The Challenges and Rewards of a Practise Routine
If there is one thing that is guaranteed to cause stress between parents and their musician child, it is practise.
Jo White, one of our tutors offers this:
"As a parent it can be hard to keep one’s beloved child practising regularly and in a focused way. It can meet a lot of resistance. I do not have a solution to this, only to reassure you it is very normal. Our children want our unconditional praise and yet suddenly during practice we are telling them to try something again…. Please talk to us, or other parents for reassurance on this front. Or please share how you make it work in your household".
Progress on a musical instrument relies on regular practise - without it improvement will be slow and quite often results in the student giving up in frustration.
Below, we provide some ideas on how to turn practise from a chore into a rewarding and fun experience so that
The first thing to recognise is that progress is not linear, and that the hardest part when learning an instrument is the beginning. At that point there is unfamiliarity with the instrument, difficulty in producing a sound, learning basics like fingering, learning to read music, grasping concepts of rhythm and in general coming to terms with the process that will (quite soon) enable the playing of tunes and making music.
It can be really helpful to allow your child to see and hear a really good instrumentalist so that they have an idea of what is possible at a future point in this journey. A good video on Youtube of a professional player or soloist on their instrument can really inspire and allow them to have a goal. There are also instrument videos on this website in the Play an Instrument Section too.
Effective music practice is a learned skill.
Everyone practises differently, and you will find what works for you. However here are a few tips to think about :
A regular routine is crucial - practise is something one strives to do every day. Once a routine is established, all sorts of doors begin to open. Short, regular and focused practice is far more effective than a big session every now and again. Make it as routine as brushing your teeth.
It helps to set things up:
- Make a space - somewhere tidy, room to move about, good light, place for the music stand
- Have a place for the instrument and engender a feeling of respect for it - take it out carefully and keep it clean by dusting it down or using a cleaning rod with a wind instrument.
- Set a regular time for the practise session - eg: after coming home from school, before dinner
- Of course there will be days it just doesn’t flow. That’s ok. Just ‘say hello’ to your instrument and be ready to return the next day.
Children often have quite strong feelings about 'having to do something' - so it helps to try and mitigate those by lowering the threshold. If your child is displaying resistance (very normal) these strategies might help:
- You don't have to actually do any practise - just open the instrument case and say 'Hello' to your instrument so it doesn't feel lonely.
- Set a very achievable goal - 'Let's practise for 3 minutes today'
- Witness the practise - be in the room but try not to make it a 'lesson' by giving instructions. Allow the child to lead and respond if they ask for help.
- See some tips below on how to practise - but it will help a lot if your child understands the way our brains works when learning a skill (like playing a musical instrument) that involves physical co-ordination.
The brain 'learns' from muscular and physical repetitive patterns. This is one of the reasons SLOW practise is so important - it gives the brain a chance to assimilate all the multitude of impulses which are generated when we engage in a sequence of physical movements or actions.
The biggest danger of NOT doing slow practise, or ignoring difficult passages when they arise, is that the brain learns and acquires bad habits just as willingly as it does good ones. One can acquire a bad habit surprisingly quickly; getting rid of it and replacing it with a good one takes much more effort and time.
A short practise session which is focused on solving difficult passages or techniques is far more useful than just playing through from start to finish over and over again, glossing over mistakes and without actually addressing the issues.
Whilst good to do sometimes, is not the sort of focused practice that will help you progress.
- Set yourself small achievable goals
- Really listen to how you play, ask yourself what you’d like to be different. One of the most useful things you can do is have a vision of how you would like your performance to sound. Listening to a professional musician or soloist who plays your instrument on a Youtube video can really help you create a mental image of that vision.
- Be conscious of what small thing you are trying to achieve.
- Use a mental magnifying glass:
Try and find the exact place you are tripping up, it might be as little as a movement between two notes: First, without playing check you know what the notes are and the fingering; Without playing move your fingers between the notes.
Now play them, slowly at first. If you are still tripping up, go slower until you are no longer tripping up. Very slowly increase the speed of the movement. It will help to use a metronome to do this. Now play the whole phrase. Hopefully you will now be able to play it smoothly.
- Repetition helps build the connections in your brain/fingers: try playing a phrase 3 times, see which one you liked the most. Ask your adults/friends to listen, see if you all agree.
- Practising a phrase slowly is the quickest way to being able to play it fast.
- Make sure you know what the rhythm is and how is fits with the underlying beat. You can also practice this away from your instrument, with a metronome, or a drumbeat. Gradually increase the tempo (speed).
- Try listening to a recording of the music, or get someone to play it to you so you really know how it goes. See if you can sing it.
- Try singing the phrase before you play it. Work out how to make the phrase really ‘say’ something. See if you can copy this on your instrument.
