Helping Your Child Succeed on Their New Instrument

Playing an instrument is not going to guarantee that your child will one day be more successful than someone that is not in the school band, but the pride, confidence, and initiative that being a member of a team builds in young people will serve him the rest of his life. In order to ensure that this positive growth occurs you as a parent need to take the lead and help your child develop good practice habits.

As a parent you have always done your best to give your child everything needed to succeed in life. By allowing your child to learn a new instrument and play in the school band you are adding another brick to a strong foundation that will support your child in all aspects of her development. Playing an instrument is not going to guarantee that your child will one day be more successful than someone that is not in the school band, but the pride, confidence, and initiative that being a member of a team builds in young people will serve him the rest of his life. In order to ensure that this positive growth occurs you as a parent need to take the lead and help your child develop good practice habits.

Every parent needs to set up a daily block of time during the afternoon or evening for their new band member to practice on their instrument. This practice time must be given the same weight and importance as would any other piece of homework. If you treat practice time in this manner, your new musician will also see it as important and will eventually work into a routine that will produce steady improvement. Make sure that the area your musician is practicing in is free from distractions. No TV, no radio, no iPods, just your new band student and his or her instrument. A good beginner practice session is twenty to thirty minutes each night. Don't let them count the time it takes to put their instrument together or clean it afterwards. Twenty minutes of practice means twenty minutes of playing time with lips on the instrument!

There are other things that can negatively impact a new band student. One that comes up more often than I would like is when I hear a student tell me that