4 Ways To Prepare For Private Music Lessons

Ever watched someone perform a piece and just be astounded at the way that they played and how perfect it sounded? I’m sure you want your child to perform that way. Well, here are things that you should help your little musician do before every practice that will help them reach the peak of what they can do with their music.

Step back and set a goal for what you want to accomplish this semester.

Many times our students just sit in their seats and try and play something and only having “because my teacher told me to” as a reason for playing it. There is a much better way in helping practice become fun and meaningful. Pick a goal for that semester, something to work towards over the next couple months. It could be playing a hard piece in the recital, learning a different style of music or just wanting to really learn how to play with a different feel. Having somewhere to go in the long term can help motivate the short term.

Music Lesson Goals – Look at the big parts.

Having a big goal is only the first step, now it’s time to take a look at what will get you there. Is it learning how to play triplets or being able to improvise using different scale modes? Whatever the different parts are, you should work through this with your teacher to make sure that you’re on track to reach your goal. This can make technique exercises more interesting if it has something to do with the big recital piece at the end of the year. Check off the steps as you go.

Get your headphones and listen to some examples.

Being able to hear someone else do it is great when you’re struggling to really read it exactly the way it’s supposed to be played. Sometimes rhythm and feel is best taught through how it sounds instead of trying to count it out. Listening to other people play what you want to play or watching your teacher demonstrate is the best way to really bridge that gap of a difficult step towards your goal. Most improvisation is created by listening to others and making it your own. That’s only one example, what do you want to hear and learn better?

Remember that there’s no time like the present, so get started.

The first step is usually the hardest. There are lots of people who talk about doing something new and different, but rarely do people venture away from what is known. So, you’ve made a plan, charted your steps and even looked up some people on YouTube who are already doing it. Great, now it’s time to just sit and play whether you’ve got 6 minutes or 60 minutes. Don’t fast forward through those commercials, take your instrument out and practice until your show comes back on.