5 Ways to Keep Practice Interesting

There are many rewards that come with practicing at home with your child.   You have the opportunity to find out how your child learns new concepts, you have daily one on one time with your child, and you both get to experience music together which can be a great bonding experience.   There can also be challenges with daily practice sessions and sometimes getting the instrument out and getting started is the hardest part of all.

Young children (I’m mostly talking about preschool and younger elementary school students) like to play.   Often the problem with starting to practice is that we are asking students to stop (or postpone) something fun they want to do.  It is a good idea to add in some fun and interesting activities to practice, a few times a week, to help keep it interesting and fun.

Here are a few ideas to get you started. . .

1.  Pull out a game spinner or pair of dice:   Rather than telling your child to play a difficult measure over and over, have them spin a game spinner or roll 2 dice to see how many times they should play it.  It is amazing the attitude shift that happens when the dice tell them to play it 1o times vs. me as the mother.   There are no power struggles involved which is great and the practice ends up feeling like a game.   My rule is that the number has to be bigger than 2 or we spin again!

2.  Line up favorite stuffed animals or dolls:  If your house is anything like mine, there are bins full of stuffed animals and action figures – let your child bring some of them into the practice room.  Have your child line them up and play to each one.  A fun idea is to have them play one review song to each different stuffed animal.

3.  Play somewhere fun and unusual: If the weather is nice (and you have a portable instrument) have your child take their instrument outside and play on the back porch or under a tree. Many students also love the sound when playing in a kitchen or bathroom.   Sometimes the change in scenery is just what a student needs to enjoy playing that day.

4.  Play Fishbowl:  Write down each practice assignment (scale, review pieces, new piece etc.) on slips of paper and fold them up.  Place them inside a bowl or shoe box and have the student pick them out one by one.  Everything on the practice list will get accomplished but it will feel like a game.

5.  Hold a Family Concert: Gather the family together and put on an informal concert for them in the living room.  Students can play one piece or a number of them.  Encourage them with enthusiastic applause :)

This gives you a few ideas to get started.   Leave a comment and let us know what you do to keep practice fun and interesting!