Special Learning Strategies for Music Lessons

Staff Writer - February 4th, 2010 4:37 PM PST

Comments (0) | Share | Email | Print | Repost to Other Site (text only)

For anyone who has studied music, they understand that practice is one of the most important elements of improvement. Without practice, there won’t be any real, measurable improvement and that means that music lessons will mean that you are merely throwing money away. It can be difficult, though, for children especially, to grasp the long-range goals of practice and exercise. Music lessons are different than educational lessons, such as math or English or history, for example. With these traditional school related subjects, they are fully dependent on mental exercise and learning rather than physical and mental.

Having some learning strategies in place for music lessons can go a long way toward getting the most out of piano or guitar lessons or any other instrument for that matter.

One of the most fundamental strategies is to maintain a consistent practice schedule when taking music lessons. The human body is a machine with a built in clock that begins to process information and prepare muscles for the task ahead. If you’ve ever woken up on a weekend at the same time you do during the week but without the alarm clock, then you have witnessed the body’s amazing ability to know what time it is naturally.

Animals are a great example of this, too. Animals are very dependent on routine and you will notice that they wake up at the same time every morning. Their routine is the same; they expect to eat at the same time, they wait for their walk at the same time, and they will even wait by the door at the precise time you are expected to arrive home.

Setting a consistent practice schedule will begin to prepare the body for the routine of music exercises. Not only will this form of expectation arise at a subconscious level, but given enough consistency, the student will soon begin to look forward to sitting down to practice. For younger children, it can be quite a challenge to tear them away from a video game or TV show or time with their friends to practice, but within a few weeks, they will typically be ready to go and start practicing without being told.

Another benefit to a consistent practice schedule during music lessons is that improvement will be seen much more quickly. The student will begin to play passages and exercise with fluid ease that initially caused him or her great frustration or aggravation. It’s far too easy in this modern fast-paced environment to skip a lesson or practice time here or there, but what this does in fact is create a negative pattern. Also, when the mind and hands begin to improve with a task but then miss a day or two, then that improvement can be lost.

Create a comfortable and quiet practice area for your child or student. Practice time should be a time of focus and if the student is taking piano lessons, for example, and the piano at home is in the living room and the television is on or his or her siblings are playing games around the room, then this distraction will hamper progress. If possible, make sure the instrument or practice area is in a room that can be closed off from distractions. If that’s not possible, then find something for the rest of the household to do in another area of the house.

The mind should be completely focused on the exercises and patterns during music lessons so that they become ingrained and integrated at their highest capacity.

Use rewards for effort. These rewards can come in the form of a special treat such as candy or ice cream, or in an allowance, or even being able to choose the television program the family will watch during their next family night together. There are hundreds of creative ways to instill positive reinforcement in a child and often it isn’t thought of during music lessons.

The idea here isn’t to reward improvement necessarily, but the effort. If the student makes a concerted effort to practice, for example he or she sits down and practices for the full half hour or hour that is allotted without being reminded constantly, then this is effort that should be rewarded. Once the effort is made, then improvement will come naturally.

Plan a recital. This can be done through the private tutor or simply by calling friends and family and setting a date for the recital. Recitals give students something to aim for; a goal to achieve that can help motivate them to work harder to be at their best when the recital comes around. Of course, performing in front of people can be a nerve-racking experience so you want to keep it small, light, and extremely positive.

Music lessons open up a world and lifetime of possibility and having the right strategies in place during these music lessons will make all the difference between a positive experience and one that doesn’t quite live up to expectations.

Comments (0) | Share | Email | Print | Repost to Other Site (text only)