Troubleshooting
If you hear these comments from your student…
“I don’t have time to practice”
One of many beneficial skills learned through music is the art of time management. Since learning music takes a little bit of consistent time each day, students will need to learn to plan ahead and map out how their day is going to take shape. When a student gets home from school each day, they should evaluate how much homework they need to finish and what goals they have in mind for their practice session. By making this checklist each day, students can make sure they fit practicing onto the list. If a student knows that they won’t get home until late one day, they can try to set aside a little time in the morning to practice, or break their practice session into two smaller chunks to get the time in. If a student has a ton of homework one night, it may be beneficial for them to take a brain break from the homework and play their instrument for a few minutes. This change of pace may refresh and rejuvenate them to finish their homework with a renewed energy. The efficiency needed to learn music may also translate to students doing their homework more efficiently too.
“I don’t have anything to practice”
To be honest, this statement will never be true. Even professional musicians always have something they wish to improve in their musicianship. What your child may really be saying is “I’m bored” or “I’m not being challenged”. Please contact the band directors and private lesson teacher to discuss what skill areas the student can continue to improve, and fun challenging music that will keep the student engaged.
“I already learned my music”
Great! Ask for a performance of the music! Then encourage your student to seek out new music to learn. Finding new music to sight-read is always an option, and so is improvising or making up/composing new music. Your student can also take technique patterns that they already know, such as scales, and work on getting them faster or smoother or louder or softer, etc.
“I don’t know how it goes”
Your student may come across a challenging piece of music that is initially overwhelming. Remind them that they do have the skills to figure it out, and encourage them to break the music down into layers and decipher it a layer at a time. Even as a non-musician, you should be able to look at the music and decide if it looks small and complicated or not. Sometimes students perceive music that is small and busy to be difficult, when it is simply just small and hard to see, not hard to play. If you have the ability to magnify the music, students will already start to think that it is easier. Then isolate a small chunk of the music and begin decoding. Ask your student “Do you know all these note names?”. Have them point to each note and say what it is. Then ask them if they know what the fingerings for all the notes are. If they are unsure, they can look it up in the back of their band book or online. Then ask them to tell you what count each note happens on. Even if they are initially unsure of the rhythm, they should be able to look at the time signature and through a process of elimination figure out each beat. After decoding these layers, they should slowly be able to add everything back together. If this doesn’t work, have them ask their band director for help the next day, and practice something else for the rest of the session. Students should learn how to problem solve when practicing since there is no teacher with them, they need to become their own teacher.
“I had a private lesson today so I don’t need to practice today”
Students will retain the information they learned in private lessons best if they review it again when they get home from their lesson. They may not need a full practice session, but reviewing the new information immediately after learning it will do wonders for their memory. This is the best way to remember and apply everything that the private teacher taught during the lesson.
“I can’t hear the metronome when I’m playing so I’m not going to use it”
Some instruments are louder than others and they make hearing the metronome difficult while playing. Fortunately there are a few solutions. Most students have their metronome on their music stand, but if their instrument is also aimed at the music stand it may be hard to hear. Try moving the metronome somewhere else, such as behind the student where it is out of the way of the instrument sound. The student can also plug in a pair of headphones to the metronome (they all come with headphone/speaker jacks) for a more direct metronome to ear source. This is good when students are focusing solely on their tempo, but may prevent students from clearly hearing their tone and articulation. The best approach would be to plug the metronome into a set of speakers, such as through a sound system or a set of computer speakers. Now the student can hear the metronome and their instrument sound at the same time.
“I don’t have time to practice”
One of many beneficial skills learned through music is the art of time management. Since learning music takes a little bit of consistent time each day, students will need to learn to plan ahead and map out how their day is going to take shape. When a student gets home from school each day, they should evaluate how much homework they need to finish and what goals they have in mind for their practice session. By making this checklist each day, students can make sure they fit practicing onto the list. If a student knows that they won’t get home until late one day, they can try to set aside a little time in the morning to practice, or break their practice session into two smaller chunks to get the time in. If a student has a ton of homework one night, it may be beneficial for them to take a brain break from the homework and play their instrument for a few minutes. This change of pace may refresh and rejuvenate them to finish their homework with a renewed energy. The efficiency needed to learn music may also translate to students doing their homework more efficiently too.
“I don’t have anything to practice”
To be honest, this statement will never be true. Even professional musicians always have something they wish to improve in their musicianship. What your child may really be saying is “I’m bored” or “I’m not being challenged”. Please contact the band directors and private lesson teacher to discuss what skill areas the student can continue to improve, and fun challenging music that will keep the student engaged.
“I already learned my music”
Great! Ask for a performance of the music! Then encourage your student to seek out new music to learn. Finding new music to sight-read is always an option, and so is improvising or making up/composing new music. Your student can also take technique patterns that they already know, such as scales, and work on getting them faster or smoother or louder or softer, etc.
“I don’t know how it goes”
Your student may come across a challenging piece of music that is initially overwhelming. Remind them that they do have the skills to figure it out, and encourage them to break the music down into layers and decipher it a layer at a time. Even as a non-musician, you should be able to look at the music and decide if it looks small and complicated or not. Sometimes students perceive music that is small and busy to be difficult, when it is simply just small and hard to see, not hard to play. If you have the ability to magnify the music, students will already start to think that it is easier. Then isolate a small chunk of the music and begin decoding. Ask your student “Do you know all these note names?”. Have them point to each note and say what it is. Then ask them if they know what the fingerings for all the notes are. If they are unsure, they can look it up in the back of their band book or online. Then ask them to tell you what count each note happens on. Even if they are initially unsure of the rhythm, they should be able to look at the time signature and through a process of elimination figure out each beat. After decoding these layers, they should slowly be able to add everything back together. If this doesn’t work, have them ask their band director for help the next day, and practice something else for the rest of the session. Students should learn how to problem solve when practicing since there is no teacher with them, they need to become their own teacher.
“I had a private lesson today so I don’t need to practice today”
Students will retain the information they learned in private lessons best if they review it again when they get home from their lesson. They may not need a full practice session, but reviewing the new information immediately after learning it will do wonders for their memory. This is the best way to remember and apply everything that the private teacher taught during the lesson.
“I can’t hear the metronome when I’m playing so I’m not going to use it”
Some instruments are louder than others and they make hearing the metronome difficult while playing. Fortunately there are a few solutions. Most students have their metronome on their music stand, but if their instrument is also aimed at the music stand it may be hard to hear. Try moving the metronome somewhere else, such as behind the student where it is out of the way of the instrument sound. The student can also plug in a pair of headphones to the metronome (they all come with headphone/speaker jacks) for a more direct metronome to ear source. This is good when students are focusing solely on their tempo, but may prevent students from clearly hearing their tone and articulation. The best approach would be to plug the metronome into a set of speakers, such as through a sound system or a set of computer speakers. Now the student can hear the metronome and their instrument sound at the same time.
