Many parents want to be reassured that they are not wasting their money on music lessons, so they ask me how often should students practice their instruments. Though there really is no hard and fast answer, I do tend to give a rule of thumb: an hour a week, which seems doable for busy families, but if the child is sitting at his bench, going over easy drills, taking several breaks, and just killing time, he is practicing – but not really.
The kind of practice that will end in results involves in-the-moment self-assessment. This is a profound concept for young children to understand, but communicate it to him in familiar terms. It’s not just the amount of time that he’s on the bench that counts as practice. He has to be listening to his playing, perhaps beginning more slowly than normal so that he has a little bit of time to think between notes during the more difficult passages.
Practice involves repetition. When he does play the passage or piece correctly, ask him to play it again. “But I did.” Ask him to show you that he can do it again. You may want to spend a few minutes per week actively listening to his playing to recognize progress. Some children may require careful monitoring during practice. After practicing, have a short discussion on what were the harder parts and how he might understand them better.
If your child wants to learn, he’ll improve with time. The goal is to improve performance. The more he practices with focus on improvement, the better musician he’ll become sooner, and you’ll be getting bigger bang for you buck.
