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Tips for Parents
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Encourage thoughtful, reflective, analytical thinking in the practice session.
- Make practice a priority – like brushing teeth! Students could practice first thing in the morning when they are fresh before going to school or when they come home before they start their schoolwork.
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Divide practice sessions into many smaller segments throughout the day rather than one big chunk. Students should practice regularly and consistently.
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Have a nice area set aside for students to practice that has a music stand, a relatively comfortable armless chair at the correct height, good lighting, pencil, eraser, tuner, metronome, CD player, video recorder, cassette recorder, and full-length mirror.
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Be a motivator. Avoid being discouraging about how students sound when practicing.
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Provide incentives to reward consistent and careful practice, such as CD’s, concert tickets, and so forth.
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Communicate with the teacher to be sure practice assignments are clear.
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Leave the instrument out at home if it helps to get the student to practice.
Reprinted with permission from Teaching Music, August 2005
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