How often do your primary age DC practice their musical instruments?

[aniamana]

It's hard getting the DC to practice. How often do yours practice theirs? I don't want to come down too heavy. DC is 9. I think it's a nice extra curricular but if they never practice it almost defeats the point and the lessons are not cheap.

I'm thinking of 10 mins a day a few times a week while I am making dinner as an incentive for DC to "earn" their dinner and it's a good time to remember it.

Just wondering what others do? And how often they manage to cajole their kids into practicing?

DD 10 was told 15 mins a day to start with, now she's played for a year the teacher says 30 mins a day. It's too much and she probably manages that 2-3 times a week. She can't play with DH is wfh so she can do activities that's two days gone. She can't play on a Sunday as we live in a block of flats.

If they don't want to play the instrument in the first place, then just pull the plug, but if they want to play then they really need to be practising daily, otherwise you're wasting the teacher's time and your own time and money. Daily practice also gives much faster progress, which is motivating in its own right.

The length of time depends a bit on what level they're at, but 10-15 mins for a child under 7, and 20-30 mins for an older primary child seems about right. Again depending on what level they're at, you may need to sit with them while they do it.

IME doing practice after breakfast but before school much easier than waiting till after school when they're tired and distracted.

DS9 does 15 minutes every day except Friday (busy and the day after his lesson) on drums, he started lessons in March after getting the kit for Christmas.

He was a right PITA to motivate to practice for a long time but he's started working on grade 1 and he's been better because he can see achievable chunks. I think before that even though his teacher was roughly working through the grade 1 skills DS was beginning to realise how much he didn't know after starting off very confident.

Also splitting the practice into five minute chunks of rudiments/piece 1/piece 2 was worked.

Likewise me sitting with him and making him go back and practice the mistakes not just bash away at the fun stuff. That accelerated how quickly he was able to play stuff well enough to enjoy it.

Anyway he is doing the above for himself now so that's easier.

He's had five days off due to Covid and just did a few minutes yesterday and today as soon as he wasn't bone tired and feverish any more. Rusty as hell but that will only get worse if he leaves it until he feels 100%

I will help counter the bias. My dd has never practiced and I don't make her.

Ds1 plays 4 instruments and I periodically drag him away from them but it's a struggle. Even then he will tap out music on the table.

DS2, 15-20 minutes a day before school.

To offer a different view, my DC struggles to get motivated to practice and manages about once a week. But they have been playing their instrument for 7 years like that and are at G7, and a member of several ensembles/orchestras. If they practiced more they would undoubtedly be a better player but they still play and enjoy it, which is all I can ask for really.

Yup Scotland. I don't mind the noise. The dog is most offended.

10 minutes per day, 4 days a week. I don't enforce it, but the rule is screens are available on school nights only after homework and practice - and there is barely any homework so it's not onerous. Sometimes she spends 8 of the 10 minutes pissing about, sometimes she does 10 minutes and then carries on for another 20. Sometimes none, but generally she wants screen time more than she doesn't want to practice.

I’ve never enforced practice so it is totally random. Very occasionally DD goes a week without practicing. Usually she does 10 minutes here or there. Other times she will sit and play for an hour.

I don’t care how quickly or slowly she progresses - as long as she gets pleasure from it, and she does.

All of mine did 10 years of piano, youngest completing grade 8 presently.

We practiced 7 days a week after breakfast, before school at that age for definitely no more than 10 minutes.

They ticked it off in their copy book.
They flew through the grading.

It's a complete waste of money if practice isn't being done very regularly and as I was paying a lot for their lessons, daily short practice was what worked here.

As they go up the senior grades 4-8, there isn't any more reminding them, they just got on with it themselves.

A good early, regular habit is really beneficial for child and parent.

don't use food as the incentive use money instead like 1 pound every 20 minutes they accumulate

Mine are in the school pipe band so twice at school and whenever they want at home. Younger has only just started but eldests been at it three years. I only have to pay for instruments and clothes not the actual lessons

DC1 does twenty minutes a day at least five days a week but it has taken a long time to get to 20 mins. Thankfully seems to have turned a corner recently and is doing it without any coaxing or bribery.

DC2 does maybe five minutes twice a day five days a week. DC2 is not progressing at all. The teacher is now recommending taking a step back from exam pieces and playing for fun. Not sure how I feel about it as its so expensive and the grades are a good measurement but I will be guided by the teacher.

I teach music and I'm clear at the start that the child has to be motivated to practise for themselves, because they like playing and/or because they want to progress.

If it's going to be the parents insisting on x amount of practice on x, y, z days what's the point unless it's intended to be a joyless pursuit to tick a box?

I teach two instruments, one of them piano. The other instrument I teach, all of my pupils are an absolute joy because they're here because THEY have decided they want to play that particular instrument. They're invested in it.

With piano, many kids are brought to lessons at their parents' choice because it's the done thing, like going to Brownies and swimming lessons.

It's part of my job to inspire and to motivate and to make the lessons fun and engaging but I can see from a mile off the kid who isn't actually that bothered at the point they arrive. Sometimes I can turn it round but sometimes I can't and as I get older I'm becoming much more ruthless at suggesting that piano maybe isn't for them if they don't feel at all motivated to practise. If they enjoy music generally I suggest taking them to see orchestras/bands and see if another instrument grabs them.

With my own DD there will be no making her practise. She can either do it because she wants to or not.

10 mins a day age 7, 15 if she misses a day. 45 min lesson a week. Then she can have fun at weekends on an app teaching the same instrument with her dad.

It's a long time since mine were that age but my boys both used to practice every day except on Sundays and the day that that they had their lesson. I'd say they probably did about 15 mins at that age, sometimes fractionally more but certainly not more than 20 mins at a time. Generally I'd get them to do it quite soon after coming in from school before they got too tired. I found that when they were young I did have to lean on them a bit but once they got to the point where they could play more interesting things that they enjoyed it wasn't an issue. I'd say little and often is better than infrequent but longer sessions, though I'm no expert.

When my DD was learning her instrument, I made it clear to her that I was never going to compel her to practice. Everything needed to come from her. So, if she wanted to improve and perhaps head towards playing in orchestras, she would need to put the practice in herself. Luckily enough, she is naturally musical and goal-oriented, so I never needed to bug her about practicing or rehearsing. (This was her second instrument, and turned out to be 'her' instrument; the first really wasn't a good fit. She didn't practice that one as much as she might.)