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How Much Time Should My Student Spend Practicing?

So, you’ve googled “guitar lessons near me”, found Musicology to be the best source for music lessons in Temecula, and signed-up your student for music lessons… What happens next?  How much time should my student be practicing at home?  This is the most common question that parents ask our teachers and the answer is not as straight-forward as you’d think.  The main factors that determine how long a student should be practicing in between their weekly music lessons are age, reasonability, skill level, personal goals, and motivation. 

The most important factor in determining the amount of time that a student should be practicing their instrument is reasonability.  Is it reasonable for a five-year-old to be practicing an hour every day?  No.  In fact, your average child between four and six should only be practicing a few minutes every day or every other day, but this will not happen if the parents do not help them develop a routine.  If a student has a very busy schedule during the week, or doesn’t even have an instrument to practice on it isn’t very reasonable for them to practice very much. 

Typically, it is reasonable to expect older students to practice for longer periods than younger students.  However, the student’s skill level must be taken into account.  If a student is a beginner, and I consider my students beginners for the first 3-5 years, it is normal for them to not practice very much, and most of their progress on the instrument comes from the music lessons that they take a Musicology every week.  This has to do with complicated business such as developing neuro-muscular memory, etc., and I won’t go into that here.  Let’s just say it can be over-whelming, frustrating, or boring to practice their assignments at home. 

Before we go any further, let’s define what I mean when I say practice: Practice is concentrated effort.  When I refer to practice in this article (and when the Music Instructors at Musicology refer to it), we mean practicing the assignment that they are given on a weekly basis and does not include time spent being creative, having fun, playing along with songs, and “messing around”.  The aforementioned is called playing music and it is equally as important as practicing.  Often, parents will discourage students from doing this when they haven’t practiced their assignment given in their weekly music lesson.  In contrast to the fun of playing and exploring the instrument, practicing their weekly assignment will be challenging and not fun (let’s be honest: most people don’t have fun when they can’t do something).

This brings us to motivation and personal goals.  As an educator of music for over 15 years, I have seen my students practice significantly less and less over the years.  This is due to that fact that children have easier access to electronic mediums (phones, tablets, computers, and gaming systems), and they spend more time on these devices than before).  This limits the time that students have to practice, and I’ve noticed that even my more motivated students practice a lot less than a decade ago.  If a student is highly motivated they should be encouraged to practice and play as much as they reasonably can.  Helping your student set personal goals (like participating in recitals, joining Musicology’s Rockology program, or tackling a piece or song that they want to learn) will really help motivate them to practice.

Here’s a chart below for beginners: (0-2 years depending on how the student progresses.)

   
As a music teacher in Temecula, CA for over 15 years, I can say that the amount of time a student will practice really depends on the music student, how they develop, and how much time they have in their lives to practice.  In my own personal experience, I did not practice at all, really, for the first year that I took lessons when I was a kid.  Then, when I hit the age of 14, I couldn’t put my drum sticks down.  Please remember that music is a lifelong study and that practicing music will happen in cycles.  Think about the Statue of David and how many years it took Michelangelo to acquire that level of skill.  Could you sculpt as well as him with two years of weekly sculpting lessons? 

Here is a list of some things that you can do to promote an environment of productivity in helping your student to practice:

• Encourage your student to practice using positivity: e.g.: “Think about how great it will feel to get on to the next piece”,   “Wouldn’t it be awesome to show off how good you are at playing along with this song”         
• If your student feels frustrated or overwhelmed, encourage them to take a break or just start having fun.
• Don’t let them quit!  I’ve heard a parent come in countless times and say: I use to play ____ but I quit; I wish I stuck with it now.  Conversely, I’ve never had a parent tell me that they wished their parents had let them quit music. 
• Help your student develop a practice routine: help them to set aside the same time every day for practice and if you miss a day or two it is OK.
• If your student falls into a cycle of disinterest and nothing seems to affect it, try a different instrument; we don’t do contracts at musicology for that very reason!
• Provide your student with some motivation such as fun group classes, jamming with friends (or other Musicology students), and the recitals that we offer throughout the year.

Lastly, at Musicology, we know that taking music lessons and studying art allows all students to gain culture and build positive components of their characters, and that studying music is a lifelong process; I still practice every day because I’m still learning!

-Steve Denning