I have many students that hate practicing. Some do it anyway and others don’t. I have a few that enjoy practicing, and do it more because of that. To be honest, there isn’t a huge level of different in playing between those that enjoy practice and do it, and those that don’t enjoy it but do it anyway, but the ones that don’t practice much aren’t as good at playing the violin.

It really takes a daily commitment, especially  when you are younger or just starting. This isn’t to say that if you miss a day of practice you forget everything, but if you practice 3 times a week and somebody else practices 6 times a week, that second person will be significantly further along in a week, and more so in a month. I tell new students, as close to everyday, even 5 to 10 minutes a day is all you need to start. It gets hard though, and you say to yourself, well, why bother. I suppose it’s like flossing—doesn’t take long, but kind of annoying and easy to skip, right? And what’s one day?

Then as you get better at the violin, it takes more time. That 10 minutes should become 20, then 30, then so on. Soon you may find yourself taking longer lessons, and ultimately, if you want to really do this right, you should be practicing daily for an hour, 2, 3, or more. That’s when people really start talking about your “talent”, when you are getting up early to practice before school, or when you dedicate weeks of your summer to a music camp, or when you take your violin along on a family trip to practice.

I get students in college who think that they should get an A just for taking lessons. They don’t think that me asking them to practice 3 hours a week is reasonable. (Seriously, I probably have 3 college students total that actually accomplish this.) I was always taught that for every hour in class you should spend 3 out of it. Now, 3 hours a week isn’t actually enough, in my opinion, if you are a music major. Because you should be striving to actually be good on your instrument, and even if you aren’t planning to be a performer, surely you want to be good enough for your community orchestra? and that requires some work.

No one wants to do the work. They also don’t realize that it gets easier, that the more you practice the more fun violin can be, because you are better at it! And that you keep getting better. I find that to be the most interesting: I keep getting better. Maybe I don’t have the fast twitch muscles of my youth or the memorization skills, but I can turn a phrase and I can make my violin sing the way I want it to, and those skills are more valuable.

I’m mostly frustrated. I’ve never been good at getting my students to practice. I ask them to track it, I ask them about their practice, I ask them to plan it out, I give them ideas on how to do it, what to practice. I try charts, graphs, stickers, rewards, etc. I praise them when they have good weeks. I find that ultimately, some will practice, regardless, and others won’t. Getting ready for recitals or contests makes those that already practice more motivated, which is good, but it’s all marginal. So why am I having such a hard time changing people’s practice habits? I think that it’s because, ultimately, it’s up to them. Have I emphasized it enough? Sometimes, occasionally, maybe no. I do try, but it’s possible I’m bringing assumptions to the table.

In any case, whenever I run into bigger issues, I always try to figure out how to do better in the future. This semester I’ve had some issues with a few students that I hadn’t had before, so I’m trying to figure out how to do better. I think for my college students I will really set out a required plan, and tell them their grade each week will depend on it. I will also make sure that they understand what a lesson is, and that it is not an optional class. For new private students, I will continue to try to spell things out more clearly and make sure the parents know the expectations, that practice isn’t something you only do when you have time, that it is something you make time for or otherwise, why are you taking lessons? Remember, more practice actually makes music more fun, because it’s not fun to do things you are bad at.