Practice Tips for Band Students

If possible, you and your child should establish a regular time every day to practice.  Students have homework, sports, band & other activities to balance. It may be helpful to set a practice schedule at the start of each week.

Help your child establish a routine. This may require some consultation with the teacher. A typical middle school student’s half-hour practice routine should include:

• Warmup -- 10 minutes (long tones)
• Play a fun, familiar piece -- 5minutes
• Work on a new or difficult lines from the book -- 15 minutes
• Work on technical exercises, such as scales or other technique builders – 15 minutes
• Play something fun to conclude the session – 5 minutes

·         Help your child understand that playing only familiar songs will not help him/her improve.

·         Explain to your child that learning happens in stages.

·         The important thing to stress is that consistent practice will yield results.

·         Help your young musician set practice goals. Keeping a journal, not just a practice chart, helps track the peaks and valleys of learning a new piece or improving fundamental skills.

·         As a parent, don't make judgments about the musical quality of your child's practicing. Learning an instrument requires lots of squeaks, scratches, and wrong notes.

More Helpful Hints

The following question is always asked at the Christmas Concert:

“So when can Johnny start bringing the instrument home to practice?”

If your child does not bring home the instrument starting in August, you should be concerned.  Your child has daily assignments to practice.

Find a set time to practice everyday. After a couple weeks, it should become a habit.

Turn off video games, the computer, stereo, tv, i-pod, even the cell phone.

Do not eat or drink soft drinks while you practice.

As in baseball, if you don’t practice your fastball, will you improve? No.

You will not improve on your band instrument, if you do not practice.

Have your child give a “concert” for you once a week.

Don’t let your child waste the money on your investment.

• In the beginning stages you should hear lots of “long tones”. That simply means you will hear your child hold different notes or pitches for a long time.
• If your child is a brass player, you should hear mouthpiece buzzing a lot.
• Have your child stand in front of a mirror to check mouthpiece placement.
• After the first notes are learned, you should hear short tunes that you will probably recognize from your childhood.