Practice Guidelines

Getting the most out of violin lessons means creating a learning environment at home that prepares a student for their lesson. Practicing is a skill in itself. Supervised practice can create the right conditions for deliberate practice and proper technical development.
It is the parent's responsibility to help structure their child's week so that they are not overcommitted and have time to practice.

Practice 5-7 Days a Week -Routines help children feel safe. Young children do well when practicing every day. Routines lead to predictability, which lead to stability and security.

Create an Inviting Practice Space- Choose a place to practice where your child can focus. This space should be free of distraction; especially cell phones, tablets and computers. If you are using these for tuners, metronomes, videos, set them so they can not receive texts or calls during practice time.

• Music Stand properly adjusted

• Pencil(s)

• Metronome

• Tuner

• Full length mirror (needed for students after first 6 months to one year)

 Listening to Music- The importance of listening can not be overemphasized. Most young student's music-reading skills ares still in the making, and hearing a professional play the piece helps them to know when they are making a mistake in their  interpretation.

 Though it is great to have classical music going when you are in the car, listening to the piece a couple of times just before you work on it is best. This is called "active listening"and encourages the child to engage in thinking how to produce the sounds, dynamics and phrasing. For beginners and young students, learning to sing the piece while in the car is an excellent way of learning the melody.

Older students use recordings made by professionals as a guide to understand a piece as a whole and to help them recognize when mistakes are occurring.

 Weekly assignments- Older children who are taking lessons without a parent present should bring a notebook with them. I will write a general outline of what should be covered and encourage them to fill in further notes about what they need to accomplish. It can be hard to remember all the details taught in a weekly lesson. Help your child by encouraging them to interpret and follow their weekly assignment in their notebook. 

One Thing At A Time- Pick one task such as fingerings/notes, dynamics/phrasing, bowings/bow strokes, left/right hand position, posture etc.

Review- During practice time review two or three short "old" pieces. The child will be able to concentrate on technical challenges, like left hand finger tips or bow hand grip, more easily on an old piece they know well. It will break up the practice on new piece and techniques so that they feel easier.

Verbal Comments- Save positive or negative comments for when practice is complete. Refrain from verbal explanation and criticism as much as possible. Silently moving the correct finger on the correct note or conducting for loud/soft or phrasing. If your child is struggling with a piece, say, "That's my favorite piece. Can I hear it again?"

Everyone Remembers The Ending- End practice by asking your child to play a piece they can play well. This helps him/her to end practice with positive thoughts about violin and music.

Practice Time- For young children limit their practice to their attention span. As soon as the attention wavers, switch to another piece or game, or stop entirely. Short, focused times twice or three times a day are preferable to a torturous 30 minutes of nothing.

Older students should practice a minimum of their lesson time 5-7 days a week. Double their lesson times is the optimal amount. 

Video Games and TV- I can not emphasize enough the difference I see in a child's focus and musical progress when they have strict limit on video and TV time during the week, or do not watch or play on their devices at all. If you allow watching and playing games, please set strict guidelines on how much time can be spend and I urge you to only allow this on days that they do not have school. This way your children are not rushing or being sloppy about their practice so they can watch TV or play.

Teenagers and Cell Phones- In today's world I see that many of my teen student have smart phones. These can be tremendously distracting to practicing and homework. It is imperative teens learn to focus for long periods of time so that they can become problem solvers and deep thinkers. Families who have their teenagers "park" devices when they are home and doing work are the most successful at keeping distractions out of their practice room. These devices really suck kids into wasting time on social media and games. "Parking" your phone means that it is off and Mom and Dad have the device in their possession.

Parents need to set strict guidelines to create an environment where child is not distracted.