How Do I Get My Kid To Practice Music? Do’s And Don’ts!

How Do I Get My Kid To Practice Music? Do’s and Don’ts!

by

Ruth Gerson

As a vocal coach I am often asked, regarding my younger students, “how do I get my kid to practice music?” To learn music is excellent for brain development and improves brain function. Learning to sing or play an instrument is an important component of a child’s education. With arts education diminishing in schools, many parents seek extracurricular music lessons and classes to provide this foundation for their children.

Parents are aware progress on an instrument or learning to sing better takes daily practice and a student’s dedication. What I hear commonly is that no one has time to practice. People are overworked, overbooked and overwhelmed with commitments. The space and time to practice singing or practice piano, drums, etc. feels impossible to carve out. Still, you find the time when something is important to you. The deeper question is, how do you get your kids to want to practice music? How do you make practicing music fun and productive and avoid feeling like it is yet another obligation? Playing and singing kept me sane as a child. Practicing protected me from “the noise” outside my room. No one told me to practice. Music was a sanctuary. I clung to it. In a way, not being driven to practice could be a good sign. Not needing music means a student must develop an understanding of its benefits – an appreciation of music – to want it. It is possible to learn to practice the same we we learn to do other tasks that are healthy for us. We must be inspired to do it and then, like everything else we decide to take action on, we have to organize a plan. Practicing music can be integrated into our lives, if we think it is as important as the rest. Consider your source, but I think singing and/or playing an instrument is as important as exercise, diet and academics for a healthy, happy, productive existence. Talk to your children about music. Find out the kinds of music they enjoy and explore it with them. Inspire them by exposing them to great musicians. Make a family music night where you play or sing together or sit and listen to an album or go on youtube and find performances. Go out and see live music once every couple of months. Play something beautiful before you go to bed or when you wake up. Email your child a song that you love. Practice is a practice. Before your child begins lessons or classes, discuss when and where they are going to practice music – the where is as important as the when, because your child may feel private about his practice. If the piano is in the family room and that is where other things happen, a student may be afraid of disturbing others. Is there a place where he can be alone to shut the door and make some noise? Start small. Carve out 5-10 minutes a day for a month – you are solely practicing how to practice. Incrementally build up to 20-30 minutes a day. There will be days when the student intends to practice for thirty minutes, and will instead play for an hour or two, because she WANTS to, because she’s enjoying it, and other days, thirty minutes is enough for enrichment, skill development and maintaining the habit. No one becomes a virtuoso practicing only thirty minutes a day, however this is the groundwork to make practice customary and it will make music an enriching part of life, while developing skills to allow her to take music further should she want to in the future. Avoid employing guilt or begging your child to practice. Instead try, “Can you sing me a song? I could use some music!” “That made my day! Can you play another tomorrow?” “I love listening to you. Thank-you!” Listen to them attentively. Do not critique, however if something moves you, share that. On a personal note, my mother was a presidential scholar in music and she went to Juilliard. She practiced eight hours a day her whole life growing up, but she says she felt as though she were a prisoner of her instrument due to parental pressure. She never plays anymore. She gave it up, because playing music lost its joy for her. Alternatively, hearing my mother play and sing are the happiest memories of my childhood. It was so beautiful. I never practiced eight hours a day as a child. That kind of dedication came later as I matured. Through my mother’s inspiration, music became my living and my life – and perhaps it developed my brain.

Vocal coach, Ruth Gerson is the creator of

The Singingbelt

diaphragmatic training device. Would you like to learn how to sing better? Visit the

Learning Center

at www.Singingbelt.com. Gerson has taught singing at Princeton University & Blue Bear School of Music. She is the founder of S.F. Vocal Coaching and writes “Singing Lessons” for the HuffPost.

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