Learn Without Pressure

"Right now my goals when I go to practice with Margaret is to remember SMALL STEPS, to LEARN WITHOUT PRESSURE, and to continue to LISTEN & OBSERVE as much as possible."

When starting practice with young kids, sometimes there will be days when only the minimum gets done. There has to be focus for any learning to take place and children are not always able to give us focus when we ask it of them. Focus is a learned skill. So in order to teach them focus and a work ethic, we must be consistent in our daily routine, but stop the practice when the focus is lost. There can be games and strategies to try and regain focus, but sometimes, it is just lost, which means the practice is done.

This can get frustrating as practice can sometimes only be a few minutes even though you may have had some really good practices that lasted 10, 15 or even 20 minutes in the past. If we let our frustrations or disappointments show, children feel this. If they feel this, it will probably lead them to not want to practice.

Consider how you teach your kids in other areas of their life. When does forcing them to eat their vegetables or to go to bed when you say or not colouring on the walls really work when you put pressure on them. But when we model eating our vegetables or encourage bedtime by reading books with their favourite characters, or we support them in their beautiful drawings on paper, all of a sudden we get a different result. When we analyze our reactions, we get different reactions in return.

When we focus less on the product (setting an allotted time for practice), and more on the process (how we are actually practicing), children begin to learn far more than just the skills needed to play the violin. A focused 5 minute practice is going to be so much more beneficial to everyone than a 20 minute unfocused all over the place practice where you are not really sure what was accomplished by the end of it.

On the other hand, we should never be stuck at only 5 minutes of practice. If that is the case, then we are most likely missing another key component which is allowing the motivation to play fade. This could be as simple as making sure the practice spots are small enough as well as making sure to attend every group class, lesson and recital and to listen regularly to the CD. Ideally the practice time should grow as skills are added on and focus is acquired.

A parents modelling, encouragement, support and involvement is key not just for when kids are lacking focus or motivation, but in everything they do. And of course we know this, but knowledge is not skill (I confessed this in my last post!). Work with your teacher to make sure you are approaching practice how you mean to approach it. When we learn to put what we know into constant play, it gives children the comfort, reassurance and confidence they need to achieve anything.

Suzuki Violin Lessons are about developing the PROCESS FIRST (a child's character) and the PRODUCT SECOND (their ability). When we learn without pressure in this way, incredible things can happen.