Non-musical Ways to Help with Practice

So, you want to help your child with music practice.  Kudos to you!  But exactly what can you do, especially if you’re not a musician yourself?  Here are some helpful ideas to get your child engaged in practice by helping to focus their attention.   Teaching children to be deliberate about their practice can reap enormous benefits.  And goal-oriented practice is more interesting than mindlessly punching the clock for thirty minutes. 

- Draw your child’s attention to any markings on the music sheet and ask them what the marks mean and require them to do.  This will help your child think carefully and develop critical thinking skills.

- Have your child teach you what they've learned.  Teaching others is one of the most powerful learning strategies.  Children will love the chance to turn the tables and demonstrate knowing something you don’t ... and you’ll benefit too.

- Allow some experimenting with sounds.  The exploration of what an instrument can do isn’t a waste of time; it can help train the ear and stretch the imagination.  Of course if little Alex or Jessie is crashing and banging for an extended duration, they are probably in avoidance mode!

- Have your child sing their instrumental music to be learned.  To be able to do this, they will have to listen carefully to focus on the tune.  If they can't hear the music in their head, it can't come out through the fingers.

- Ask students to reflect on what they are doing, how they are doing it, and if there might be a better way.  Understanding what is going on in students’ minds can expose fruitful avenues for directing the course of further learning.  And, it will help them attend to elements of music such as rhythmic accuracy and musicality rather than robotically playing a series of notes.

- Ask your child about their musical experience and feelings while playing, or their understanding of the music.  Ask them to imagine a scene or story to suit the music.  This will help them connect to the music, make it more personally meaningful, and provide direction for expressive playing. 

- At the end of a practice session, ask what was accomplished, what was done well or what needs work. Doing this requires that students reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, which will help them enjoy their successes and realize what still needs work. My students seem to enjoy it when I suggest they be the teacher and evaluate their own performance. 

 What other ideas have you tried to engage your child and keep them stay focused?