It's okay to practice five minutes per day and it's okay to practice two hours everyday. It is appropriate to practice for a small amount of time if your child is very young and it is appropriate to practice longer periods of time as your child gets older. Your teacher will be able to counsel you on the correct amount of practice time everyday.
Some ideas to help motivate your kiddo to practice:
- Give your child friendly advance notice that it will be time to practice in 30 minutes(or whatever time frame works best for your schedule that day)
- Set a timer while your child is practicing and give great kudos when they have accomplished practicing. It's helpful and authentic if you can speak with detail. i.e. "I am so proud that you worked on fixing that note, passage, phrase..." "I so enjoyed listening to the Mozart melody today"
- Music is infectious(in a good way!). A great way to get inspired to practice is to have the parent practice before the child practices. If you play a different instrument, practice that. If you can play your child's instrument, pick that up and motivate your child. In fact, if you are playing badly, that is a humorous ice breaker before your child starts his/her practice session
- Remember that you are giving the gift of music and you may have to be diplomatic and creative in order to give that gift
