3 Tips For Encouraging Your Child To Practice Music Every Day
Whether your child wants to become a professional musician or is just taking music lessons as a hobby, regular music practice is an important part of making progress. Practice helps children develop the muscle memory needed to play complex pieces along with increasing their ability to read music.
However, many parents find that their children don't have much of an interest in practicing music every day at home. What can you do to help develop this habit in your child? Below, you'll find three tips to engage your child more fully in practicing an instrument.
1. Encourage Your Child to Set Personal Practice Goals
One of the best ways to encourage your child to practice an instrument is to allow him or her to set personal practice goals. Your child may have a favorite song they want to learn to play or a favorite genre of music. When a child has their own personal practice goals, it allows them to feel more involved in the process of learning to play an instrument. It also gives children an immediate reward for practicing—they'll finally be able to successfully play songs that they enjoy.
However, make sure that you talk to your child's music teacher and confirm that your child's practice goals are useful and realistic. After all, the point of music lessons is to develop proficiency in an instrument—your child needs to continue to play harder pieces.
2. Allow Your Child to Practice More Than One Instrument
Allowing a child to practice multiple instruments makes music practice more varied and exciting, which helps to keep children interested. It can also help to increase overall musical ability, as the basic tenets of music theory are shared among instruments.
Of course, you may want your child to concentrate on a single instrument such as the violin or the piano. You can still use this strategy by allowing your child to practice his or her chosen instrument on the weekends as long as they're practicing the instrument you chose on weekdays. It keeps most of the focus on your chosen instrument while acting as a reward for good music practicing habits.
3. Enroll Your Child in Group Music Classes
You may also want to consider signing your child up for group music classes. Group classes are less focused than individual classes, but they give children a chance to play in an ensemble. If your child enjoys group music classes, they're an easy way to sneak in some extra practice throughout the week.
By following the tips above, you'll encourage your child to make music practice sessions a daily occurrence, which helps your child make rapid progress in his or her music lessons.
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