12 Tips to Motivate Your Child to Practice Music

Parents are always happy when their kids pick up new activities in school as it means getting more socialized and opting for creative ways of spending their time, and one such is introducing them to the world of music.

If your child has picked up music lessons, it’s essential to support them by keeping them motivated because, as we all know, kids tend to lose interest in things pretty fast.

If you don’t want to engage in endless fights and frustration when your child refuses to attend music lessons, use the tips below to motivate your child to keep practicing music and enjoy it too!

practice music

1. Make Practice Fun

Children love engaging in fun activities. So don’t make music practice a chore that they must do.

You should plan music practice to incorporate fun activities, such as games and challenges to make it less educational. This will make your child look forward to the lessons.

As we all know, children get bored very quickly, so help them set goals and provide them with positive reinforcements, such as dances and keep reminding them as this will help them maintain their focus and strive to succeed in their practice.

You can volunteer in the classes and work with their music teacher to devise creative and fun ways to practice music.

2. Allow Your Child to Choose the Instrument

If your child shows interest in music, give them the freedom to choose the instrument, it could be a piano, guitar, violin, cello, or trumpet.

To motivate your child, you should also let them play one song they love at the end of the lesson. This will give them the psyche to keep practicing as they want to show off their skills to their fellow students.

3. Help Them Recognize Their Gift of Music

Let your child realize that learning music and playing an instrument is a privilege not accorded to all. Thus, the need to appreciate the opportunity.

Help your child learn the benefit of having music in their lives by taking them to concerts and having them participate at church and at home.

Let them know that they can later advance in music as a career or retain it as a hobby.

4. Celebrate Their Achievements

Learning to sing or play instruments is not a small feat, especially for a child. Therefore, always try and attend all their major plays; sometimes, you can surprise them during practice.

You will feel proud of your child as you watch them play the instruments and hit all the right notes.

Take note of all their accomplishments and make sure to celebrate them as a family. You can create a journal or an album where you post pictures of them at every stage.

Or create a wall album specifically for their musical achievements. This will show your child that you appreciate their efforts and will motivate them.

5. Allow Them to Practice Their Kind of Music

We understand that there are signature songs and instruments that children must practice with, but if you persist, your child will lose interest and eventually stop practicing music altogether.

So, if your child says they don’t like the selection of music during practice, take note and try to work with their music teacher to incorporate music or songs they love.

6. Offer Support Instead of Rewards

Instead of rewarding your child for doing well in practice, you should offer support, encouraging them to further explore their gift in music and see what they can uncover.

Most parents mistake offering their children rewards and appreciation, which they are right in doing, but these do not help maintain the child’s interest in music.

Your child may depend on external validation when deciding on their music career. And this may prompt them to jump between activities, making them an expert in none.

Offer support by recognizing their efforts, helping them explore their achievements, and devising ways to improve and stay committed to their practice.

7. Music Should Not be an Obligation

Yes, you’ve paid loads of money for your child to learn music and purchase quality instruments. Besides, to be good, they would need to commit several hours a day or week to practice.

That said, don’t make it seem like an obligation compared to other fun activities, as it will suck their interest dry. For instance, don’t place conditions that they must practice music if they want to go biking or play video games.

This will give them the impression that music is hampering their fun time, and as such, they will start to resent it irrespective of their talent.

Try to work with them, and show them that practicing music is as fun as playing video games. You can separate times for music and play time and ensure they don’t coincide.

8. Be Their Biggest Fan

Nothing is as fulfilling as being your child’s biggest fan, especially when they are frustrated by the new instruments and voice notes at the beginning of their music lesson.

You can motivate them by encouraging them to listen to them sing and play instruments and make encouraging remarks about each little progress.

You must also make a point of inquiring about their lessons. Showing interest in their musical journey will make them excited about improving and singing for you at home.

9. Create Musical Challenges

With everything we do, we must have a goal; this should also apply to your child. The best way is to play performances and challenges.

Don’t ask your child to practice music; leave them to their devices, as they won’t know what to do.

You can give them bite-sized practice sheets to practice on, and at the end of the week, have each one perform and let them be judges.

This will motivate them to practice as they don’t want to be defeated by their fellow students.

You can also organize for them to perform during family gatherings or parties. Since they want people to love their performance and don’t want to be embarrassed, they will put effort into their practice.

10. Don’t Be too Pushy

Yes, your child is gifted in music and has fun practicing it, but this is not enough to keep them motivated as they lose interest quickly.

Let your child have a sense of autonomy; this is the feeling that they are practicing music out of their own free will. However, they may resent the music if you push them too much.

Therefore, give them control over the type of music they want and the lesson they want to enroll in. However, in some instances, your child will need a gentle push to explore areas outside of their interest.

The best way to do this is by asking them to try practicing for ten lessons to see if they would like to continue. This gives them the feeling that they are still in control.

11. Help Maintain Their Instruments in Good Condition

Help your child care for their instruments. If they need cleaning, hire professionals.

For instance, if a piano key gets stuck, hire a professional to look at it and conduct thorough servicing.

12. Find Them a Great Music Teacher

And the best of all is getting them the right music teacher. Your child will need the teacher to be patient and ready to nurture his young soul.

The teacher should also connect and be a friend and mentor to your child.

People say that a teacher can make or break the learning experience. Finding a teacher who understands your child’s learning style is crucial.

And a bonus if your child connects with the teacher as it will be easy for them to follow instructions and practice diligently.

Benefits of Music and Instruments for Kids

Kids will reap the following benefits if they learn music and play instruments.

  • Boosts Brain Development– Research shows that music helps enhance brain function in kids, as the instruments stimulate the brain. Singing and playing instruments is a brain workout that helps improve brain structure, leading to new neural connections.
  • Enhances Language Skills– It’s said that music helps children improve their speech development and learn to read easily. This can also be seen in most kids’ channels and even in class as they tend to teach the alphabet and numbers using music.
  • Improves Concentration– Playing instruments and singing helps your child develop better working memory as they must remember the song and the notes to sing and play well.
  • Develops Motor Skills– Playing instruments and dancing helps your child develop their motor skills. This is because you must move your fingers, sing, and even dance, thus helping strengthen your muscles. It also helps enhance coordination as you’d have to move to the music.
  • Increases Social Skills– If your child is shy and doesn’t know how to go about making friends, give him a gentle nudge to enroll in after-school activities, including music, football, or the cheer team. Being around other kids helps eliminate their social anxiety as they’d be required to work as a team. Thus, making it easy for them to make friends.
  • Enforces Patience– Learning to sing and play instruments requires patience, commitment, and perseverance. Therefore, your child will learn to practice patience in all their endeavors from an early age.
  • Uplifts Mood– Music gives your child a means of expressing themselves, as they can unleash their thoughts through music. It also helps them relax and relieve stress.

Final Thoughts

It’s effortless for your child to develop a new interest, but sticking to it can be a significant problem. If your child is interested in learning musical instruments, use the tips above to keep them motivated and excited to practice music.

Julie Higgins
Author
Julie is a Staff Writer at momooze.com. She has been working in publishing houses before joining the editorial team at momooze. Julie's love and passion are topics around beauty, lifestyle, hair and nails.