Practice Tips

PRACTICE TIPS

At Windworks, we recommend that about 10 minutes multiplied by your grade is an appropriate amount of practice to do each day.  (So, beginners & grade 1 students should do about 10 minutes daily, grade 2 students should do 20 minutes daily and so on.) 

Remember that the quality and frequency of practice is more important than the duration.  A practice session should always include a warm-up, with tone exercises, some technical work (scales, studies, finger drills etc) and then working on the specific issues in your repertoire.  Simply playing through your pieces isn’t really productive practice.  If you’re unsure about effective practice methods, please talk to your teacher or contact me to give you some ideas! 

Many of our older students use an online “practice log”  which is available through the studio management software we use.  If you don’t already access this and would like a password and details on how to use it, please let me know.  The advantage of this method is that our staff can see new entries that students make every day and give feedback and encouragement between lessons.  It also calculates weekly practice averages and graphs etc which some students find very motivating. 

How parents can help with practice...
You don’t need to have a musical background or any musical knowledge at all to help your child with their practice.  Just encouraging and supporting their efforts at home is a huge help!  Here are a few ideas you may like to experiment with at home...

1. Have a designated practice time for each day of the week, and try to stick with it!  Find out what times seem to be most productive for your child in terms of concentration and stamina. 
2. Set up a creative “practice spot”  with music stand (all students need one...perching a music book on a bed or bookshelf doesn’t encourage good posture!), metronome, music book, pencil, a mirror, and any creative additions that you think your child might respond to (a musical poster, practice rewards chart, framed exam certificates etc.)  
3. Encourage your child to keep a record of their practice (either in a notebook, on a chart, or using our online practice log) 
4. Ask your child for a weekly “concert” so they can show you what they’ve been working on.  Invite a grandparent, relative, neighbor or friend to listen too.  Regularly record or video them so they can look back over the years and see how much they’ve improved! 
5. Encourage your child to listen to a wide variety of music.  If you’re learning a language you need to hear it spoken!  There are some great Youtube clips of famous flute players and we a very large library of flute CD’s which you are welcome to borrow.  Why not take them to a concert too! 
6. Understand that for all students, motivation and commit to practice can fluctuate.  Being able to work through this is a very important life skill, regardless of whether they continue with their music studies.  Please talk to us if you have any concerns.  
7. Sit in on a lesson.  At Windworks we welcome parents to sit in on a lesson occasionally, and see what we are working on with your child, so you can remind them during practice at home.  This is a great time to discuss progress and any concerns with your child’s teacher.  Alternatively, feel free to call or email me anytime.