This is not about people who don't practise as much as they need to, but I was wondering how common it is for parents/pupils simply not to understand that practice is necessary, at least to start with.

I do have some enquiries from parents who sound enuinely nonplussed when I say there will need to be an instrument at home to practise on. And once, years ago, a father brought a child who had been having lessons at primary school from the music teacher - free for an hour a week! - and wanted to carry on having an hour but had never factored practice into this, and when I said half an hour with me and practice, free of charge, at home during the week, would make progress both faster and cheaper, they decided they didn't want to go that way. They thought they could make progress on just the lessons.

The ones that have made me crossest have been:

A child who was making zilch progress on a keyboard - this was in the days when I would have three of them in my room on small keyboards with headphones and circulate around the room - this child sat happily doing nothing an waiting for her next five minutes instead of working on what we'd just done - always came having forgotten everything since last week - "I can't practise at home because Mummy has to watch the extension being built" and Mummy said no practice was done because "she didn't want to make an issue of it"

The very musical child who, having been lent a violin from school when I was teaching there, to join in my elementary violin class, brought it back after three weeks because they had just obtained a puppy and the puppy would start whining whenever she started playing the violin; puppy didn't like the violin so the violin came back to school

The parent who told me "actually, I would really LOVE for him to play the violin, but to be honest, I just don't think I could stand the sound of him practising in the house"

Some of my favourite sayings on the subject:

"If you don't practise, your lessons still cost the same - progress is very expensive that way"

"I love this job, I sit here listening to lovely music and you do all the work and I am the one who gets paid. Practise hard and one day you can pull that trick too!"

"Well, never mind, you can do your practice now while I stand over you and watch and comment, and pay for the privilege. Pity really, you could have had it for free during the week, too"

"Haven't practised it and have forgotten it? Oh dear, I bet your mum won't like to hear she's had to pay twice for the same bit of teaching"

Yes, I know they're all about money. It's not the only thing I'm in it for, I promise them that, and they realise it?s largely tongue-in-cheek; though at the same time if they apologise to me for not practising, I point out that you're not doing it for me, you're doing it for you, what you do for me is to give me the money, so it's yourself you need to apologise to.

I never ask children to promise to practise every day, because I will be asking them to make a promise that they will eventually break. I then ask them to promise to TRY to practise every day, and not to make that promise to me but to themselves.

I never carry out my threat that if they don't practise one week it will be all scales and sight-reading, as that will probably not spur them on to do more, but put them off lessons completely. I usually try to find a way out of this impasse if it's happening for two or three weeks in a row. They can develop practice phobia. I set a challenge, or maybe ask for just one thing - a piece or exercise or even a scale - but it must be every day and must have a lot of improvement to show. Some of them seem to think they only have to practise one piece a week anyway! And one boy who got a distinction at grade 1 but was stalling at grade 2, through being unable to kick-start his practice, came in last week having done a LOT - the reason? Younger brother, who is a faster learner, came home with a grade 1 book!

I always ask not only what they are practising on at home, but where it is, what other people are doing when you are practising, and how easy it is to get to your instrument whenever you feel like it without inconveniencing anyone else. Piano in the same room as the family television that has to be turned off when you are instructed to practise and everyone can still hear your every mistake and repetition is not going to produce the happiest results. But I realise few of them can alter the circumstances.

Oh yes - it's been mentioned and discussed a number of times on here - the embarrassed silence at the other end of the phone when you ask what the child has at home to practise on !

My biggest bugbear is the ones who claim to be too busy to practise - too many other activities going on after school etc. Most of them are beginners who could manage on 5 or 10 minutes practice a day, if they really wanted to do it. There is such a merry-go-round of things going on, that they are too tired to contemplate practising and arrive at the lessons exhausted and unable to concentrate. Sigh.

I find it quite helpful to make time to go to the pupil's house for one lesson at some point in the first term - I have quite often been able to make suggestions about various issues that impact on practice - something simple like changing the piano stool or providing a pile of telephone directories for little feet to rest on, or an extra lamp, can make a big difference.

Framing the nag to the parent in terms of what they need to do is sometimes more effective than nagging the child. "I think x needs a little bit more support from you, Mrs X, to help her get organised with her practice..." (Guilt trip? H*ll yes!)

As a parent of two practising children I would say - be very upfront with parents - give them a diary to sign like at school and make sure they know from day one how much practice you want and what you mean by practice. Chances are the little darling have had swimming lessons (can't practice at home except in very over privileged cases), dancing lessons (can't practice without breaking things), or karate lessons (shouldn't practice in case they break each other) and need to be made aware of exactly why learning a musical instrument is different.

Compare it to learning to read - all parents understand that if you hear your child read at home they'll make quicker progress. I do know, first hand, that it doesn't stop the school reading book sitting at the the bottom of the bag from one weekend to the next but it makes more sense than comparisons with other 'hobbies' which are a half hour a week activity.

There are, however, an amazing number of parents out there who will happily keep paying out for lessons their children don't practise for - give them the pep talk a couple of times and then - if it bugs you (and I know it would me!) arrange for them to overhear another pupil (similar age/ number of terms of lessons etc) who can play quite well. Nonmusical parents often don't know how much progress is 'normal'.

Actually swimming and karate are no different. If you are having weekly swimming lessons (rather than training training several times a week with a club) you are expected to visit the pool and practice what youn have learned between lessons, and if you want to improve at karate (or any other martial art) you had better do your kata and stances and flexibililty exercises and strengthening exercises at least on alternate days. If the ony time you do an y karate is at the weekly class you will improve very slowly indeed.


p.s. I have practiced martial arts since I was 17 and was a hard-training competitive swimmer for most of my life (... though I admit I never became outstandingly good at either)

p.p.s Almost forgot. Dance is no different either, and any dancer that only practiced in class would soon find themselves left far behind, My daughter is an excellent dancer. As well as attending weekly classes in ballet, modern, tap and jazz (in the case of ballet from age 4) she stretched and practiced her routines at home every single day up until taking her A-levels.

I'm no more patient than anyone else when it comes to non-practisers but I think teachers have to recognise - for the sake of their sanity if nothing else - that music isn't everyone's no.1 priority and have realistic expectations (which will of course vary from child to child). Having said that, I certainly think some practice is necessary for any tangible progress to be made after the very early stages.

I do this often if pupils forget their music - but why should it be a threat? Lessons which focus solely on scales and sight-reading can still be enjoyable and very useful.

Er, I always thought favourite sayings were supposed to be things you've heard other people say...!

I do like this one, though:

Agree with you Czerny.... It isn't every pupil's priority.
I do get frustrated as beginners only need to find 10-15 mins and most can find that every day if you are creative. I usually say "If you have time to watch TV/ go on facebook/ you have time to practice".

However.... I don't understand the parents. If my children did no practice- I wouldn't pay for the lessons as they won't make the requisite progress! I think it's the parents who need to understand.

I teach in several state primaries and in one there is a culture of playing a musical instrument. Their school orch got through to the Finals of National Festival of Music for Youth and it is a small, rural, 3 class school! It's great as there is a culture of practice there and if they aren't, they and their parents know they ought to be! Just down the road, I teach in a school where instrumental lessons are relatively new to the school- and it's hard work there, The parents think playing once a week is good practice. It'll take a long time to create the culture that just exists in the other school, where playing an instrument is standard and everyone knows you have to actually play the thing between lessons. Even parents with no musical background in that school seem to understand that!
The difference between the 2 schools is that the parents at the 'musical' school tell their children to practice. That's all it takes!

When I have children who say they haven't got enough time to practise I get out my stop watch. (its a nice big old fasioned non digital thing which ingtrigues them)I time them through a piece, for example, plus the time it takes to go over the weak bits several times. This usually comes to between two and four minutes. I then ask them what excuse they will give me next lesson for not having found that time. Actually many of them are astounded at how little time it takes to improve something if you just concentrate hard and get on with it. Some of them seem to think that because the lesson lasts 30 or 45 minutes that is what I am expecting them to do at home each day - which I am certainly not.

Mine don't get practice books - just a "Fiche de contr?le " if practice starts to get sparse - and parents have to sign it. Actually I suspect I get a number of forged signatures but I don't let on that I suspect if the work has been done!

Parents who don't want to know about practice are a difficult problem. I have two little girls learning treble recorder in a shared lesson. One has supportive parents, practises and is progressing nicely. When I asked the other child if she was practicing she repied "No, my mother doesn't wnat me to." I wrote a note to mother, politely explaining the need for practice. Next week I asked the child if she had pracxtised - though it was obvious she had. The reply was "Yes but I had to do it in my bedroom."

So I invited mother in to a lesson - she happened to be in school for some other reason and when I recognised her voice in the corridor I went to invite her in. She obviously found it hard to sit there for five minutes and the only spontaneous comment I got was "Are they really reading that music?" Oh well, we battle on.

You can take the view of the proverb "You can take a horse to water ... "

You point out that daily practice is necessary for improvement, and if the pupils (and parents) choose not to practice then they will improve slowly or not at all.

The problem with this is that if a significant number of students are not making any progress it can reflect badly on the teacher. ["If the student has not learned, then the teacher has not taught"]

Hence: Ruses to persuade the relucatant ones to practice more, or terminating lessons for those that persistently fail to honour their promise to practice regularly. I don't see anything wrong with a teacher who will only take on students that commit to a certain minimum level of practice, and only continues their lessons so long as they stick to their promise. The teacher-student relationship is supposed to be one that is mutually acceptable.

When I eventually start to teach (when my playing reaches a high enough standard, and I have a teaching diploma alongside my performance diplomas) I will definitely have some such requirements in place, because I have no interest in entertaining (or child-minding) any student that fails to do the bare minimum of practice.

One child told me, after half a term of lessons, "Mummy says that if I get really, really, really good at the piano, she'll get me a keyboard to practise on."

My current response to pupils who either haven't got an instrument after a term or repeatedly fail to find the time to practise is to close the piano lid very deliberately and tell them brightly that there is no point playing in the lesson if they haven't been able to practise all week. They would feel very disappointed not to have been able to improve from the last lesson if they haven't had the chance to practise. We can play again when they have been able to prepare properly at home. Instead, we sit away from the piano and do some rhythm work, or aural, or theory.

This either sorts the problem out or they get very good at their supporting skills and they can fly when they get an instrument, or think to use it.

Re swimming we obviously have had different experiences - most children that I know learn swimming only as a basic skill and have weekly lessons to acheive competence (eg my kids) - am aware that others train daily and acheive county or national standard (eg my sister's kid). A regular leisure centre swimming coach would not expect the parents to fork out for daily trips to the pool in order to supplement their lessons but a regular music teacher would expect regular practice in order to make any progress at all. This is where confusion arises in the minds of parents - they think "well, I don't want my child to be a concert pianist so it doesn't matter if they don't practice" because they are equating it with other activities - such as swimming where there are clearer boundaries between levels of commitment.

Re Karate, and dancing suspect that we have very different experiences indeed!!! All the children I know who learn martial arts (I admit freely that no one in my family does) are told not to practice what they learn inside the class outside the class until they are mature enough to do so without hurting themselves or others (a 17 year old is presumably considered mature enough to judge for themselves at the outset.) I trained as a dancer for 14 years plus as did my sisters and brother and again the instructions were very clear - "Do not practice at home until I tell you that you know what you are doing and you can be trusted not to hurt yourself!!" Again - there comes a time when children can start practising at home, and indeed must practise at home but most children never reach that standard and again (sorry if I'm repeating myself but I've got up a good head of steam here) parents get confused!!

I do this too; essentially supervised practice in the lesson followed by pointing out how much progress has been made in a very small amount of time. By this point we have usually sorted out the section that the pupil claimed not to have been able to improve during the course of the entire week.

Tongue in cheek -

Perhaps we should create a 'Boot Camp for Parents of Non-Practicers' - led by a team of dedicated visiting South East Asian instrumental pupils. Now they could teach these parents a thing or two.

I am not in the UK, I have several pupils who are from South East Asia and who are here visiting our schools for periods of about 6 months, some much longer. They are a delight to teach, they are organised, ambitious, happy and focussed.

They are grateful for lessons and I feel honored to work alongside them with as much joy as they bring to my studio. I am not trying to lump them all into one category but I have had only one who was not keen for lessons, even though she had loads of talent, she sat only one exam and passed with a merit.

These pupils almost NEVER complain about having to practice. Neither do their parents.

If a child has been fortunate enough to have their parent be able to afford to pay for lessons, then for the parents not to make the most of it, in my opinion is a dreadful mistake.

I take this approach from Day One. "Continuation of lessons is dependent on practice as specified." This leaves me able to be understanding if I know a pupil is under temporary pressure in other areas of life, but it is difficult, a few months down the line, to start trying to ask for something that they didn't know was part of the deal when they started.

I take your point about levels of commitment, and the strange ideas that some parents have ... that only wannabe concert pianists need to practice a lot.

I know that many children just attend a weekly class in swimming or dance lesson or a martial art class and eventually achieve a basic level of competence. It is just a very poor way to learn any physical skill. A week between sessions is jyst too long. You would be amazed how much faster a child learns to swim if they can manage just a half hour trip to the pool in-between the weekly half hour lessons. They don't learn 2x as quickly ... they learn 5 or 6 times faster.

On martial arts (e.g. karate) note that I mentioned kata, stances, stretches, strengthening (e.g. push ups). Not sparring or imitating the silly martial arts movies, or punching anything solid, or foolishly trying to break slates or bricks with the bare hands. But the same principle applies as in swimming. A single mid-week refresher is enough to re-inforce the lesson before it fades too much.