4. 58 Effective Practice Ideas

* Be consistent with a regular practice routine.

*Let your child know that you expect daily practice, and then help them stick to it.

*Agree on a time when you can give undivided attention.

* Refuse interruptions such as telephone calls.

*Review the notes taken at the lesson with your child.

*Allow your child to choose the order things will be practiced in.

*When appropriate, accompany your child if you can play a musical instrument.

*Remind the child how good he/she will feel when they are fully prepared for the next lesson.

*Provide home concerts or a “stage” at home for family performances.

*Make sure daddy is home to participate.

*Share anticipation of an upcoming concert or performance.

*Fill out a practice sheet using a variety of stickers or bingo markers.  Fill out as many as possible during the week.

*Give praise and show appreciation for your child’s effort.

*Line up your child’s favorite dolls, toys, or lego creations on a couch.  Have him/her perform for them.

*Grant special privileges earned by practicing.

*Occasionally, give small wrapped up presents as reward for hard work.

*Use a deck of cards creatively.  Have your child pick a card and repeat a technique or passage as many times as the card states.

*Make review fun.  Using post-it notes, write clues with names of music pieces and place the first on na tree, the second on a swing set, etc.

*Use M&M’s or chocolate chips, cheerios, raisins, etc.  With every successful repetition, your child is rewarded with a goody.  An unsuccessful repetition results in Mom or Dad eating the goody!  Children love this game!

*When your child plays something that is incorrect or wrong fingering, praise him first, and then ask him to try to play it again even better.

*Try using coins.  For young children, use pennies to count how many times to practice a technique or difficult spot.  Have your child deposit earned coins in a piggy bank.

*Ask your child to be the teacher and instruct you on how to play a particular piece or technique.  Have him demonstrate.

*Tape your child’s practice.  Videos work the best.  Always re-watch all or important portions.

*Create a board game together (like candyland or monopoly) to use for review.

*Celebrate graduating from a Suzuki Book with a Birthday party-like atmosphere.

*Attend outside of your studio concerts.  Being an audience member reinforces proper concert etiquette.  Also, well known performers are role models who inspire our children.

*Arrange for your child to play duets with a friend.

*Ask your teacher to recommend music for your child to listen to.  This enhances music appreciation and facilitates learning.

*Write the assignments to be practiced on a piece of paper and then cut them out.  Have your child “draw” the order of practice from a hat.

*Buy a styrofoam cube from a craft store.  Glue paper on each side and label ac cording to the child’s regular assignments, ie; tone studies, scales, review, current solo, note reading, special assignment.  Let your child roll your new dice to see what should be practiced next!

*Try making homemade cookies or a favorite treat by having the child “purchase” the ingredients by paying a fee of playing specific assignments, ie; the F scale is worth 2 eggs if played properly.  Be sure to let the student do the egg cracking, that alone coud be the special treat!

*For those with moveable instruments, try performing a different song in each room of your home… this makes for a lot of fun especially if you count closets or the bathrooms!!

*Try drawing a “mystery” picture during a repetition practice.   If your child is needing to play a specific passage 10 times, make sure your picture has at least 10 parts.  Let the student make a guess between each correct repitition.

*Use a white square folded pice of paper to construct a snowflake during each new section of practice.  Let the child make the cuts and see how it comes out!

*Try using play money from the dollar store.  Decide beforehand how much each measure or each song is worth and then set an amount of $ to be earned.  Let your child “purchase” items from your play music store once the set amount is earned (create your store out of small items you can pick up anywhere; stickers, lipgloss, etc.)

*When learning to note-read, construct a life-sized staff in your practice room by laying masking tape on the floor (5 evenly spaced lines) play your own version of “hopscotch” by throwing a beanbag, naming the note, and then jumping to it… Or, remember Twister?

*Play “Clapping Echo” games for rhythm practice.  Use the whole family during a family night.  Kids love it when dad plays along!

*Help your child write a story that might include certain sounds or parts of pieces your child has learned on their instrument.  ie; “There once was an elephant (make sound on instrument)… etc.  It is a lot of fun to perform this for the family or grandparents!

*When repetitions are needed for a difficult passage or fingering, try playing a fun game with your child (checkers or chess, etc.)  After 5 correct repetitions, you can each make a move.  This can ease tension that can possibly come when learning something difficult.

*Play “Find the Note” – pianists can change this to “Find the Chord”.  See if your child can find the note (with the correct fingering) before a raisin hits the floor.  Drop it from adult height onto a cookie sheet for better sound!

*After your child has made a series of repetitions, give him/her some colored construction paper and let them make as many tears as they did correct repetitions.  When finished with the practice session, glue them on to another page- making a picture… you decide what!

*For very young children (age 3 or 4) or for especially “wiggly” children, much can be accomplished during a fun session of 3 minute practice followed by 1 minute “Follow-the-Leader” followed by 3 minutes of practice followed by 1 minute of “Follow-the-Leader” (I always have to set the timer to ensure we really practice enough)

*Give your child full control by asking them to teach YOU to how to play their new passage! (the old reverse-role…)

*Placing stickers on a homemade chart still works- even today!

*Remember when you used potty-training rewards? Try them again.  It worked once, it can work again!!

*Make a simple tic-tac-toe or “DOTS” game on a chalkboard or a paper.  Play the game after each 7 full minutes of “real” practice.  Remember; y our kids LOVE to play … especially when mom has consented to play with!

*Give lots of High-5’s !

*When trying to set a longer practice schedule, try making marks on a tall, thin candle.  light it and begin the practice.  Practice until the candle burns to the mark.  (Space the marks so that the candle could be burned within a week or two) Have a reward for making it to the bottom of the candle.

*Give Dad (or mom in some cases) the opportunity to practice with the children.  This is always interesting.

*Attend workshops and institutes offered each year.

*Go to the Parent Conventions.

*Attend parent meetings and read the literature your teacher gives you.

*Get acquainted with other mothers of music students and “chat” frequently about what “works” for them.

*Listen to CD’s or Radio when their instrument is featured.

*Remember to make progress something your child can see and touch!

*Quit practicing BEFORE your attention spans are gone.

*A 6 year old can successfully do this one alone; Each time the piece is played, the child adds part of the staff.  5 lines, 2 bars, Treble clef, etc.  Just draw – it’s fun to figure out how to draw the flowery treble clef!

*Play “Take One Giant Step”.  After the child has correctly played a piece (or a passage), allow them to take one giant step towards the other side of the room.  See how many giant steps it takes them!