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What Can You Do To Motivate Your Child To Practice His Or Her Music Instrument?

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Although your child might be excited to start taking music lessons, some of that excitement can wane as he or she realizes that practice is necessary. As the parent, you have to find a way to encourage your child to practice without pushing him or her towards burnout. To help you accomplish this, here are a few ways you can motivate your child to practice.  

Turn to the Internet

When your child is learning to play an instrument, he or she will spend a lot of time working on the fundamentals in the beginning. Unfortunately, this part of learning is not necessarily the most exciting. To overcome this problem, you need to help your child see into the future. The Internet can help you do this.  

Look for videos online of musicians playing the same instrument as your child and share them with him or her. You can even show your child videos of musicians playing the pieces that he or she is learning. Once your child can see and hear what continued practice can lead to, he or she will likely be more enthusiastic about reaching for that goal.  

For an added bonus, look for different versions of songs that he or she is learning. There are plenty of contemporary artists who are finding ways to put their own spin on music. Your child might be encourage to continue practice with the goal of being able to make their own versions of the music once they know more about playing.  

Keep Your Expectations Realistic

One of the biggest obstacles you can place in front of your child is to have unrealistic expectations about his or her progress. With continued practice, your child will get better, but it takes time. Some children progress faster than others, and that is fine.  

You just need to avoid comparing your child to others and pushing your expectations on him or her. If you push your child, he or she can begin to associate bad feelings with playing the instrument. It can be difficult to overcome that feeling.  

You can help encourage your child by cheering on each development he or she has in music. For instance, instead of focusing on your child's inability to play a complicated piece, praise him or her for continuing to put forth a good effort.  

Talk to your child's music teacher about other ways you can motivate him or her to continue to practice. 


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