Congratulations on starting music lessons! You have made a decision to provide an opportunity for your children that will bring them significant benefits like academic success, reading improvement, cultural appreciation, personal discipline, and so much more! We know you are interested in your child’s success in music and so are we. On this page, we have listed some things you may want to consider in order to provide the best possible musical experience.
PLEASE DON’T…
Expect them to always feel like running to their instrument to practice! Increased desire is cultivated with perceived success, and discipline is a part of the experience. Your encouragement and structure will help them develop good patterns of practice.
Treat music lessons like they aren’t important. While you never know how good your child will become in music, treating lessons as a strong priority will give them a desire for success and help them develop good life skills.
Give up on them too early! One of the hardest lessons for kids to learn is how to persevere through uncomfortable times in order to reap the enjoyable rewards of success. We all need to learn that life often calls us to push past our own feelings of discouragement and just go a little further. Your positive encouragement is priceless in motivating toward success.
Neglect to provide effective tools to help them make good music. Your willingness to provide excellent instruction, a dedicated time and place to practice, and a nice instrument to play on at home are all expressions that you have confidence in their musical success.
Compare them unfavorably to others. There will always be someone better and someone not as good. It is important they see those better performers as providing aspiration toward excellence, and that they learn to encourage those that are still struggling on the path to sounding good. Enjoy their journey and they will too!
PLEASE DO…
Communicate anything you notice at home which can help the teacher motivate your child. If you notice that your child responds better to certain styles of music, or expresses feelings of frustration, let your teacher know. If personalities are not meshing, it is better to find a teacher who can contribute to success than having a child lose incentive to play.
Affirm your child positively in every way possible regarding their music. Your willingness to provide opportunities for performance in recitals or among friends, and your affirmation of their progress is crucial to building their confidence and ability to enjoy the musical experience.
Provide a good instrument at home to play on. Allowing them to hear good music coming from a good instrument will enhance their ear, musical expression, and technique. Providing an instrument that encourages their practice and helps them sound good makes the musical experience more enjoyable and feeds success.
Your instructor is the coach but the real musicians are made at home! Your encouragement toward regular practice with minimum distraction is crucial, as well as having an instrument to practice on that helps enhance musical skills. Give us a call at 828-693-3726 and let the Music Academy of WNC help guide you in your child’s musical success.