Practice Resources

Why Practice: 

• Playing your instrument outside of class is essential to success in music. 

• Students who regularly play at home and more likely to be successful, feel confident, enjoy musc and playing their instrument, and will be more motivated. 

• Learning an instrument is like learning a language, practicing the skill regularly is essential to success. 

• Practicing helps students to develop valuable life skills including self-discipline, organization, accountability, self-motivation, teamwork, and more! 

How to structure your practice ("what do I actually play at home?"):

• Practice is like a three course meal, it has an appetizer (warm-up), a main course (what needs work), and dessert (fun). 

• And, there are specific ways in which we want our students to be working on new or challenging songs.

• Please view our "Practice Meal" and "Learning Sequence" visuals below for more information! 

How do I support my child's practice? 

• Supporting your student in practicing can be challenging, especially if you don't have very much musical experience. Here are some ways to support your child in their practice: 

• Check-in with your student about how playing their instrument is going. 

• Ask them what they are working on (what fundamentals they are working on? what's new? what's challenging? why is it challenging? what can you play really well?)

• Ask them to play for you

• Help with the non-playing aspeccts of music practice, including counting, saying note names, accessing the online note practice games (below), and the Measures of Success Accompaniment Tracks (click here).

• Encourage them to follow the practice structure and learning sequence (below).