Getting Kids to Practice
Taken from Raising Musical Kids: A Guide for Parents, Chapter 8, by Robert A. Cutietta
If you played an instrument as a child, you probably have many memories, and some of them may be less than pleasurable. For example, you may see yourself sitting at the piano while the rest of the neighborhood is outside playing baseball. Even if you have never played an instrument you may remember that your friend's mom always made her practice right when you were trying to get a game started. Either way, these are not positive images.
Therefore, we may have some foundations to build or repair before we go further. Let's start by establisihing three basic premises: Most kids don't like to practice; good practicing is hard work; and a child will never play an instrument well without practicing.
Let's examine the first premise: Most kids don't like to practice. Many of my friends and colleages in music would violently disagree with this statement because they love to practice and have forgotten what it was like when they were eight years old.
Actually, there is a good reason why my musician friends love to practice and children don't. For the skilled musician, the act of practicing is fulfilling in and of itself. For most children, however, this level of reward for practicing is about as remote as a trip to Saturn. Therefore, in this chapter our goal will be to get children to the level of practicing that is rewarding in and of itself, ideally by the early teen years. But how do we get them to that point?
Let's examine our second basic premise: Good practicing is hard work. Although I see many teachers and parents tho work to make practicing fun, I think their efforts are misplaced. Practice should never be severe or harsh, yet it rarely will be fun (in the way that playing a game or going to a party can be fun). If we are always trying to make the experience fun, we will lose the child as soon as the going gets rough.
Instead, we should worry less about fun and concentrate more on rewarding. A feeling of reward only comes through accomplishment, and accomplishment in music only comes through practicing. Thus, we have a classical example of a vicious circle.
We also have the need for a third premise: A child will never play an instrument well without practicing. This seems obvious, but I am shocked at how many kids and parents don't believe this. They expect to be able to make beautiful music almost immediately. When they can't, they give up, using the excuse that they, or their kids, must not have enough talent. It cannot be emphasized enough that if we want our children to be good musicians we need to have some way to get them to practice when they would rather be watching television.
Thus, this chapter is based on three premises. To be sure, it is a pretty discouraging set of premises, but that is where we need to start. By the end of this chapter, you should understand some concrete ways to help your child through this entanglement.
Getting Your Kids to Practice
One of the problems we face when trying to encourage children to practice is that they never see other people practice. The process of music making is completely invisible to most people. They will see the final product as the concert, music video, or CD, but good performers make playing seem so effortless that many people jump to the conclusion that making music is fun and easy. We watch these people make it look so easy, but then we try and it is hard. The conclusion we come to is that "it is easy for other bust not forme, therefore I have no talent." In fact, very few people can play music without a lot of behind-the-scenes practicing. Unfortunately, we always say we play music but work at our jobs. This gives the wrong impression.
For that reason, practicing will never be automatic for children. Instead, some sort of intervention is necessary. Sadly, the interventions most people come up with are not the most effective. To show what I mean, I will start with a true story. When I pass a pay phone, I can rarely resist the urge to check the coin-return slot. I will even go out of my way to do this. For me, this is the equivalent of playing the slot machines in Las Vegas. And it has really paid off. After thirty years I am at least a dollar richer than if I had never checked once. Obviously, the number of times I have actually found coins in the slot is relatively low.
Now let's consider another scenario. If I new that every time I reached into the slot I would find a nickel, I would probably not look as often as I do now. Instead I would rationalize, "Is a nickel worth stopping for?" "Do I want nickels in my pocket?" "Do I need an extra nickel right now?" Many times the answer to these questions would be "no" and I would walk right by.
Obviously, the financial rewards of checking these slots are not what is driving my behavior. It is something about the uncertainty of the rewards, both "Will I get one" and "How much will it be," that keeps me going. This illustrates and important principle that relates to practicing a musical instrument. Some osrt of reward system needs to be in place, but this is not as easy as simply giving a reward every time a child practices. Reward systems are complex: some work, some don't; some work sometimes and not others. Fortunately, research has shown which types of reward systems work and which ones don't.
Top really step back and understand these principles, it helps to look at research done with laboratory animals. It is important to know that educational researchers in working in classrooms have received exactly the same results as researchers working in laboratories with pigeons or mice. I am sure these same principles apply to adults too. They do to me.
Pigeons will do all sorts of things to get a pellet of food. They don't think about it, they just learn certain habits. If a pigeon is put in a cage and taught to hit a button every time it wants a pellet of food, it will learn to hit the button. However, if the pigeon gets a pellet every time it pushes the button, an interesting thing will happen. At first it will push the button often. But after a while the amount of pushing will fall off. This is pretty much like my checking the coin-return slot if I knew there was always a nickel in it. Sometimes I don't want a nickel; sometimes the pigeon does not want a pellet of food.
This is also what will heppen if a reward is given each time a child practices. For example, if children are given a candy bar every time they finish practicing, or allowed to go outside and play, they will practice a lot at first. AFter a short while, however, they will begin to ask themselves "Do I really want a candy bar?" "Do I really want to go out and play?" If the answer is "no," then the child will not practice. Even if they want to go out and play, it may not be a strong enough incentive for them to have to practice first. Therefore, they will choose to do something else. What would happen if we altered this reward scenario?
Let's say a pigeon is given a pellet of food only on the first time it pecks after a certain time interval, for example, five minutes. The behavior will be quite different. In this case, the pigeon will learn to start pecking at the button just before the time interval is up. So in this case the pigeon does no pecking for four and a half minutes and then begins frantically pecking until the reward comes at five minutes. Then the pecking drops off to nothing. (This is true--they really do learn this). Psychologists refer to this type of system as a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule.
To anybody who has ever taken music lessons this should sound familiar. Let's say your lesson is on Wednesday. You come home from your lesson and you do not practice. Thursday arrives and maybe you practice a bit. The weekend hits and you completely forget about your lesson and relax. Now it is Monday and the reality strikes that you have a lesson on Wednesday. Still no panic, you practice. On Tuesday you realize that you don't know your lesson well enough to so you practice frantically. The same is true of Wednesday. I firmly believe that most practicing for the entire week is done in the twenty-four hours preceding the lesson. On the way to the lesson you promise yourself that you will not do this again. After the lesson, you come home and don't practice. The cycle starts over.
What's going on here? We are smarter than that, aren't we? Well, we can learn something from the pigeons. Most music lessons are set up on a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule. We get no reinforcement for our efforts until a certain amount of time has passed. The usual interval is one week. Regardless of what we do, or do not do, during the week the reinforcement (praise from the teacher or not being yelled at for being unprepared) will always come at the designated time (i.e., Wednesday at 4:30). This will result in a practice pattern very much like the one shown below.
As you can see, it looks much like the pigeons that are pecking for the food when they know it will only come at a certain time. In the case of practicing, the most important day is the one right after the lesson (Thursday), because the instructions and suggestions of the teacher are still fresh in your child's mind. Yet, in this system, that is one of the days with the least amount of practice. It should be apparent that this system is not going to work without some help. Clearly, you as a parent need to get involved. You are the only one around between lessons.
Most parents address this problem by rewarding the chld for a certain amount of practicing per day--usually half an hour. This is unquestionably the most common system used. But all this does is to add another fixed interval system on top of the one that is not working. AFter a half-hour, a reward (stopping) is given. So now we have two fixed-interval systems. The end result is certainly better than doing nothing, but it still is not the most effective. Let's look at some other possibilities.
Another way of reinforcing practice would be to forget about time completely and only reward accomplishment. For your child it will mean that he or she is givne daily goals to accomplish. If your child can complete them in ten minutes they are done. On the other hand, if the child takes forty minutes, then that is how long it will take. This kind of practicing is called fixed-ratio reinforcement schedule.
In this type of practicing, a reward is giving after a certain number of goals are accomplished. For example, if your child has an assignment similar to that shown in the chart below, then your child must make some progress on each of the goals every day. This in itself will create an interesting outcome. In the first practice sessions after the weekly lesson, it will take longer to get through the list because everything is new. As the week progresses, the practice time will become shorter. Thus, this one change will completely turn around the practice pattern created by a fixed interval schedule. It eliminates the problem of not practicing immediately after the lesson. Of great importance, it will also build in a reward system for learning the lesson. Children will have to practice less as the week goes on because they know the lesson better.
It is so surprising that this system is so rarely used in music. Because music is so results oriented (concerts, recitals, etc.) it would seem logical that this system would be the most common. But it isn't. Instead, the earlier time-based practicing seems to be more popular.
As a parent, you are responsible for helping your child decide how much is appropriate for each day's practice. The immediate reward is that the child will get to end the practicing when the list is completed. The longer reward is a feeling of accomplishment that comes from meeting goals. This type of reward does not result from a time system. (How much reward do you feel from putting in a half-hour of time on something compared to accomplishing something?)
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A typical goal-oriented assignment student: peggy Assignment for the week of: February 19th
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The fixed-ratio system is an improvement over a typical fixed-interval system. But it can be improved even more. Think back to the telephone story I told earlier. If I knew that every eighth time I checked the coin slot I would receive a reward, it would not be that much different from some of the other reward systems. What keeps me coming back for more is that I never know when a reward will be found. The same can be said of practicing.
What is happening with the telephone is a variable-ratio system in place. This is the most rewarding type of system. Las Vegas wouldn't exist if this were not true. In this type of system, children are never completely sure when they will receive a reward--but it will come in response to their actions.
The parent must plan this out to be sure it works. The parent should know that after working on something a certain number of times, a reward will come. The child should not know. Using the previous example, the parent might decide that after practicing the scales a reward will be given after three times, then two times, then four times, or whatever. The same will be true after each part of the lesson. The reaosn the parent msut plan this is to ensure that it will be done. If it is left to chance one of three things will happen: (1) the parent will forget, (2) the parent will overreward, or (3) the parent will reward when the child gets discouraged (because parents never like to see their children discouraged). In the long run, this last situation will actually reward (and thus encourage) being discouraged!
After the child's lesson, you can take the teacher's assignment and make a chart like the one above. Once you create it, you must follow it. Every day your child should cross out each block as it is completed. In this way, progress will be concrete and obvious. A feeling of accomplishment will emerge.
All this might sound pretty calculated; to be effective it must be. Let me remind you that practicing is a skill to be learned; it is hard work. Your child will need this type of encouragement until he or she reaches the point that it is no longer necessary. If you think it is impersonal, consider this: What happens to your child's self-esteem when week after week he shows up for a lesson unprepared? I assure you, it won't improve. Your child needs your help. After several weeks of being prepared for lessons and feeling accomplishment, your child's self-image in this area should start to improve. Then, perhaps, you can become a bit less calculated. Speaking of the future, there is another important point that comes from educational research concerning practice: Intermittently reinforced responses are more long lasting than continuously rewarded responses. In other words, your child will practice even as he or she gets older after the rewards are removed.
Still, this plan may not be for every child. If your son or daughter can't wait to practice every day, works through the entire assignment, and is always prepared for the next lesson, then this method is not for you. For the rest of our children, these suggestions should make a big difference.
In summary: Two types of reward systems can be used. One is an interval system that rewards a child's response after a given time interval. The other is aration system that rewards a child after a certain number of responses. Music lessons are set up on time-interval systems. Research shows that ration systems produce better results. Further, a ration system with a varying rate is the best. Parents can establish a variable-ratio system in addition ato the time-interval system already in place.
What we haven't talked about are the types of rewrads that are appropriate for good practicing. We will now turn our attention there.
What are appropriate rewards?
It is hot today in Tucson, Arizona, where I am writing this--106 degrees to be exact. My kids are in the pool and I want to be with them. I hae ust finished writing the section on variable-ration reward systems. Swimming would be a great reward. But instead of telling myself, "I will write for another half-hour and then I will join them," I am thinking, "I will join them when I finish this introduction to the section on appropriate rewards." I am now completely results oriented and typing (and thinking) much faster than I would have I given myself the time reward.
So swimming with my kids will be my reward. That reward works today, but probably would not in December. That is the funny thing about rewards--what today is a reward might not be one tomorrow. Further, what is a reward for your child may not be one for you. finding appropriate rewards is hard. to address that, we need to understand what makes something a reward.
Researchers in this area define a rewrad as anything that will make people do the thing that you want them to do. That helps, doesn't it?! In other words, just about anything can be a reward.
Consider this: I want to be swimming today. A punishment would be for me to have to stand out in the sun for a couple of hours in this heat. A friend from the neighborhood, Alexis, was over earlier. She loves softball and could not wait to go and play a softball game this afternoon. She is standing out in a field right now in 106-degree heat playing a doubleheader. A softball game is not my idea of a rewrad, but for Alexis it was a big reward. What would be a punishment for me is a reward for Alexis. I probably could have gotten her to wash and wax my car in return for a ride ot the ballfield.
Obviously, rewards come in all shapes and sizes. Yet there are some consistencies. All rewards can be put into one of the following types: intrinsic (true to the task) or extrinsic (not related to the task). An intrinsic reward for playing the piano could be the musical joy received from performing a piece that was well prepared. An extrinsic reward could be to get a new out fit for school. Each type of rewrad can be further divided into categories such as social, personal, or material.
All rewards have their strengths and weaknesses, so we will examine each in turn. Now that I have completed the introduction to this section, I am going swimming. I will receive the extrinsic reward of jumping in the pool only twenty-seven minutes after I se the goal. I am sure I wrote more than if I had set a goal of writing for thirty minutes. See how well it works?
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Rewards
There are basically two broad categories of rewards: inrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic rewards come from within the task--doing something because you like doing it. Extrinsic rewards come from outside the task--going to work to receive a paycheck.
These two types are pretty easy to keep straight if you remember that intrinsic rewards are the ones we would like to use and receive. Wouldn't we all love to go to work each day just for the sheer enjoyment of it?) The extrinsic rewards are the ones we usually use and receive. (Would you still go if you won the lottery?) Everyone would like to be able to use only intrinsic rewards. We want our children to practice the piano because of the joy and feeling of satsifaction they receive from playing. That is certainly the long-term goal of any reward system, but ot get started we need to offer some extrinsic rewards.
When I was young my parents wanted me to play the accordian, which I hated. The Beatles were raging, and I wanted to play the bass guitar like Paul McCartney. My parents did an interesting thing. They told me that if I would practie the accordian, they would reward me by letting me practie the bass. I don't suggest making your child play an instrument they hate in hopes that they will want to practice an instrument they like. This worked for me, but not because of any love for the instrument. Although I liked the bass, the real reason I wanted to play had nothing to do with the instrument. the truth of the matter was that i wanted to play the bass to be as famous and cool as The Beatles. Today, while I am ceratinly as cool as Paul McCartney, the fame thing has eluded me and will probably continue to do so. Still, I continue to play and regard it as a very imporatant part of my life. I play because the act of playing the bass has become its own reward. I love playing the bass. This took years to happen.
I point this out to emphasize that at the beginning your child will almost certaionly need extrinsic rewrads. but I also offer a note of caution: All extrinsic rewards are not created equal and it is important to kno which ones work in the long run and which don't.
esearchers divide extrinsic rewards into two additional categories: social and material. So far we have talked about material rewards, but not the social ones. Although they both work, the social ones seem to work beter (and are much cheaper) in the long run.
In a social rewrad system, the child is rewarded by social approval. We all respond well to this type of approval. When we are given an award, recognition, or simply a pat on the back, it works to make us want to do the activity again. This may come in many forms.
One of my graduate students did an interesting research project. She was a piano teacher who taught about forty students a week in private lessons. One of her requriements was for every student to be able to play all twelve major scales, up and down, without a mistake. This was always a problem requriement, because many students don't like to practice scales. In the past, most students waited until the last few weeks of the entire year and then tried to play them all at once to get them checked off.
She had tried to use a rewrad system that gave the studetns an attractive sticker every time they completed a scale. She would put his on a chart in the back of the student's folder. This material reward (a sticker) seemed to work for a few students, but not the majority. She then decided to do something different. She chose half of her students (at random) and put their names on a poster board. Next to each name were twelve spaces, one for each scale. She put this poster board on a stand that was on the top of the piano. Whenver a student whose name was on the poster was having a lesson, the poster was standing up so it could be seen. When a student whose name was not on the poster had a lesson, the poster was put face down so it could not be seen.
When any student finished a scale, the child was given a sticker and told to either place it on the poster (if the child's name was there), or in the child's assignment book. No mention was made of the poster or the other students. Thus, all students got the same stickers and all were equally aware of their progress. The only difference was that half of the students' results were on display.
Have you guessed what happened? The students whose names were on the poster for all to see where done with their scales months before the other studtns--every one of the them. The fact that they had been given a social reward (the public display of accomplishment) seemed to have made the entire difference.
I especially like this example because the reward was closely tied to the accomplishment on the piano. It was not a bribe in any sense of the word. the social approval came from an accomplishment on the piano.
Contrast these examples with the teacher who says that if you finish all your scales, we will have a prty at one of your lessons or the parent who says, "If you practice all week, we can go to Pizza Hut on Friday." Common rewards such as money, candy, a new baseball mitt, and going outside to play have nothing to do with playing an instrument. Thses types of rewrads will work ot increase practice time, but they are not the most effective in the long run because they do little to make the act of playing a reward.
Tus, extrinsic rewards (both social and material) should be related to the act of playing the instrument. For example, a reward for practicing could be a book containing your child's favorite songs. A parent recently told me that she bought a book that had songs from Les Miserables as a reward for her son's finishing an entire series book of piano pieces. finishing the pieces had been his goal and the book became the musical reward for practicing and achieving a musical goal.
Therefore, when you choose extrinsic rewards, you must be creative. Examples of material rewrads that could realte to playing the instrument would be a new reed for the instrument, a better music stand, a light for the music stand, a box to sotre straps and other instrument paraphernalia, a bottle of polish for the instrument, a new set of drumsticks, a CD or tape of music for your child's instrument, a lapel pin of the instrument, and so on. the list could be almost endless. Some catalogs specialize in accessores specifically for musicans and you can buy charms, key chains, and tie tacks in the shapes of instruments, stationery with notes, pencils in the shape of treble clefs, stickers with instruments, and just about any item you could imagine. Your child's music teacher can probably supply you with such a catalog or you might simply browse your local music store for ideas. Some of these catalog stores are listed in the Resources for Parents section at the end of this book.
Social rewards could be performances for the entire family. At a designated time, the family (mom, dad, and any siblings) will sit and listen to your child perform. At the end, your child should stand and bow and everyone then applaud. A less formal reward would simply be to tell a grandparent of family friend how proud you are of the child's progress at a time when your child is present. Therea re many opportunities for social rewrads. You only need to be aware of them and take advantage of them. What is important to remember is that the rewrad is tied to the child's playing instrument, which creates a chian reaction that in turn creates more interest in playing the instrument. Although tehse rewards are extrinsic to the joy of playing music, they work to enhance and reinforce the fact that your child is a musician.
Even though extrinsic rewrads are very valuable and effective, the long-term goals of a reward system should be to establish intrinsic rewards. In other words, the joy of playing the instrument and creating music becomes its own reward. The joy of attaining musical goals can also be as self-rewarding as performing in a successful concert or recital.
These are the ultimate goals of playing music. But they come slowly, much more slowly than the ones previously described. Therefore, the recommendation is to use extrinsic social or appropriate material rewards always iwth an eye to replacing them with intrinsic rewards. So what are these intrinsic rewards? They are harder to explain and use, and many of them are fairly intangible but certainly real. There are two intrinsic rewards, however, that I feel can be developed or nurtured in young musicians. These are the rewards of reaching personal goals and playing music you love. The parent (and teacher) can have an active role in nurturing these rewards.
Many years ago, my wife and I purchased a nineteenth-century home. As romantic as this sounds, the house was in pretty bad shape. Our goal was to restore it into something beautiful. I was a public school teacher at the tim and had the entire summer to work on it. We took possession of the house in early June just as the school year was ending. I woke up every morning and worked all day long on the house. I worked hard, but after a few weeks became very discouraged. For all my work, it just didn't seem like anything was getting done. It was then that I learned the power of goals as rewards. We sat down and made a list of projects. Each was put on a sheet and broken down into steps needed for the project to be completed. These sheets were then placed on the refrigerator. When I completed something, I would go to the refrigerator and check it off.
I remember having a mojor revelation one day as I ran to the refrigerator to cross soemthing off ht elist. I couldn't wait to do it. The act of getting the task done and then crossing it off the list had become self-motivating. I could see my progress and knew where i was headed. I was not working any harder, but I sure felt like I was making more progress and was certainly enjoying the whole process more.
This also works with practicing. Far too often the goals for practicing are vague or too distant. The ultimate goal may be to play better (this is vague) or to perform at the spring recital (this is far off to a child, even in February) while the short-term goal is to learn that week's song (this is really boring). So the chance of your child's feeling accomplishment or sensing that she is getting anywhere is pretty low.
Instead, the act of reaching musical goals can be very rewarding. For this to happen, however, these goals must be specific, concrete, and clear to your child. If you remember the research project my student did where she put a sticker on a board for every scale performed correctly, you will see that one of the things that made this work was that the students had a series of short, attainable goals (the individual scales). These short goals added up to a larger goal (knowing all the scales). All instruction should be this goal oriented.
This seems quite logical and I can't think of any music teacher who would not agree with this. The problem is that while most teachers have simliar goals for their students (actually all good teachers do), they are sometimes not communicated. The teacher just assumes the students know where they are going. The teacher has been on this path many times before with countless other studetns and knows what lies right around the next corner, but often forgest to tell studetns what is coming or where they are. Progress is obvious to the teacher, but not to the child.
Just like my list of small house repair tasks that led up to large accomplishment, so too must we offer this opportunity for our children with some sort of systemic program. It is importatnt hat they see their goals and accomplishments regularly.
Perhaps the best intrinsic reward is being able to play a piece of music you love. This may shound lofty or unrealistic, but it truly is the most motivating factor I have seen for any musician. But it is not as easy or simplistic as it sounds.
Recently, my daughter Melanie hear Fur Elise by Beethoven and feel in love with it. It seemed well beyond her ability, but, thanks to her perceptive teacher, Anne, it was used to motivate her beyond her current playing level. First Anne found a simplified verison of the piece. Because it was not simple enough for Melanie, Anne explored the Internet and located a series of three books called The Road to Elise. These books had collections of pieces that develop cerrain skills requried to play Fur Elise. However, Melanie wanted to play the actual piece, so it became her summer goal to laern it. She struggled for three months on the piece. But eventually, she got it. It was the music that motivated her to push like this.
But how does that happen? This is where it gets difficult. Children know the music they hear on the radio. Most of it is so rhythmically complex that they could not possibly read it. Further, they hear it with full band or orchestra. It never sounds the same when it's played on a solo sax or even piano. For this reason, the popular music they hear may not work well on their instrument. Even if it did, it is often way out of reach.
You, the parent, and the teacher have to be on the lookout for pieces that your child likes but that also will work on your child's particular instrument. Usually the child and parent do not know enough about the instrument to be sure that will work, but the teacher will. Perhaps the best way is for you (and your child) to suggest particular pieces to the teacher.
But there is more. Mealnie would never have heard Fur Elise if hs had not been at a piano recital. So it is important to let children hear music written specifically for their instrument. This can be accomplished through CDs or live performances.
As with most rewards, there are no simple answers when it comes to using music as a reward. A piece one child likes may do nothing for another. A piece a child admires may not work on that child's intrument. A piece your child loves may be way too difficult. So the best thing for a parent to do is to be sensitive to this phenomenon. I am not sure you can make it happen, but you can certainly set up an environment in which an opportunity would not be missed.
What is the message of this chapter on rewards? the best way to get your kids to practice is by setting up a system of intrinsic rewards using short- and long-term goals (such as the chart shown earlier, along with recitals) and music they love. Combine this with some sort of extrinsic reward system. The reward system should reinforce your child often and at times when it isn't expected. Fruther, you should use both material and social extrinsic rewards that are closely tied to the act of playing music.
Some Additional Thoughts on Practicing
There are some further hints for practicing that do not fall neatly into a category and don't need much explanation.
Eliminate unimportant decisions for your child
You want to eliminate as many decisions as possible for your child and allow him to concentrate on musical decisions. One good idea is establish a specific time for practicing. This eliminates the decision of when to practice. If it is set up that the child will practice every day at 4:00, then the decision of when will be avoided. Without an established time it is too easy to simply say "later."
Associate a specific place with practicing
If a specific place can be set aside for practicing and only practicing, then that location tends to trigger the practice response. This is easy if your child plays an instrument like the piano, harp, or drums. These stationary instruments demand a place in the home that cannot be used for other purposes. but it is not as easy if the instrument is a flute or trumpet. Therefore, if a designated place could be devised for practicing, it will become more automatic. It also eliminates another decision: Where can I practice?
Associate practicing with pleasurable activities or times
Try to link things your children enjoy doing to practicing, and avoid combining practicing with things that they don't like. If your child hates practicing, but enjoys doing activities withyou as a parent, perhaps the practicing can be done together. The child cannot like and dislike something at the same time.
If your children are tired and grumpy when they get home from school, then this is not a good time for practicing. Instead, find a period when they are generally happy (this will vary child by child, even within a family). This is the time to set up their practice interval. You may ask, "But won't that ruin their happiness?" My experience is that it won't. They cannot be happy and sad at the same time. Their natural tendencies and biorhythms will win out.
Summary
Here are the highlights of this chapter:
- There are three basic premises: (1) Most kids don't like to practice; (2) Good practicing is hard work; and (3) A child will never play an instrument well without practicing.
- Rewards (reinforcements) can be used to encourage good practice habits.
- There are two types of reward schedules, interval and ratio. Most practicing is set up around an interval system, but a ratio system works better.
- A ratio system with a variable rate of reward is the best type of reward system.
- Many things can act as rewards and they will be different for each child.
- There are two types of rewards: intrinsic and extrinsic. We use extrinsic rewards for the end goal of arriving at intrinsic rewards.
- Extrinsic rewards cn be further divided into two types: material and social. Both are effective, but should be tied to the act of making music.
- One of the most efective rewards is the feeling of reaching tangible goals. Good practicing should have goals.