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Finding Joy in Practicing & How to be Your Child’s Biggest Cheerleader
~Anita Boyer
As a public school instrumental music educator, I have the joy of trying to mold the minds of dozens of children within a half hour time frame once every six days… I could easily do this for a longer period of time and more frequently during the week, but alas our school budget and curriculum time constraints do not allow for it. I try to treat every lesson as a private lesson, trying to ensure the students have the best hand positions, most accurate intonation, and most steady rhythms…..and then I let my precious students go home to reinforce the skills that I taught them.
Some go home and practice diligently, some forget to take their instrument out of their case…. yet come the following week, all the students must present to me their previously assigned material and then we move on to the new curriculum. This article was written to help those kids who struggle to get their instruments out, or for those who may be practicing without positive results.
Many students are overwhelmed at the beginning of their practicing week. In the “instant-gratification” world we live in, many students get frustrated if the music coming out of their instrument does not sound good right away. As an instrumentalist, students should not expect anything to sound perfect on the first shot, otherwise they wouldn’t need to practice! I have found in my experience, that the joy of mastering a concept most often time happens of the 4th day of practicing the material. At that point, our brains may have had enough repetition to become comfortable with the concept and the “magic” starts to happen! It is in this JOY OF MASTERING A DIFFICULT CONCEPT that students get hooked into playing their instrument and to continue working!!!!
Practicing is not playing. Practicing is practicing. Practicing happens when you engage your mind in analytical thinking and techniques. Students should break apart passages and repetitively work on them, focusing on intonation (notes in tune), rhythm, and expression, analyzing what they are doing correctly and what needs fixing. Once this type of practice has happened, students may begin to combine the phrases together to see how the music begins to flow. If there are still spots that are giving a student trouble, they should continue to spot practice those passages until he/she has mastered them. This analytical kind of practicing is the highest form of thinking, and the reason why so many accomplished musicians are great problem solvers…they have engaged in this kind of thinking for hours upon end.
Students need to be encouraged and reminded that they are learning to play an instrument to entertain, appreciate, and share the gift of music with others. If students frame their musical journey this way, they will not see it as the “drag” that some students view it. As the student gains proficiency on their instrument, they are better equipped to express themselves through music!
Trust me, your teacher yearns to make music with you! If the student comes prepared to the lesson, it will be a happy place to be for the teacher and for the students!! Students: DARE to come prepared and watch the magic happen! Students who come unprepared to the lesson, bring that excitement down for all, and most importantly, put the new teaching in jeopardy. An ideal lesson consists of playing through music that was assigned at a mastered level and then going over new material for the upcoming week’s practice! Progress and excitement are stifled if the students/teacher spend the lesson going over the same material, week after week.
Parents, you DO NOT need to be musical to help your child! Here are the BEST ways you can help:
Set up a consistent practice schedule based on the other activities of your family. For example, if a student knows that he/she needs to practice every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday, then the expectation is there and it happens. If times flies as quickly for your household as it does for mine, it is very easy for an entire week to go by, if a child says, “I’ll do it later.”
Set up an area where your child can concentrate, but yet be heard, and not completely isolated (like in their bedroom).
Help your child with the technological tools used in practicing: Control the SmartMusic, cd, metronome or on-line accompaniments for your child and make sure you are playing them through devices that the students can hear over their playing. In my household, I stop and start the accompaniments for my daughter’s practicing—this way she in not overwhelmed with the event, and can concentrate on playing.
Praise when something sounds great; ask to review if something doesn’t. When praising, state: “I am so proud at how hard you worked to make that piece sound so great!” If a passage does not sound good (even harmony parts should sound pleasant when mastered properly), bring up those practice technique listed earlier in the blog.
Ask to your child to perform a mastered work at least once a week.
You may every once in a while, treat you child to a special indulgence if they have consistently worked hard: a trip to the ice cream/yogurt store, a toy they have been longing for, a special accessory for their instrument, or even an extra cash allowance. Even though I love playing music for music’s sake, I also enjoy the bonus of some “funny money” when I play a wedding or other orchestral gig!
It has been our experience, that students who are most supported by their parents/guardians are the ones who blossom into our most confident and talented players! Invest in your child’s future by being their biggest cheerleader!