With the recital coming up and for some, Certificate of Merit evaluations, parents want to know what they can do to help their child. We all want our children to do well and succeed. When we have success in accomplishing our goals, that is a such great feeling ... it really is fun and builds our confidence. But getting there takes a lot of hard work and practice. It doesn't happen by accident.
The problem is that sometimes when our children hear the words; "go practice your violin, do your homework, do your chores... they respond with long faces, dragging feet, or sometimes even a fight. Does that ever happen in your house? They love playing their violins, they love coming to class; but practicing often times seems like something they are being forced to do. So how do you get your child to practice at home without a fight? Here are a few suggestions.
Encouragement is probably the best way you can help your child. Ask them to “play” their pieces for you on a regular basis. Make practicing a fun game by doing pretend recitals or performances in your living room. Most importantly, just listen to them play. Tell them what you like about their playing. They really need to hear this and it is a great way to build their confidence. If they are playing for you, then they are practicing. Win! Win! And you get to enjoy hearing their progress and engage with them in the process. Don’t worry about correcting their mistakes; I will do that in class. You can, however, ask them if there are any specific areas that Ms. Jill asked them to work on and ask them to show you.
If they are in my Certificate of Merit program they should be working in their theory books regularly. Check in with them and see how they are doing. They can give the best performance ever for their evaluation; but if they don't pass their theory test they will receive a RAL (Remain At Level). They are both equally important to succeed. They should be completing their workbooks by the end of December, if they haven’t already. That leaves January and February for review and practice tests (I have the practice tests). Also, they should be going through the sections in their books in the proper order and not jumping around or skipping sections. If they are falling behind, help them to come up with a plan to complete their books on time. Also remind your child that all the information they need to answer the questions is in the book. Encourage them by making sure they are reading all of the information prior to and in between the questions. If they are stuck have them come to my theory study hall or ask me in class.
Help by working with them to put together a schedule for practicing and studying theory. Help them to stay accountable to what they have committed to. If your child is practicing 20-30 minutes a day they will improve significantly more then 1 or 2 days of lengthly practice a week. Students just starting do not need as much time in the beginning; but they do need time with their instruments on a daily basis. If you are listening to your child play regularly you will be able to tell if they are progressing.
Below is an interesting matrix that I came across recently that demonstrates just how important practice and family support is in how students progress with their music-making; or anything they want to accomplish.
If you have concerns about your child’s progress in their violin playing or have any questions about how you can help, please feel free to contact me. I am here to help, and I care about every one of my students and want them to succeed.
Ms. Jill
Like me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/griffinviolinstudio/
No comments:
Post a Comment