I had an important discussion with a student and his dad last week. This student by the way is actually incredibly exceptional in his capabilities and his growth. I’ve been working with this student for at least a couple of years, I’d have to go back and look to know for sure, he had prior teachers for sure, and he had learned quite well with them although they both probably taught a little bit more by rote, playing a lot of the music for the student before he tried to learn it, so there were definitely some holes in his learning in terms of interpretation of rhythm and phrasing, and definitely there was a lack of theoretical knowledge.
All that to say the student has done exceptional in learning all those things that were missed before!
But the student, is just a really smart kid that grows and moves forward without a whole lot of practice which I totally get as that’s kind of where I was around his age once I had a good private teacher. But because of that, he’s kind of reached a point where he’s not really practicing and his parents recognize that, but he is growing. So the question from his parents and him was, should we keep going even if he’s not practicing?
This is a really good question that I’ve had many times. I love answering it because I think it’s a really important question. My first response often would be to say something like, would you take a child out of science or math class at school because they’re not studying? Of course not!
And on a very simple level the same is true with music. While it would be wonderful if they practice, what’s more important is are they learning and growing? And the answer is of course as long as they’ve got a good teacher and they’re showing up weekly they’re going to grow, perhaps not at the same speed as they would if they practiced, but they’re definitely going to grow.
And of course music is so much more than just about practicing. It’s a personal discipline, it’s an important part of who we are, and none of us know where music might take us or what we might want from music when we are 20, 30, 40, 50 or 80 years old. And I’ve had students in all of those decades, with various different desires from music, and many of them at 40, 50 and even in their 80s, that have come back to music wishing they would have never put it down in the first place!
Of course I spoke to all of this and I encouraged him how well he’s doing even if he’s not practicing much. When we wrapped up the lesson which was really different of course this last week because we were trying to just have some fun with the music, instead of giving him a homework assignment of music, I gave him a couple of questions which I think are really important to ask and they’re valuable for every music student:
- What does or can music do for you? How can music help you personally, mentally, emotionally, maybe even physically? Can music serve you? And if so how?
- What do you enjoy most about music? What kind of music do you enjoy? If you were to sit down at your instrument during the week for your own benefit for getting about a particular homework assignment or less an assignment or something, what would you be looking for?
- What do you like to listen to?
