It is the beginning of the school year, and we are just starting to get back into daily life after endless summer days; camps, traveling, spending time with family and just playing around. I live in Texas where summers are very hot, and school breaks very long. But now it’s time to get back to school which also means back to practicing your instrument. But how do we get back? And as beginners, how do we establish good practice routines?
When you first start playing, and really want to learn to play a certain instrument, you probably can’t wait to get home, take it out and practice. But after the first few months, it might not be as interesting anymore and that is where it gets hard. I know firsthand, because I have been there, and 3 of my 4 kids have been there (my youngest hasn’t started playing an instrument yet). I have heard all the excuses – and I have made all the excuses when I was a child. So, I have gathered a few tips and tricks on how to create (or help your child create) a good practice routine.
- Start small! I know we all want to work as hard as possible and do as well as possible but practicing 10 minutes a day is way better than practicing 60 minutes once a week! Playing also requires strength, and we have to build that up slowly.
- Try to find a good time to practice. If you practice the same time every day, you start forming a habit and that is exactly what you want to do! When I was a child a used to practice in the kitchen while my mom was cooking dinner and we both loved that tradition.
- If you are a parent and your child has a hard time getting started, you could help them unpack their instrument. Sometimes unpacking is actually the hurdle and once they get started, they can’t stop.
- If you have a safe place to keep your cello unpacked, that could completely eliminate the unpacking, and it gets easier to just grab the instrument and play. There are lots of different cello stands sold in music stores so there are lots of options.
- Once you have created a habit of playing your instrument every (or almost every) day, you can start increasing the time you spend practicing with a few minutes a week – or even a month until you have a good chunk of practice time reserved for every day.
I recommend the following times for the different age groups:
4-6 years: 5 min/day
6-8 years: 10 min/day
8-10 years: 15 min/day
10-12 years: 20-30 min/day
from age 13: at least 30 minutes a day.
I hope this helps – just a little bit;-)
Love, Live, Play!
Julie