The Practice Path. . . part two

I had an email from the mom of a high school student of mine.  Much to my chagrin, the girl had made the JV soccer team.  No offense soccer moms. . . She was going to have a hard time getting practice in. After her lesson, the student decided to wake up early and practice before school, to meet her practice goal.  This was nothing short of a miracle considering the early hour high school kids have to wake up in the first place.  

You see, instead of giving her a big lecture about practicing, we added up the minutes that were my expectation, and divided it into times she could manage, which meant, an hour on Saturday and Sunday, and only 30 minutes on 4 out of 5 week nights.  She wouldn't be able to practice on her game night. This was still only 240 minutes out of the 300 I had requested per week.  I acquiesced.  Now we have a young lady who is going to practice 240 minutes a week instead of quitting or not practicing at all.  She went home and did it. 

Last time I checked--no one practiced more by getting yelled at.  At least not for very long.  The only thing that will truly get kids to practice in the long run, is loving the music.  

Here's another thought: what if we didn't just do the minimum? 

Rick Stanton is a Suzuki teacher at MacPhail who has been lobbying for Suzuki kids to practice two hours a day.  To step it up a notch.  To make our programs more exclusive.  Other pre-college programs around the city have this expectation.  Why shouldn't Suzuki students?  

When I suggest this to students, I can truly put my money where my mouth is on this one, because all through high school I practiced three hours a day.  That was: one hour on classical piano, one hour on jazz piano, and one hour on French horn.  I still went running every day and had one heck of a social life.  

It can be done.  Without too much sacrifice.  

One summer in Austin I had a girl, Sarah, who decided to practice three hours a day, just for the summer.  She knew she couldn't sustain this during the school year, but she learned a whole Suzuki Book in that precious short three months.  

My advanced students practice more when they are preparing for a graduation recital.  A young lady was preparing for a recital this summer and stepped up her practice, upon my request, to two hours a day for the three weeks preceding the performance.  Her comfort level and fluidity blossomed.  I shudder to think of the confidence, skill, and beauty that would be gained if that could become the normal practice habit. 

Everyone has to find his own practice path.  I'm just throwing some ideas out there.   

No matter what, you have to have a plan.  What I lack in musical genius I try to make up for in high levels of organization.  My current plan?  8:30-10:30 p.m.