Success on the Musical Instrument
Success on a musical instrument can be defined in many different ways. For our purposes we will define it as continually making good progress on the instrument. The "good progress" can be affected by the physiological ability of the student and by the degree of innate musical talent. Far more important than either of these in the early stages is a regular and focused practice regimen and selecting an instrument that they are physically able to play.
In the early stages I suggest that the student focus on creating a regular schedule of practice consisting of 5-7 days per week. I do not stress the amount of time (I suggest 15 min.) until they have established the "habit" of getting the instrument out regularly. The students that establish this regimen usually do better initially than students identified has having more music talent or aptitude. In short, too much emphasis is usually placed on talent and not enough on good practice.
The Difference Between Play and Practice
Very often students will confuse the terms play and practice. I define the term "playing" as playing through the music one or several times over. "Practice" on the other hand has a focus. This focus includes:
1. Playing the established warm up (long tones, scales etc.)
2. playing the music
3. identifying the problem spots
4. making exercises out of those problem spots
5. work from a slow tempo to the required tempo
6. working out the music from small pieces to larger
7. playing the piece from beginning to end as a wrap up
(this will also facilitate the endurance of the performer)
8. Using your "second brain" (the pencil) throughout this process
The Teacher's Role
The teacher and parents play an important role in this process by providing the support to the student's efforts and guiding them in the right direction (such as maintaining the correct practice regimen). In my opinion teachers should be enabling the student to teach themselves. The student should know where to find any fingerings they don't remember, where to find the rhythmic counting syllables they need, and how to read the music inclusively (not just the notes). The teacher should also provide a reasonably good tone for them to imitate (or find someone that can). It is my firm belief that teachers should model playing behaviors for their students. Nothing teaches as well as an aural rendition. A pitfall that needs to be avoided here is the tendency to over teach or to rely too heavily on rote teaching. At least 60% of the learning by the student needs to be self discovery through practice. Over teaching can create a dependent student that is unwilling to learn a single note or rhythm without first getting help from the teacher.