Watching your child take an interest in an instrument and become inspired to play is a heartwarming experience for every parent. It makes you feel excited for your child to create something beautiful. However, those inspirational moments can begin to slip away if your child is easily distracted and loses focus when they practice. You start to scramble, looking for ways to keep your child motivated. Searching for “music teachers near me” online is a step in the right direction, as a music teacher will have their own ideas to inspire your child to stay focused as they play. Here are some useful tips to try out next time you or your child is practicing music.
Helpful tips for focusing when practicing music
1. Consider where your child is in their learning
Before you begin implementing techniques or set up time limits for practice, consider your child’s age, attention span, and playing level. Don’t put expectations on your child that they can’t meet; this is the easiest way to get your child to lose focus and then lose interest in playing music. Instead, keep realistic goals for your child to achieve. Sometimes a time limit may not be the best approach for them to practice music. If your child struggles with practicing for an allotted time, try setting goals for them to reach during each practice.
2. Remove distractions
It comes as no surprise to know that distractions can easily deter your child from focusing on practicing their instrument. There is probably something right now that is taking your child’s mind off of practicing music. Is it their phone? A game system? Or social media? You can help your child focus while they practice by removing whatever it is that is distracting them while they play. Have them shut off their device or lock themselves out of their social media account until they have finished practicing.
3. Make practice fun
Who said practice had to be boring? Children are much more likely to be focused while practicing their instrument if you can make up some games for your child to play. For example, if your child is learning a difficult technique or is working on playing a passage, use pennies, Skittles, or stickers as a point system. Each time they play through the passage correctly, they earn a coin, candy, or sticker. If they play it wrong, they lose the item they’re playing for. Practice and lessons can be fun! Just be sure to allow your child to play around with their instrument whenever they want. Sometimes exploring an instrument helps a child feel motivated to play more.
4. Make a checklist
If your child enjoys making a checklist and checking off tasks, then creating a list for your child’s practice can be very useful. This is where having a teacher for music lessons comes in handy because your child’s music teacher likely has a plan for each lesson and will know exactly what your child should be practicing and in what order. Create a list of tasks for your child to check off during their practice time. These tasks can be very simple to help keep your child motivated and focused on completing each item.
5. Practice the Pomodoro technique
The Pomodoro technique helps people stay focused by setting time limits and giving breaks from work for a reward. Using this technique, you can train your brain to stay focused for a short time. The standard method is to focus on a task for 25 minutes and then give yourself a five-minute break. Depending on how old your child is, 25 minutes may be too long for them to focus on practicing music without a break. If this is the case, shorten their focus time by practicing for ten minutes and then giving them a five-minute break. It’s likely your child will find that their time to focus on practicing their instrument goes much faster than they think it will go.
Always be encouraging
There are many different ways you can help your child focus while practicing their instrument, but the most effective way to keep your child focused on their music is to encourage them to play and celebrate their accomplishments. Of course, a music teacher can provide you with some creative ways to encourage your child to play more and stay focused. If you don’t have a music teacher yet, consider hiring one of our tutors at Lessons In Your Home. All of our instructors are professional musicians and gifted instructors. They will come right to your home for every lesson, plus we offer virtual music lessons, too. Our online music lessons are being taught by local music teachers with live lessons tailored to your child! Contact us today to learn more. Contact us today to find an instructor near you.
