6 Absolute ‘Must Know’ Ways To Reduce your Child’s Frustration When Learning Music

As with anything else in life, we are all very excited when we first learn something totally new, but that enthusiasm doesn’t last very long, especially when we see how difficult it is to get to the level of mastery that we are looking for. 

This is no different for kids. 

They often see others play the piano and how nice it sounds and looks and think that they can do the same from day one. 

And the shock that they get, when they realize that is not so can be so frustrating that they often give up learning to play a new instrument. 

Do you know that the piano is the easiest instrument to learn to play and the hardest to master? 

Well it is, and if your child is learning to play the piano or any other instrument I hope that the tips that I share in this blog will help you reduce the frustration and if anything help bring back some of that initial enthusiasm that your child first experienced when learning to play the piano. 

Remember, the tips that you learn here will work with any instrument, irrespective of what your child is learning to play. 

So here goes. 

Practice Is About Progress Not Perfection

This is key to remember. We often think that we have to be perfect from the get go. 

That is not true. 

No one can be perfect from the get go and in my experience the fact that we allow kids to believe that they can be or should be perfect from the get go is what results in so much frustration. 

I learned this the hard way after so much self reflection and I have found that simply talking to my daughter before she sits down to practice and telling her that she is not going to be perfect and that that is ok, has helped immensely. 

Have A Growth Mindset

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for long, then you will know what a big fan I am of Carol Dweck, so it is no surprise that I am a big advocate of the ‘growth mindset’ philosophy. 

As a parent you have to have that mindset and your should teach your child that from the very start. 

Tell her that we should strive for improvement and making mistakes is ok. 

Mistakes are a stepping stone to success, and each and every mistake teaches us something. 

Engage Visual, Auditory, and Kinaesthetic Senses

Some kids are visual learners, others are auditory learners, and still others are kinaesthetic learners.

So it is very important to ensure that your child is engaged appropriately according to her learning style. But it is also important to have all senses to be engaged, so that learning can be more ‘whole’. 

This is why all our music programs are designed to engage all the senses instead of simply one sense or another alone. 

Have A Multi Pronged Approach

Having a multi pronged approach means having physical and theoretical understanding at a basic level. Thus, simply learning to play the instrument alone may not be enough but learning music theory will help to aid in the learning process. Read my blog 5 ‘Absolute Lies’ About Learning Music Theory, to gain a better understanding of why this is so important. 

It’s OK To Make Mistakes

This is a part of the growth mindset and something that you need to drill into your child. 

There is no shame in making mistakes and making mistakes is how we learn. 

None of us learned to walk without falling and none of of learned to talk without making mistakes, so why should learning to play the piano or any other instrument be any different?

Once you get rid of that shame of making mistakes, you will notice that half the battle has been won. 

Learn Alongside Your Child

This is very important at least at the initial stages. Learning alongside your child will not only help her learn better, the bonding experience will be priceless and most importantly you might even be surprised at how fast your child learns compared to you. If this is not the case, you will at least be more aware of her frustrations and thus, be better equipped to understand her and help her stay enthusiastic. 

Celebrate the victories, even the small ones and tell her how proud you are of her. 

Want to learn more about how to learn alongside your child, then my blog post 5 ‘Surefire Ways’ To Ensure Your Child Continues To Learn Music, will definitely help you. 

Do you think you can implement the tips that I have provided above? 

Do you agree with them?

Want help and support, then come join us on FB and let us support you as you help your child through her musical journey.