How do you choose a music school or pick a music teacher? How much will they expect you (or your child) to practice? Is the music teacher the right fit for you?

Those are some questions a lot of people don’t think about before picking the closest music lessons that are the most convenient to drive to. If you are taking your child to gymnastics or sports, you may not have a lot of choices, but for music lessons you probably do!

Is your child young (3 or 4) or older (9 or 10+)? Is your child mature (have a lengthy attention span)? Is your child exceptionally bright and needs outside stimulation? Did your child pick the instrument, or did you? Is your child excited about the lessons? If the lessons are for you, how much time will you have for practicing? How much money are you willing and able to pay?

So much to consider, but people often pick the closest lessons with no other consideration.

If your child is very young there are many kinds of music programs to introduce your child to notes, pitches, rhythm… There are teachers who have special teaching methods for young students such as the Suzuki Music program. Some teachers use a combination of programs that might be geared towards listening, reading, playing by ear, improvising, classical, jazz, bluegrass, a combination of music styles… So, think about what your goals are when choosing a teacher and find out what the teachers’ goals are too.

Certain instruments have additional things to think about. Piano gives the best music foundation if you don’t know what instrument your child might choose in the future since you can see all the notes available and relate them to the keys in front of you. A decent piano is a big investment, monetarily. Violin and cello can be physically taxing in addition to being labor intensive. You have to put in serious time to become “listenable”. When you haven’t played in a while, they can be much harder to start playing again for fun. Ukulele is light, and easy to carry around and bring to your friend’s house to play. Your child can sing while they play, and who isn’t happy when they’re singing!? I have had an adult ask me for lessons on flute just to get them started and learn the basics so that they can teach themselves the rest. This is not possible on an instrument in the violin family. Joining the local youth symphony can be a fantastic opportunity for your child. If you think your child might enjoy being in a youth orchestra, I have heard of parents telling their children, they need to be on a string instrument because it can be too hard (or uncertain) to get in on a wind or brass instrument (since they only take a couple from the whole community). And if you are real concerned about that, a parent told me that she and her daughter’s friends took lessons from the youth symphony director because it’s clear that their students advance in the youth symphony system faster. This situation was a sickening political farce with the children where I live. So be careful. If your kids are quite good musicians, it might be better and more fun to get several interested children/parents together to play trios or quartets regularly at home rather than joining the symphony system when they are very young. Pitch in with other parents if you need a teacher to conduct. And take turns, for heavens sake, with the leading and second parts. Learning to lead is important and fun. Playing second fiddle is also important and fun too. Kids should understand this.

Find a teacher

that fits both your level of seriousness and the style of music that you are interested in. Find out if and how they are trained in teaching if that matters to you. Find out if they are flexible with teaching styles. Do they hold recitals? And with some teachers or programs, you have to pay extra for recitals to practice and play with an accompanist, and also extra for required “group” or ensemble classes. The money adds up. More and more money required came as a surprise to me. And don’t forget about having to purchase many music books, including exercise, method and theory books.

How much should you practice?

It’s better to practice 15 minutes 5 days a week than 2 hours once a week. It keeps your muscles trained better. And you will remember what you were working on from day to day, but not after a break of a week. (It takes me at least 10 minutes just to “warm up”.) When I was in elementary school, I did the practice 2 hours on a Friday instead of every day, but I played several days a week in school. Also, this was not for private lessons. Kids are so busy these days too, it gets hard. If you stick to practicing at the same time and place every day, it’s helpful. And you must remember, its fun to play. The hardest part is getting started. When my kids were very young, I told them I would set the kitchen timer for 10 minutes. “Just practice for 10 minutes”. So they would go practice, and I would secretly set the timer for 30 and later 45 minutes. They never ever complained or stopped early!!! The reason is clear, that it’s fun to play, but so hard to get yourself started. It wasn’t until last year, with my kids in their mid 20’s that they said when we were on vacation, “Remember when Mom said she’d set a timer for 10 minutes, and she…?!” It’s the first time I ever heard them mention it. I never even knew that they realized that I did that!