Guide for Parents of Beginning Band Students- How can you help?
Congratulations!
You have a child that wants to learn to play a musical
instrument! This undertaking will likely present challenges and
bring great rewards. As a parent, you want to help your child,
but you may not know how to begin. Research shows that
parent involvement and support is an important factor for students
to be successful in their learning; you can help, even if you have
never played a musical instrument yourself. You have already
invested money renting or purchasing an instrument and supplies,
what else can you do?
1. Help your child schedule practice. Make regular practice an expectation from the beginning. Don’t ask your child “Did you practice?” instead ask “Have you practiced yet today?”
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We know that the brain learns best by practicing frequently for short amounts of time. Beginner players only need to practice assigned tasks for about five minutes, but they should do this work once or twice almost every day.
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As students gain skills and knowledge practice periods can be longer, and perhaps less frequent. Keep the focus not on how many minutes students are practicing, but what they are achieving. Can they perform their weekly goal? If yes, they have practiced enough, if no, keep working.
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If a student does not practice at home, they are missing the key element of independent learning. At school students are getting direct instruction and guided practice, but independent learning and problem solving is the goal for all of our learners. This learning happens when students successfully practice at home.
2. Help your child access resources to facilitate their independent learning. When he says “I don’t know……”, you can ask “How can we find out?”
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The method book contains all of the information students need to succeed with their goal. Fingering charts and concept explanations and be found in the book when students are working to recall the weekly lesson from school.
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The interactive program that accompanies the book provides a model for students to listen to and practice with. When they are working on an exercise, they can listen to it, count and clap the rhythm, read and finger the notes, play it using the slow button (top left, next to the title of the exercise) and finally record their own performance. Parents can also use the program to listen to the model performance, listen to student recordings, and read teacher feedback.
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Encourage your child to explore other resources. Do you have a friend or family member who can help? Can you get information from Google or YouTube to help?
3. Encourage your child when they are frustrated, as well as celebrating success. This is not always easy. “Wow that sounds great! I am really hearing your improvement!” (Banishment to the garage to practice may not be a positive reinforcement).
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Always look for (listen for) the good! In the beginning that may be difficult, but all sounds should be celebrated as progress and growth. Make sure all family members are speaking as positively as possible about those beginning sounds. Learning to play an instrument is “falling forward” we succeed and grow through our mistakes.
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When your child is experiencing frustration and getting discouraged, help them to work through those feelings. Persistence is an important life skill, music learning will reinforce this skill.
Finally, please let me know when frustration continues, or you feel you child needs more help. I want to provide as much support as possible to ensure your child’s success. It is going to be a great year!