What To Do If My Child Isn't Practicing

What to do if my child isn't practicing?

Luckily this isn't a question I encounter often at our studio but it has been a topic of discussion with parents a handful of times over the past 3 years I've been teaching.

Most Parents approach this topic by forcing their child to a strict practice regime which I believe is counter productive in most cases to their child's practice habits. While I do strongly believe learning an instrument isn't always smiles and does require discipline and patience, It's usually not the child's attitude that is the blame.

If a child isn't practicing at all It's usually one of the following factors:

1. The child doesn't enjoy the set pieces or method book they are learning from.

2. The child doesn't enjoy playing the instrument of choice (if this is the case they will usually be hinting at trying out something else to their parent).

3. They just don't have the interest in learning how to play. Just like some children like to play basketball instead of soccer or prefer cake over ice cream. It's just a part of being an individual!

In all cases though the best way to address this issue is to ask the student why they don't want to practice. You may do this or ask the students teacher for their opinion and if they can have a chat with the student. In my experience this 100% of the time is able to rectify the problem and create a better learning environment for the student, parents and teacher themselves!

From experience, most of the time it comes down to class material. Learning an instrument isn't easy (as most people know after going through those dreadfully boring year 7-8 music classes). Keeping class fresh, creative and relevant to the students interests is a key to success.

If you asked any 2000's child if they would rather learn to play their basic chords from a 1950's folk song or the latest Ed Sheeran/Taylor Swift tracks I'm certain we would both know the answer each time!

Have a lovely day.