Sunday, October 11, 2009

Five Steps to Better Practicing

We are halfway through the Fall Semester and this year's practice habits have been formed. Do your students need improvement in this area? Perhaps you can find help with this tried and proven Five Steps to Better Practicing.

1. Communicate your expectations to the student and his/her parents from the beginning.

Many people, especially children, do not realize how much practice is required for learning to play an instrument. They watch professionals, or other well-trained musicians, who have the ability to learn new music with ease and think that playing an instrument looks easy. No one sees the hours and hours of practice that goes into a professional-sounding performance or the years of hard work that builds musical skill.

Tell your students at the first lesson how many minutes per week they will be expected to practice. In fact, tell them when you are scheduling the first lesson. Break it down into minutes per day. For example, 30 minutes per day for six days each week.

Effective Communication is the first key to building better practice routines.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous music teachers resources said...

I always agree when people will say - practice makes perfect. So, I live with it and always tend to inspire my students in music to do the same especially if such lesson, performance or activity seems to be difficult and quite complex. I intend to put into practice the previous points you mentioned. With that, I admire your efforts to share your bright ideas on music education - lending a hand to make a difference. Thanks for sharing and see you around. Cheers!

October 30, 2009 at 5:20 AM  

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