Organising the Practice of two instruments

Could you supervise alternate instruments each night?

We are having this problem too, especially with DD1 who has a long commute to school now and after school clubs and also has reached grade 3 in one instrument, so more practice required...

We are totalling 6 instruments (x3 children) at the moment and I am considering just alternating days so that we are effectively practising 3 instruments in one night rather than 6.

If anything, I am finding it too stressful supervising 6 lots of music on top of homework, cooking dinner, and getting everyone ready for bed/stories read etc...I am becoming rather shouty too which I always regret afterwards!!

^can't edit, but add early music to the mix. :)

@makemelaugh

Not sure. Where I am, everything's pretty local so even walking to school only took 50min. After all that, conservatoire didn't happen, but I'm glad I took the alternative route and read music as an academic subject - it suited me much better. My A-levels were totally eclectic and I did them in the middle of a run of shows (pit-orchestra, not on stage) and I now teach violin and piano but also play several other instruments to varying standards, and I play jazz, folk and gypsy-punk-craziness (electric fiddle) as well as classical. Not really conservatoire-friendly I guess!

JulieMichelle
when did you get some sleep?!!

DS1 does two, and does them one after the other. But he's only 6 and hasn't been doing either long so it's only 15 minutes ish on each.

Alternate nights, while they're young. But in the sixth form I was doing 90min of piano before school and 3hrs of violin after school (8-11pm), in addition to other musical activities.

I think you do have to accept that the progress on each may not be as fast if they were only learning one.

Fitting it all in can be a bit of a nightmare - all 3 of my dc play 2 instruments and it can be chaos.

They all do piano and so tend to do 10 min slots twice each - once after school, once after tea. Then they pick up their individual things at another time (this does vary - 2 of them have just been doing piano exams so that's been he focus). My dd1 is in S2 and is able to practice both instruments during one of her class music lessons a week in the practice rooms, which is accordion, though I like to hear her at least once so I can check its going in the right direction.

They probably practice 5/7 days a week. Won't be hat for the next 2 weeks though, too much else on!!

Little and often is perhaps the best way at this stage. I agree with Silas about trying to fit in a morning one - it will take a lot of pressure off if you can get one done first thing especially when she's fresh.
My dd is not naturally a morning person but I realised when she was quite young that after school practice when she was tired and grumpy was not going to work well.
Getting up 10-15 mins earlier and really being focused with dressing etc should allow you to fit in a decent practice.

My ds is a music scholar (yr 7)and plays two instruments.

He was getting a bit stressed about practise, so we made a plan (agreed with his teachers) where he does 3 good practises a week on each instrument.

He also has a weekly lesson on each instrument, and plays in 3 bands, and 3 ensembles, so he does a huge amount of actual playing. Because the actual agreed practise time isn't too onerous, he also finds lots of time just to muck around and have fun with music, which is the whole point really...

I think two is do-able OP - in my DD's case, piano is effectively No 3 as she's very serious about her singing, so I think that's why we're considering dropping it.

Presumably second instrument will be a band/orchestral instrument? I thnk this helps with their enthusiasm.

We are in the position of 3 children with 3 instruments each, 1 of which each is piano which does take organising and juggling. Priority tends to be towards whichever instrument is being examined or performing. For instance DS2 has just done Grade 5 piano, and was doing extra practice for this, he will be doing Grade 5 trombone in March so that will take precedence. He usually does some practice in the mornings, he has too as he is also a chorister and is very busy.

Forgot to add that practice is now 45 min to 1 hour...especially on instrument 1

It's difficult DS also a music scholar and finding year 7 very full!
This is us:
Monday lesson on instrument 1
Tuesday practice instrument 2
Wednesday lesson on instrument 2 and practice 1
Thursday practice 1
Friday lesson instrument 3 and practice 1
Saturday practice 1 and 2
Sunday practice 1 and 2
He doesnt practice 3 outside school
Choir rehearsals on top of this
Terraced house so can't practice before school or too late !

If you assume they don't practice on the day they have a lesson, and they have a day's break from practice it shouldn't actually work out too badly. DD's routine is something like this:

Monday - instrument 1 lesson at school, practice instrument 2 in the evening
Tuesday - the other way round.
Weds. Practice instrument 1, break from instrument 2
Thursday - other way round.
Friday, Saturday Sunday practice both. (one before dinner, one after).

I sit in on one lot of practice a night only. If it's a two instrument practice day then dd is on her own for one practice session.

Yes that's the point we're at now. DD1 isn't a natural pianist really, but it is very useful for her other instruments. I am hoping we can somehow muddle through to the end of Yr 6 with it.

We struggle with this. DD1 (nearly 11) does piano, clarinet and singing. We do clarinet and singing after dinner (singing is easier to fit in as it can be done on the hoof if necessary!). She's supposed to do piano in the morning but as the mornings are getting darker and she's getting tireder it's increasingly slipping off the radar. I think she may stop piano in the next year.