"TiME" to Practice!

Have you ever had a child or student that hasn't wanted to practice? I think we've all been there - including myself both as a teacher and when I was a young student myself!

I was asking a Suzuki Parent the other day what the hardest thing about practicing is. She said "I think our biggest mistake is that we don't have a set time to practice."

Set a time on the practice clock and when the clock in your home matches that time...

 it's time to practice! 

This can work in a couple different ways.
1. For the younger ones, the parent sets the time to practice.
2. To help build ownership as the student matures, have the child set the time that they will practice.

I got my clock at Target in the....you guessed it! The DOLLAR ISLE!!! If you can't make it to Target, it would be easy to make!

Building Violin Skills

I'm enjoying my time on the beach of California reading the most amazing book! 

BUILDING VIOLIN SKILLS

"a set of plans designed to help parents and children construct positive practices" 

by Ed Sprunger

I got my copy at www.daymurraymusic.com for $29.95. This book has been so insightful for m and I am going to recommend it to each of the families I teach now and I'm going to require all of my new students parents to read it before they start lessons. It goes step by step of what parents should expect. 

Ed is continually reminding the parents that they don't have to be perfect - they have to be ordinary. They have to remember that they'll mess up and that's okay. 

My favorite section so far is the idea of only practicing 1 minute a day. 

For the parent who worries too much, he revisits the idea that it's better for the child to be board, than to overwhelm him. 

Some of my favorite quotes are... 

"Good enough parents are aware that their growing children are working to understand themselves."

"I learned that my teaching simply cannot compensate for a lack of practice - or listening to the reference recording, for that matter. There really is no substitute for practicing and listening."

A father of a student said, "You know, having gone through this with my first two children, I've learned that you just have to trust the process."

"Children aren't the only ones who grow and develop in this rich process of taking violin lessons."

" A positive environment also includes waiting for the seeds of talent to sprout into skills." 

I could go on and on and on!