Faculty Tips for Success
April 2008
How Often Should Your Child Practice?
Often I am asked by parents, “How often should my child practice?” or “How much time should be devoted to practice?”
While my favorite answer to those questions is “every possible waking moment” there is a more practical idea to consider.
Frequency: Regardless of how much practice is needed from week to week, practicing frequently typically provides the greatest results. This can be taken beyond the commonly thought of once daily routine. While most music teachers would be overjoyed if everyone of their students practiced everyday, a student can increase frequency by practicing for shorter time frames but do so multiple times a day. Consider the advice one gets from the dentist. Brushing daily is certainly more beneficial than brushing weekly even if the total time spent brushing were the same. A dentist might go so far as to say, “brush in the morning and after every meal.” This frequency, even if each brushing session was short, would have a greater overall impact.
The key to all this is reinforcement. By reinforcing what has been learned on a more frequent basis it develops stronger connections in long-term mental and physical memory. We see examples of this approach in variety of fields such as physical therapy. We don’t have to work as hard if we are willing to work more often.
Think of the self taught musician; the guy with a guitar who, as a teenager, learned all his favorite rock songs after being shown a few chords. The motivation in this individual is probably very high and as a result he picks his instrument up every time he’s in the same room with it. Each session may only be as long as it takes to strum a couple chords or to play one short song, but ultimately progress is made rapidly largely due to the value of frequent practicing.
Now, we can’t expect all students to be as motivated as “high school guitar guy” above but understanding the value of frequent practicing can help in managing your child’s practice schedule. If your child’s instructor expects 20-minutes per day of practice time, consider breaking it up into two 10-minute sessions that take place at different parts of the day.
Shorter sessions of practice are absolutely essential to a young child’s needs. Attention spans are short and patience is lacking in many students under the age of 9. Rather than challenge their inability to focus on one task for long periods of time, one should slowly develop their ability by using shorter practice sessions that gradual increase. To ensure that enough practice time is met, greater frequency needs to be employed.
Finally, consider frequency as a no-risk way to increase returns on your investment on music lessons. For the same 30 minutes of practice time per day, receive a greater value in results.
George Little
Guitar Instructor