How much time should you or your child expect to spend practicing the material from your lesson?
Generally, allocate 10 to 15 minutes to Basics. These are very important—Yes. . . and mostly boring. Do them first; and get them out of the way. Why so important? ALL of the music you play includes scales and exercises.
Basic techniques are crucial to making progress; both in reading music and physically producing it. However, your assignment in the Method Book should only take about 10 minutes of your practice.
The bulk of your practice time should be on Performance pieces or songs. At least one of them should be a song you recognize and enjoy playing. I usually assign 3 pieces of various degrees of difficulty.
Expect to go over everything in your assignment at least a minimum of two times (FIVE times is much better). In your mind, make a note of the places that did not play smoothly or where you made mistakes. The second time through should be used for corrections. If you are still making the same mistakes the second and third time, then you need to stop and pencil in a written note, the note name, and the finger number. Just the very action of making a notation in the music helps you to make a note of it in your mind. I make pencil corrections the very first time I make an error. This saves me a lot of time and helps me move on to other aspects of the piece.
The more time you spend playing; the better you get. Nothing happens overnight! If you put in the effort, you will be well rewarded with excellent progress! For example, one of my young students (age 6), practices his assignments in FOURTEEN books for 20 times EACH practice. . . He received the highest score on his Associated Board of Royal Music
School Exams this year, out of all my students. On the other hand, I also had a student who, one week before, had not finished learning the notes of his exam pieces. Even though he was aware from prior experience what is required to prepare. Needless to say, he received a low score and did not pass.
Usually, there are three parts of practice responsibility.
The instructor needs to be sure the assignment is clearly understood and easy to execute. The material should be appropriate to the level of the student.
The parent has the job of helping the student develop regular practice habits so it becomes routine. The same time of day, if possible; and without distractions. Also, practices can be divided into smaller portions of 10 to 15 minutes morning and evening. Even with a few minutes a day, progress is possible.
At the end of the practice week, ask to hear what has been achieved during the practices.
The child must be held accountable for completing the assignments. Parents, please do not make excuses for your child. Write down any questions that arise during practicing so you can discuss the problem with your teacher. Yes, sometimes there are busy weeks, or an illness. These interfere with regular practice. Be sure to inform your teacher at the BEGINNING of the lesson, what you did not complete.
Work on building an efficient practice session. Be sure to ask your teacher about practice habits and expectations. Progress is determined more by HOW you practice, rather than HOW MUCH time you spend