DD doesn't want to do violin practice

[PotteryLottery]

So there is no point in continuing lessons, right?

She's Y1 and should do 20 mins a day, but doesn't want to do anything even if I get everything ready for her.

It's worth trying some motivational tricks I think. Do you listen to her practice? Does she like earning stickers? Can you Skype a great performance to Granny?
Aim for a happy 6 minutes a day to get the new habit going?

I think at this age the key is not to be too ambitious. 20 mins is a lot even for a child who is keen.

I'd aim for 5 minutes 4-5 times a week, with a small reward each time.

You'd be surprised at how much progress is possible with small amounts of practice. Little and often is the key.

I also agree that 20 mins a day is a bit ambitious.

For a term DC1 "earned" screen time. 5 minutes practice = 10 minutes screen time. It worked a treat. After that term he got the habit of practising (at least less reluctant) and we dropped that. Now they get a book after 30 stickers - one for each practice session, but to be honest we seldom remember the stickers... Routine is key, I think.

How does she practise? Do you send her away to go and do violin practise, or do you stay with her and talk her through it? It can make a big difference between seeing practise time as some kind of 'punishment' ("Go to your room and do your practise") and seeing it as an enjoyable parent-child activity.

I also vote for 5-10min three or four times a week. 20min is too long for year 1, I struggle to teach a 20min lesson at that age, let alone expecting them to practise for that length of time. It can help if you have something to aim for - "Let's see if we can improve the timing on this piece enough over the next week that you can play it to granny on Saturday when we go to see her."

Ask the teacher to suggest alternative 'practise' activities. Do you remember magnetic fishing? Attach the string and magnet to the bow, which must be held correctly while fishing. Silliness and fun, but it's real practise.

My DS started violin at the age of 4 at school as they teach all of them in reception class. When it came to Yr1 we then had the option of carrying on the lessons on a pay per term basis. I was very surprised when my DS chose to continue but he too wasn't all that keen to practice. I spoke to his teacher as she was very relaxed and said often she prefers them not to do much at home in Yr1 because she found that often the children spent a week practicing bad habits, particularly if the parents weren't themselves musical and therefore struggled to know themselves what correct technique should be, and she then spent her 30 minutes ironing them all out again. As such for the first year my DS did no practice at all at home yet progressed nicely through the year and became more established with his bow hold etc... At the end of that year he was introduced to a cello during a children's concert and decided that was his instrument. The violin got dropped and the cello is absolutely the love of his life. He's gone from no music practice at home to doing 20-30mins per day and is now in both his school orchestra and one he has just joined outside of school which has already been good for both his music and his social life! He told his teacher the other day that he wants to be a professional cellist.
I think it's very hard at age six to be really engaged in practice but if you could find her a beginners orchestra group you might find being able to play alongside others will be more appealing to her?

I sit with DD when she plays but she gets frustrated when it doesn't sound good.

In fact she played a bit longer when I had to pop downstairs for a drink!

Violin is probably one of the hardest instruments for young children, as so many aspects of technique and 'listening' to one's sound have to be co-ordinated to have any hope of anything sounding reasonable.

Does she play any other instruments? recorder at school, or keyboard or piano at home? A second (or third) instrument might relax her a bit, and take the pressure off the violin study.

If she wants to continue with lessons, and you are still prepared to fund it even if she DOESN'T do much practice now, she will still be making gradual progress, and before long may feel she does want to put in more effort.

[I'll come back sometime, with other suggestions.]

OP - I think as long as she enjoys playing, just let her be at that age. Explain to teacher she doesn't want to practise at home at let him deal with it.

Suggest playing her violin at home, even pick it up yourself to try it and see if dd takes over. Can she make up tunes herself? Just to get her playing at home initially.
Let her do it by herself. Ask her what can she do to make it sound better when she gets frustrated? What would her teacher say to do? Can she play it faster? slower?
Good luck. Don't give up on her at such a young age.

Won't the teacher get frustrated with lack of practice
She shouldn't be playing to keep her teacher happy. It's not about the teacher!
Music should be a pleasure. 20 minutes daily is not necessary if she is not choosing to do that. Yes you get better with practice, but if you don't enjoy it and have to be bribed or blackmailed into doing it, what is the point?
Encourage her to practice a few times a week for however long she wants to but don't fall out over it.

One rule (learnt from experience, because I have a very... interesting... student): Playing standing is fine. Playing sitting is fine. Playing lying in bed is not fine (at least until basic technique is established).

In our house instruments are practice daily, but there is no rules about how long. I think the every day habit is helpful but we are certainly pragmatic about what/how much gets done. I sitt with them when they practice and have an input into what / how they practice based on what their teachers have said or written in their notebooks, what kind of mood the kids are in, what else is going on that day and when their next performance etc is. Some days its more a case of Playing through a favourite piece for fun, other days working on a few bars that they are finding tricky or working on polishing something for performance...

Dd's teacher asks for 1 minute per year of their age a bit like the naughty step 4/5 times a week

This works for her up until the end of primary and then the advice changes depending on grade

Poor kid.

PLaying an instrument should be fun.

I have a DD with a passion for her extra curricular activity. She dances and does 20 hours of classes a week. Even when not at dance I can hear her practicing in her bedroom for hours on end.

That sounds very young to be doing every day. I started at 9 and am pretty sure I only practiced the night before lessons for the first couple of years. Twice a week would be good going for a 6 yr old.
My parents had to make me practice for years, I didn't start practicing of my own accord till I was about 14. Looking back am pleased they badgered me.

What a strange remark keeptothewhiteline. Why poor? There are thousands of kids who enjoy their activity but hate practicing. It does not make them poor at all. Besides I would not compare violoin and dancing, dancing is fun and movement, violin can be a very hard and boring at the beginning.

dancing is fun and movement you clearly no nothing about serious dancing.

Young children do not all have the same levels of patience, persistence and ability to concentrate over long periods. Just because they don't like practicing doesn't mean they hate playing, or that they are not musical.

I wouldn't keep paying for lessons for an 11 year old who hated practicing, but at 6 it's different. Often not wanting to practice is partly caused by excessive adult expectations anyway.

keeptothewhiteline, do I understand correctly that your dd is doing serious dancing at 6 yo? Even so, we are talking about violin beginner as opposed to a serious dancer, therefore not quite comparable, is it?

However, beginner dancing is fun and movements as opposed to a static repetitive and boring! violin beginner practice.

I also don't think practising daily is a bad thing - in fact it is the right thing! My two dc practise their violins every day and have since they were 4 yo. Ds is 8 now, working on grade 4 and suzuki repertoire and practises for around 30 minutes a day. Dd (11) is working on suzuki and grade 7 and practises for anything up to an hour a day.

I always sit with my dc during their practise. Especially when they were younger we used fun games to make practise more fun. One thing that helped my Ds was games like rolling a die to choose which piece to practise / review next. He also worked well knowing how many things he needed to do and we would move an object up the piano keys to show him how much more.

My daughter is six years old and she practices her violin almost every day depending on how tired she is. I find that initally she is often reluctant, but once she starts she gets into practice.

I have some really evil tricks to get my daughter to practice. The first trick is evil I am sure it will disgust all self respecting mumsnetters ..... I pick up my daughter's 1/10th size violin and start playing her pieces. My daughter thinks that her mother's violin playing is so awful that she will do anything to stop me playing. (ie. she decides she is going to play rather than listen to me!)

When practicing I set my daughter a target for the day rather than dicate how long she practices for. I try to make the targets small and achievable. We also do a lot of listening of her pieces while she eats breakfast.

Lots of "concerts" for people like Daddy or granparents can help.

A child at the age of six cannot take responsiblity for practice. They need an adult to sit with them and help them. A young child will just play through their mistakes or practice the parts they have already mastered. Many six year olds get lonely if they are made to practice on their own.

In my experience 5 to 10 mintues everyday is more productive than a longer practice once or twice a week.

I rarely practiced as a kid and play professionally now.

"I rarely practiced as a kid and play professionally now."

Very few people have that kind of talent. Most of us have to work to get anywhere with a musical instrument.

Its better if practice can be made fun. Suzuki violin teachers use lots of games. I realise that traditional teachers prefer children to look at music, but making up funny lyrics can help children learn pieces.

I don't have "that type of talent", I really don't.

The lessons I went to were dull and uninspiring and we were given music to play that didn't interest me one bit.

When I was about 15, I started playing the type of music that I play now. That's when the hard work started, but I enjoyed it so much that it didn't seem like hard work in the slightest.

But forced practice aged 6? Meh.

"But forced practice aged 6? Meh."

Forced practice is likely to be pretty poor quality practice and counter productive. If a child is watching the clock then they are not thinking about the music they are making.

A good teacher will inspire a child and suggest ideas for making practice fun. A six year old may need gentle persausion to get started, but they should not be cohersed or bribed or forced. Music can be part of the life of a home and it might help for parents to join in. (Don't worry if you can't play the violin.. your six year old will be disgusted and show you how to play properly.)