teacher's guidelines will go a long way in setting up good work habits.  Obviously if your child is too young to read autonomously you need to read the notes for her. Think of this as an investment in her learning skills.  This time you give her will pay off!

What to practice is relatively easy when you are sitting with your child.  It becomes more of a challenge when the child practices alone.  It takes time for the skills of good practising to develop.  If you are not allowed to sit with your child (some kids hate having a parent oversee their practices), you can still check their work by "happening to walk by"!

Rarely does a child innately know what the correct sequence of work should be.

So, a good basic daily practice schedule could look like this:

1.    A few minutes (10 to 20) of warm-up exercises.
These should be easy, stress free (as in, no physical tension) exercises.  They can become progressively quicker and more demanding as the fingers and body warm-up.

2.    An easy piece to complete the warm-up.
A piece that needs to be up kept for a recital or just a favourite piece are good candidates.

3.    Technique and scales can now be done.
Use of the metronome can make these even more valuable.  Proper technique is better than speed!

4.    Pieces/Repertoire
Practice pieces, going over difficult passages before actually playing through.  If a child constantly just plays through a piece (which most kids do), they reinforce weaknesses and never actually finish pieces correctly.

5.   Ending
This is a good time to do sight-reading, solfege or any other work that is not just playing.  If your child needs a break in her practice, she can insert these anytime.

6.   Fun stuff
If all went well and the student would still like to play, well, let her!  Composing, playing favourite pieces, or just banging around is a great way to reward herself for the good work she did.

If you are battling with a child that simply doesn't want to practice in such an organized way, be creative.  Mix it up.  Some parents find that doing one day of pieces and one day of technique seems to work best.  Others believe that practicing every other day sits well with their child.  If your bidding musician is not goal oriented and taking lessons for pleasure only, then this can be more encouraging.

On the other hand, if your child wants to participate in festivals, competitions and examinations, a more structured practice schedule is in order.

Just remember that in the long run, most kids will not turn to music as a career choice.  What IS important is to give each child time with an instrument so that they may have the opportunity to be creative and find the magic in music.  Playing and listening to music can be a meditative tool for a life time.