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Congratulations on your decision to provide your child with music lessons. This is a gift your child will appreciate his or her whole life. Your commitment to this long-term endeavor will produce many benefits. This document provides some information about how to help your child get the most out of your investment of time and money in music instruction.
A music student's success is not a result of luck or even of natural talent.
It is a result of practicing incremental skills until they become second nature.
That fact explains why high-achieving student musicians have involved parents; profitable music practice almost never happens without appropriate parental support. Think of yourself as an equal partner with your child's teacher.
As a partner in your child's music education, your responsibilities are four-fold:
 communicating with your child's teacher,
setting up appropriate practice routines,
providing appropriate equipment, and
providing opportunities for your child to experience success.
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- Attending Lessons:
- As in any partnership, communication is the key to success.
If your child is beginning: Your child's teacher will talk with you before your child's first lesson. Plan to attend that lesson and as many lessons as you can, especially as your child begins study. At the first lesson, be sure you find out how to care for your child's instrument, where to acquire any needed equipment, and your child's practice assignment. You and your child's teacher may also want to set up a system for communicating practice instructions weekly.
At subsequent lessons, you should note practice instructions and bring any issues or concerns to the teachers' attention. Never feel you are wasting lesson time when you use some of it to discuss practice issues with your child's teacher—practice is the most important aspect of music study to get right from the very beginning.
Scheduling Practice: - Scheduling daily practice sessions is just as important as scheduling a weekly lesson. These sessions need not be long at first, but it is essential that they be consistent, otherwise little progress will occur. In scheduling practice, try to find a time that will work every day. Choose a time when your child will be alert. Set up a place for practice that is convenient, but as isolated as possible from household distractions. Then be prepared to remind your child to practice every day. Set up a system to record daily practice. If you encounter obstacles, discuss them with your child's teacher.
- Providing Equipment:
- Ensuring that your child has an appropriate and functional instrument to practice helps ensure his or her success. As your child grows, be sure to talk to your child's teacher about the instrument your child will be using and about other equipment needed. You can always access equipment advice through the Mountain Top Music Center office at 447-4737. If your child is an advanced student in need of a new instrument which may be out of reach financially, scholarships may be available for instrument purchase.
- Having an Audience is Important for Beginning Students:
- What is perhaps your most important responsibility as the parent of a music student is also the most fun: provide plenty of opportunities for your child to enjoy his or her success. Be an instant audience when your child wants to show you a newly-mastered skill and don't be shy with your praise. Don't force a reluctant child to perform, but do provide comfortable venues, including the family living room, for first performances. Take advantage of Mountain Top's Performance Potluck-an ideal event for a first public performance because it is a very casual and warm environment.
- Maintaining Interest is Key for Intermediate Students:
- You have probably already experienced the joy of hearing your child progress musically by providing him or her with an occasional audience. As your child progresses, you may want to supplement private study with formal and/or informal opportunities for your child to play with others. Ensemble playing is often the most fun musical activity available to young players. Mountain Top provides some formal ensemble experiences. Just playing along with friends is also a great way to keep your child motivated. Talk to your child's teacher about how to facilitate group playing. It may be as simple as buying a duet album and arranging a different kind of "play date." Another way to maintain interest is through new musical material and useful, but cool equipment. A tuner or metronome, newly purchased to celebrate the beginning of a school year, can help a child look forward to practice sessions. A new tune to learn, in a genre of particular interest to your child, can whet the musical appetite as well. Be sure to talk to your child's teacher about appropriate "fun" music purchases.
- Advanced Students Need More Than Technique:
- Your child can improve his or her technique through daily practice and weekly lessons, but other aspects of music study may be appropriate at this point. Consider theory study, either through workbooks, private instruction, or a class. Many schools offer theory instruction that will supplement your child's music education. Consider encouraging your child to enter a composition or song-writing contest. Encourage your child to pursue education and performing opportunities both close to home and far away. Summer music camp experiences can create a great goal for a year's study and superb motivation for a subsequent year of study. Talk to your child's teacher about appropriate supplemental activities. Go to lots of concerts and discuss the music with your child. Music never happens in a vacuum, and relating the hard work of practice sessions to music's cultural context can be motivating in itself.
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PO Box 1228
