How to motivate your child to practise an instrument

Many children want an instrument because they have an idea of how to elicit tones and sounds from it. This desire and curiosity are the best prerequisites for learning an instrument. Children often enjoy playing with their teacher during lessons, but at home the instrument becomes an unloved chore.

One reason for this is that we adults differentiate between practising and making music, between the faulty and the perfectly performed. There are parents who say how terrible it sounds when their child practises.

The magic of music that we indulge in at concerts or recordings is not sought and therefore not found when practising for beginners. This is frustrating for children who actually want to express themselves on the instrument. If, for example, a young beginner has learnt a song like «Der Mond ist aufgegangen» with a lot of effort on the instrument, the piece is rarely celebrated, but ticked off. Even the first two bars would be worth honouring.

You can play it with a lot of dedication or sometimes wittily, quickly, loudly or quietly. This is not childish, but the essence of music. We adults should accompany beginners on the path to personal expression, because this is as demanding as it is enjoyable.

It is called «playing an instrument» and not «working an instrument».

Andreas Zihler, Professor of Music at the Zurich University of the Arts

Unfortunately, in our society, playing an instrument has more to do with performance than with enjoyment. This begins with the fact that we ask the child to «practise» - and not to «make music».

Andreas Zihler, music professor at the Zurich University of the Arts, warns his students: «It's called «playing an instrument» and not «working an instrument».» When practising becomes work, the children begin to cheat and refuse to play, until finally the lessons are cancelled.

What does making music really mean?

Some children not only feel relieved, but also a sense of failure. Musical failure is so ingrained and accepted in many people's minds that they hardly question this absurdity.

What would it be like if a football-loving child had to do fitness training and ball juggling every day and cram game strategy and could only rarely play a match? They would no longer be able to experience the magic of the game. They would make little progress and hardly recognise it themselves. In the end, the child would give up the hobby because it is too demanding. An unimaginable scenario. In music, for many people it is their own experience.

In some families, practising is as contentious as homework. While the latter is prescribed by the school, practising an instrument has a guilt component: «You wanted to play the harp!», «Do you know how much it costs to rent the piano?», «We paid for six months of clarinet lessons, now hold out this long». There is not much to be said for such sentences. They reinforce the view that playing an instrument is something for particularly conscientious or gifted children.

Parents should ask themselves: Why should our child learn an instrument? To live and experience music, would be the answer of elementary music education. To give the child the opportunity to become artistically active. This also means that the child learns the technique and how to read music. This is because it allows expression to be differentiated and music can even be put into words.

So how does daily practice turn into music? By the parents themselves adopting this attitude and supporting the child. Parents should actively listen to their children making music. Sounds, no matter how wobbly and imprecise, become music when they are given attention. As a result, the children themselves listen to their playing from the very beginning, which takes on a completely different value.

Integrated hearing automatically improves the game.

Listening is also a key issue for professional musicians. In music education, a distinction is made between different types of listening. One of these is integrated listening. This means enjoying the music and allowing yourself to be touched by it, even if there are mistakes or uncertainties. If a child listens to itself in this way, its playing automatically improves and it remains motivated.

A student friend told me that she found it easy to practise as a child because her mother would sit down with her «Lismete» and knit while she played the piano. For all three daughters in the family, her mother was the daily knitter. Today, my friend plays the piano with virtuosity and without inhibition.

Trust in your own body

Of course, when it comes to difficult pieces with new techniques, all motivation can collapse. Here it is important to realise that learning an instrument is about learning through movement and not analytical mental exercise. The body learns subtly and quickly. It is essential to trust it to automatically memorise fingerings, posture, strokes and embouchures (for wind instruments).

It fascinates children and adults alike to see how a slowly practised position becomes better and better because the body has «memorised» it. This is no different to movement sequences in sport. Throwing or kicking the ball correctly requires repetition and does not improve under pressure.

Enjoy the small steps forward.

Finally, it is good to make sure that artistic practice is goal-orientated. The child should pick up the instrument with a purpose. For example, to breathe life into the notes on the paper for the first time or to play a certain passage without making mistakes. Practising does not mean pressing the keys until the time is up. A scale should not be done like a page of bills.

«I pay so much money for music lessons, now it's also my job to practise with the child?» I often hear. This investment is needed. But more in the attitude that the sounds practised are music. That music means communication between your child and the world around them. So even the first seven notes of «The moon has risen» can become a little concert on your daughter's or son's piano, flute or cello.