When do your dc practice piano or other instrument?

[KIN]

My older boys (8 & 6) take Suzuki piano. I love it, they are learning and enjoying it too. My problem is that I don't know when to fit practice into our day. I've been doing it the 2nd thing of the day, after our circle time. However, our morning work is dragging over into the afternoon and I need it to be done in the morning. (We do our math, spelling, etc. in the basement, I don't want to go back down in the afternoon.) We have a nice, long break for lunch and "recess", then do science or history, then have 1 hour rest time, then snack, clean up and I start supper. I need to help each boy with piano practice, because that is how Suzuki piano is taught. My older son can do a lot on his own now, but I need to be with the younger ds the entire time. Anyway, that was a looong story. When do you fit in practice? :confused:

[Pongo]

My ds plays guitar from 7:30-8:00am and my dd plays piano from 7:30-8:30am. Mind you, they are up at 6:30 and ALL chores and breakfast is finished at 7:30am. This works well because it gives me 1/2 hour with my 5 yod for reading time. Then she gets a break while, I am doing math with my son 8-8:30am and my oldest is still playing piano until 8:30am. Then I work with mu oldest on math and I rotate through to my 5 yod for another 1/2 session and she is done for the day. She works on crafts I have set up for her while I go between my other two.

[daisychics]

piano (we should), but he only plays for 15 minutes. We have a digital timer and he sets it. Somedays he keeps playing after the 15 minutes and that's fine with me. :) Other days, he practices when I'm making breakfast or lunch. Other days he wants to play it before we start any lessons. Dh is the one that plays piano here so sometimes he waits for him if he needs help or just wants to show daddy what he's playing.

I'm happy with 15 minutes a day, for now.

[Mama Lynx]

Mine practice independently, and my answer is not going to help you. But ...

 

When do they practice?

 

When they have a chore to do.

 

When it's time for schoolwork.

 

When they're bored.

 

I've got one who practices, it seems every 15 minutes. I'm not complaining. I'm *NOT*! But, um ... I bet some of you know what it's like to hear the same song played, ever 15 minutes, day after day after day after day after day ...

 

I admire Suzuki, but practicing with them every day would push me over the edge. Many kudos to you!

[~Puddins~]

I only have one son practicing so it probably is easier since he does not have to share piano time with a sibling yet. DS practices in the morning after he has made his bed and gotten dressed, so usually around the time I start on breakfast, he starts his practice and is done just in time to eat. Works out nicely :)

[Novafan]

We are able to grab practice time in the late afternoons. My boys are doing suzuki violin.

[mominbc]

I have 2 musical children. My dd started out in suzuki piano so I totally understand the demands of helping them practice. We have always broken up her practice time into 2 smaller sections because I found her attention span way more focused and we were way more productive. What we did was get through all of our school work from 8:30 - 11:30 and then she would do half of her practicing before lunch and then she would do the other half after lunch and read aloud time which usually put us finished by 2:30 ( with having an hour for lunch). Every child is different and they all have a time where they practice optimally and its best if you can find when that is so practice doesn't drag on. Having your children play instruments does add more time to the day, so don't be afraid to play around with schedules to find out whats going to work for your sanity. That's just whats worked for us.

[ncmomo3]

I found that music was tying up too much morning time- I have 3 -so it takes about an hour and a half and I do sit and listen(because they like the feedback).

So...we do music immediately following dinner. It just fits our situation.

[KIN]

I've thought about practicing in the evening. That is when ps kids often have to do it. :) I would really like to have our evenings free as family time. I talked with dh and think I have a new plan, but if that doesn't work I think I'm going to have to move it to after supper. BTW, when you say dinner do you mean the evening meal? We always said dinner for the noon meal at home, but I'm thinking you're meaning the evening meal? :)

[ncmomo3]

I've thought about practicing in the evening. That is when ps kids often have to do it. :) I would really like to have our evenings free as family time. I talked with dh and think I have a new plan, but if that doesn't work I think I'm going to have to move it to after supper. BTW, when you say dinner do you mean the evening meal? We always said dinner for the noon meal at home, but I'm thinking you're meaning the evening meal? :)

 

Sorry--yes, evening meal:001_smile:. It really does flow pretty well here that way, but we don't have much going on in the evenings.

[KIN]

Your post made me start my own post on the general board about if dinner is at noon or night. :)

[ncmomo3]

Your post made me start my own post on the general board about if dinner is at noon or night. :)

 

Too funny!

[LindaOz]

Four of my dc play two instruments each which is a scheduling nightmare especially since they all play piano. Also, three play Suzuki violin and one plays flute. We are trying to keep most of our academic work to the mornings (8:30am - 1pm) so that afternoons are available for reading, read-alouds and music practices. Sometimes, someone will get organized early enough in the morning to do practice before we start, but it doesn't always happen. Sooo.... afternoons are our aim.

 

Also, I know that technically parents are supposed to work with a Suzuki student, but I just find that I do not have time in my day for this. So what I find works well is to let them do their own violin practice then come and play for me so I can hear what they have worked on and correct anything that needs correcting. This can even take place in the kitchen while cooking dinner. :-)

 

HTH

[Ali in OR]

We try to start our day with some housekeeping at 8:30. Then at 9:00, I get 7 yo started on spelling and maybe a little math and I do piano practice with 5 yo for about 15 minutes. Then she goes off to play and 7 yo and I do about a 30 minute practice session. Sometimes if we aren't on our normal schedule like errand day, they will do piano after dinner with dh. They tend to throw fits and temper tantrums at that time of day--practice is much smoother if we do it first thing.

[KIN]

Wow Linda! Having my dc learn more than one instrument is a dream of mine, but the time involved - Oye! Are your dc just lovers of music or did you encourage them to pick up more than one instrument?

[brehon]

But, um ... I bet some of you know what it's like to hear the same song played, ever 15 minutes, day after day after day after day after day ...

 

 

 

Oh, my, yes, yes, and yes again. I sometimes think my brain will explode, my ears will start bleeding, or possibly both. This is me when the kids practice without any fussing :hurray: this is me after the practice session :willy_nilly:

 

To top it off, our piano is just enough out of tune that my spine literally tries to crawl out of my body.

 

But, to try and answer the OP's question, my older two usually practice while I'm preparing lunch (being quite young, they only practice 5-10 minutes each). The younger two "practice" during their siblings' practice times prompting the ever popular, "MOOOOOOOM, s/he's 'restracting' meeee." [restracting being 5-yr-old-ese for distracting].

[StephanieZ]

My older two dc (11 & 8 yo) generally practice first or second thing in the school day. (We're not terribly consistent with our sequence of events each day.)

 

I definitely prefer doing music when they are fresh in the morning whenever possible.

 

My oldest dd (11 yo) plays two instruments, and can practice quite independently, and so she often practices one first thing and then the other an hour or two later. Sometimes she does them back-to-back but not always.

 

My littlest (5 yo) still requires one-on-one the whole practice time (we do suzuki as well) and so that time gets squeezed in at various times when the olders are doing something independently (music practice or many other subjects).

 

One thing that is important for my sanity is that I try to insist to each child that my limited one-on-one time with their sibs is inviolate and not to interrrupt if at all possible. (That mainly includes music practice and math teaching.) It is really hard to keep it going well with a young child if I'm being interrupted, so I get really testy if an older sib is pestering us. . .

 

Another consideration is whether to have them practice at the same time or different times. With 3 kids and 4 instruments to practice and 3 hours plus of assigned listening, we could be doing music ALL DAY if we didn't overlap at all. :) Our (new) house is big enough that all 3 kids can be practicing in various rooms without a big problem -- you can still hear eachother but not very loudly. For some reason, they don't seem to mind the chaos. . . Our former house was a lot smaller and it drove ME nuts to have them all practicing at the same time b/c I just couldn't hear myself think. Anyway, I have to squeeze listening in at breakfast or lunch (if I remember) or during play times. And we do overlap *some* with the practices most days, which works out fine.

[ArwenA]

My older kids practice independently and it is their job to fit violin/piano into the day. If they haven't done it they have to do it in the evening and miss out on other fun things. They all love to practice so we haven't had a problem.

With the younger ones we practice just after lunch or at the beginning of the day depending on the kid.

[LindaOz]

Wow Linda! Having my dc learn more than one instrument is a dream of mine, but the time involved - Oye! Are your dc just lovers of music or did you encourage them to pick up more than one instrument?

 

Well, my husband and I are both musicians, and I teach piano anyway, so learning piano was something that they all just flowed into. The second instruments were choices of their own. Lucky I'm piano teacher or we'd never be able to afford all those lessons. :tongue_smilie: Plus, teaching some extra students helps pay for their violin/flute lessons :hurray:

[Melissa in Australia]

my children are learning Piano. they all know what school work they have to get done in the morning including piano( 20 min per day) they can work out their own order of doing all their morning school work,as long as they get it all done. and they do subjects that need my assistance( like grammar) at different times.

this works really well for my family.

MelissaL

[Jenny in Atl]

My youngest dd 7 does recorder and choir practice in the morning (right after breakfast). Older dd 12 does her choir and drama practice in the afternoon or night.