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Group class Keeps you in good shape - like dribbling and passing drills in basketball - these are the fundamentals and once you know how to do them you keep them a part of each practice - they are the foundation of other skills you will work on. sample practice chart

The Real Life Ups and Downs of Parent-Child Practice

Last month I had the pleasure of presenting research about the real life ups and downs of parent-child practice at the International Research Symposium on Talent Education ( http://www.irste.org/) in Minneapolis.

This research will be part of a resource about about practice that I am just starting to work on. Because the project that will take awhile to be published, I want to share the results for those who could not attend the Symposium. 

What is it really like for parents to practice with their children?

After I wrote Beyond the Music Lesson last year, I had many follow up questions from parents about specific challenges they were having with their children while practicing. It became clear that the topic of parent-child practice should be my next focus area. 

To address issues that parents were struggling with, I wanted to find information beyond my own experience practicing with my children and the experiences of families I work with in my studio.

I knew how hard it was for me to practice with my daughters, and I saw that families I work with often had similar struggles. But, I didn’t want to assume that everyone’s struggles were the same so I set out to find out from a bigger group of parents what it was really like to practice with their children. 

The Research

My research was gathered by a google form with 10 questions total. Over 100 parents participated. 

The form was distributed to parents through their teachers, the SAA discussion boards, and Suzuki parenting groups online. The truth is: those that came across the form and took the time to answer were likely very committed parents or they wouldn’t have encountered, or taken time to fill out, the form in the first place.

I think it’s fair to say that this research shows what it’s really like for dedicated and committed parents to practice with their children.

Ages of Students

Parent-Child Practice

The graph above shows the breakdown of student ages at the time parents participated in this research survey. You can see there are college age students, for which parents were reflecting back on their time practicing, a group in the 2-4 year old range, and everything in between.

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8 Truths Every Parent Should Know

8 Truths about Learning An Instrument That All Parents Should Know

Learning an instrument is such a rewarding activity. But, it takes lots of work too. Here are eight truths I think all parents should know about learning an instrument.

1. It’s Not Always Going to Be Fun

It’s fun to learn new music. It’s fun to play in a group. It’s fun to perform and get applause from an audience. It’s not necessarily fun to practice every day. Its hard work( with fun as a reward as skills grow).

Fun should be the outcome of doing the work, if we expect the work to be fun we are more likely to give up.

2. Learning to Practice is a Distinct Skill from Learning to Play An Instrument

Learning to practice is it’s own skill. It can look really different from one student to another depending on their age, unique learning style, and level of playing.

If your child likes their instrument and doesn’t really like to practice – you are in good company! It doesn’t mean they don’t want to play their instrument. Practice is a discipline that students learn little by little, by trial and error, and with feedback from their teacher. It’s a skill to be developed over time for sure.

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Will I always have to practice with my child?

Will I Always Have To Practice With My Child?

I think we can all agree parenting is much more of a marathon than a sprint.

The journey of parenting a child who is learning music from a young age into their teen years and beyond is one too

For those of us who are involved in the day to day practice with young children, we know that it takes a great amount of commitment and effort to keep moving forward.

We may ask ourselves “Will I always have to practice with my child?”

 

In the preschool, and early grade school years it looks like this: 

In the Early Years we carry them

 

Your child has to be a willing participant but you are the one powering forward (and even helping them become a willing participant).

Progress feels slow sometimes.

You, as the parent, can get tired and wonder if it’s worth doing.

You wonder if it’s worth it.

But also, there are great times to be had if we enjoy the time together and enjoy the process.

Your child won’t always need you to carry practice along this way.

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Preschool Practice & Slow Progress

Preschool Practice: Why does Progress Seem So Slow?

This post is second in a series about Preschool Age Students. You can read the first article here: Secrets to Successful Practice With Preschoolers. Often when we practice an instrument daily with our preschool age child it can be hard to see any progress at all. Progress is often happening, but it ca be very slow and gradual . As a teacher who only sees students once a week, I often notice the week to week improvements more than parents…

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Is my Child Ready to start Lessons?

Is My Child Ready to Start Music Lessons?

"Is my child ready to start music lessons?" This is a question I hear all the time as a music teacher. It's a good question. How do we know if our child is ready for lessons? There are many factors involved but I am going to touch on 3 things to consider before starting. First, can your child focus for short periods of time on a task. It can literally be 30-60 seconds at first. What I’ve found is that…

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Concepts Parents learn in Suzuki

20 Important Concepts Parents Learn in Suzuki ECE

Last week’s article was all about skills that young children learn in Suzuki ECE classes (Read it here). It created lots of discussion about what parents also learn over the course of attending classes with their children. So, today we’re talking all about the benefit of SECE classes for parents!

When parents ask what the best thing for them to do to get their young child ready for lessons is, I always recommend these classes to them – they really are the best way to prepare for the instrumental studio.

And that’s not only true for the students.

SECE is also the best way to prepare as a parent for your child to begin music lessons.

It can’t go without being said that SECE classes develop so much more than music readiness skills, as you’ll see from the points below.

As Suzuki taught us “Charactor first, ability second” and that is reflected in all we do in classes each week.

We are developing musical skills, language skills, and small motor skills (to name a few) but even more so, we are developing wonderful people with empathy, sensitivity, and the ability to treat people and instruments in class with care.

That parents in class develop the concepts below, is both a natural consequence of the class, and also something we quite deliberately work to help develop as teachers. Parents start to discover these concepts through the things we say as teachers, careful observation of their child through our example, and through the journaling process at the end of each class.

SECE really is an amazing source of development for children and for us, as their parents.

Here are 20 important concepts that parents learn in SECE Classes:

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positive practice

Are You Creating a Positive Practice Environment?

This article was originally posted HERE on Medium.com where Christine Goodner is a top writer in Music & Parenting.  What is the practice environment like in your house? As a musician, and a music teacher, I know the environment we practice in has a big impact on the kind of practice we can do. Can we focus? Can we find something specific to improve and improve it? Can we work through our resistance to doing the hard work? How do we get…

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To Be List

Why You Should Replace the To Do List

If you're like me you have a big to do list. Being a Suzuki Parent can feel like it's own big to do list. . .  Attend Lessons Take notes Ask the right questions Attend Group Classes & recitals Make sure your child has all the materials & equipment they need Make sure to listen every day Practice on the days that you eat! The list could go on and on and I'm sure you understand how important it is. …

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How do I know if my Child will Like this?

How Do I Know if My Child Will Like This?

Parents looking for lessons often ask me this question: How do I know my child will like it? Especially if your child isn't sure which instrument they want to play or is too young to really make that decision, you may struggle with this idea too. You may know the research that having parents who are committed to their child playing an instrument long term is a huge factor in student success (you can read more about that HERE) So,…

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Working Productively With Parents

This article was originally given as a short presentation at the Suzuki Association of the America’s Leadership retreat last week. It was parent of  a series of short talks about working productively with parents. If you would like to share it please do!

 

How do we work productively with the parents in our studios? How do we help new parents understand what being a Suzuki parent involves? How do we help them be successful working with their child as they learn and grow?

I was trying to come up with the most useful thing I could share with other teachers on the topic of working with parents. So, I started to think about all of the things I do in my studio like conferences, parent education, and parent talks.

There are lots of things we can do as teachers to help parents be successful. However, I would like to ask teachers to think bigger picture than that.

Working Productively with parents

As a young violin teacher I heard a concept that blew my mind at the time. When you look at the beginner student in front of you – don’t think about what they need in order to learn to play twinkle. Think about what they need in order to play a Mozart Concerto and teach them with that in mind.

I believe we need to do the same thing with new Suzuki Parents.

  • What do the parents we work with need to know about the process of helping their child thrive in the Suzuki method?
  • What can we explain better from the start that will keep parents from struggling later?
  • What bad habits can families get into that might not matter for a beginning student but will cause big problems down the road?
  • How do we take parents – who probably don’t know what they are getting into when they get started with us and help them make the Suzuki method work in their everyday lives?
  • How do we help get them come on board and be willing work with us to help their child succeed?

When I think about the families that I work with the most productively I think about families that:

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