The Keys to Practicing: Part II

PianoThe quality and consistency of practicing is more important than the length of time practicing. For beginners, just a few minutes a day is all that is needed. The key is having a practice routine that you and your child stick to over the long term.  Below are a few tips for effective quality practicing:

  1. Repetition is important in learning any skill, but it can be boring.  An easy fix is to have fun and creative games for practicing your songs and exercises at home.
  2. Start small – Music is better learned in smaller sections rather than playing the whole song over and over.  Identify the most challenging parts and play through them until you are comfortable with them.
  3. Most children don’t like playing the difficult parts and often end up skipping over them.  You can help by asking them to stop and find the tricky part.  You can even guide them to find a way to fix it.
  4. Sometimes learning a song will be difficult and it takes time.  Praise and encourage your child daily for their efforts.  Allow them to take a break or play another song if it is too frustrating.
  5. Include time for your child to play songs that they know well and enjoy.  Improvisation and composition of new songs can also be included.  Listening to music that your child enjoys, looking things up on the computer, or watching a music DVD of any genre all count towards your child’s at-home learning.

For information about music lessons at the Altadena Academy of Music, please call    (626) 296-0799 or use our email contact form.