How old do I have to be to be able to take lessons?

I’m willing to teach students of any age, but I do have some concerns about extremely young students.  For younger students, I prefer that they at least know their alphabet.  An ideal age to start music lessons is seven years old. A few years younger than seven is okay, but pre-school students probably wouldn’t learn efficiently from the way I teach.  I like to teach how to read notes and music, and trying to teach a letter name of a note to a person who doesn’t know their letters can pose difficulties.

For the very young, I recommend that parents seek out a teacher who specializes in the Suzuki Method that teaches music by listening instead of reading off of a page. I’m willing to work with students of any age regardless of the challenges that might arise, I just wish to avoid a situation where I’m babysitting a student rather than communicating with them about music.

How much should I practice?

Practicing should be a daily habit, preferably done at roughly the same time every day in a quiet environment that will allow the student to concentrate. How long each practice session should run depends on a student’s goals, ability to maintain focus on practicing, and time free in their schedule. A good goal for students both young and old is 15 minutes a day. A professional musician might practice 2 to 6 HOURS of music a day, and be in rehearsal situations playing with other musicians for several hours more on top of that. I generally practice about two hours per day.

Can I skip a few days and then practice for a couple hours the day before a lesson?

No, playing a musical instrument well is an act of muscular coordination that has to be learned gradually over time. Cramming for a lesson the day before is possibly better than no practicing at all, but it is a poor substitute for shorter practice sessions every day. This is especially true for clarinet students, as clarinet playing requires an enormous amount of precision from the lip muscles. For someone’s lips to have the best muscle tone, practicing has to be frequent but not damaging.  Practicing for hours the day before a lesson after a week of no practicing could even result in injury!

How quickly should I be learning music, or How do I measure my progress as a musician?

There is no good measure of how quickly a person should become a better musician, sadly. You can set goals to measure a student’s progress in general, but the rate at which a student achieves these goals varies. How quickly someone learns to play an instrument can be a factor of age, what they already know about music, their home life, the mysterious quality of “talent,” and any number of other things.

If a student is practicing at least 15 minutes a day, they are probably progressing at the rate they should be. To help things along for those that need more concrete terms of growth, goals can be written out in a notebook and checked off as they are achieved. If they aren’t being achieved at a pace that satisfies a student, then it is a sign that the student might consider either longer practice sessions or more frequent short practice sessions, such as practicing 15 minutes in the morning, 15 more just before dinner, and 15 more just before bedtime.

Have some other questions?  Feel free to contact me.