Tips On Persevering On A Musical Instrument
It is easy to start a child on a
musical instrument but it is difficult to sustain the interest. How can you, as parents, help your child to persevere on? Here are some tips, from my experience:
1) Set aside time practising the instrument daily,
be it 30 mins, 45 mins, 1 hour or more.
The child needs to cultivate this habit of doing it daily.
2) Sit (or stand around for that matter) with the
child as he/she practises. The child
needs to know you are serious with him/her picking up this musical instrument.
3) If possible, always have a short talk with the teacher
after every lesson. Constant
communication with the music teacher will help you keep abreast with your child’s
performance.
4) Do music theory exercises with him/her
together. In the beginning, the theory
is pretty easy, so you should seize the opportunity to learn together with your
child so that you can coach him/her along the way.
5) Avoid going for every grading exam if
possible. The essential ones are Grade
5, Grade 8, Diploma & above. Having to handle music exam in every level will deprive your child from learning more
music pieces as much time has to be spent practising on exam pieces.
Hope the above tips are helpful in helping your child!
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These are great tips Jenn. I learnt the piano when I was young and even though I made it to grade 8 in the end, the lessons were really becoming a chore. I can really identify with your last tip because I really hated all the exams and often asked my mum if I could just play the piano for leisure. It got to a point where I will only be practicing my exam pieces and my scales. Very boring for me! Will keep these in mind when I start my girl on an instrument!
ReplyDeleteHey it's a great idea to skip out most of the yearly exams... I took mine every year and it really killed my interest!
ReplyDeleteHi, Thanks for your tips. Your boy's music is enjoyable :)
ReplyDeleteMay I know why grade 5 is important compared to other level? Sorry I dun play piano so dun have much idea about exam. Just that my girl is taking grade 2 this year (her first exam). Her teacher's strategy is to try to let her finish all the exam's pieces and scales etc. early so that she won't be stress when date is near. Also could learn other pieces after that.
Hi CE, Grade 5 is the min. level to attain in order to take Grade 6, 7 & 8. Eg. to take Grade 3, one need not passed Grade 2 first. But to take Grade 8, one has to pass min. Grade 5.
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