Helping young children practise: a guide for ages 4 to 7

Children aged four to seven can learn a great deal on an instrument such as piano, guitar or violin, but they practise very differently from older children. They need short bursts, plenty of play and a grown up nearby.

Why your role matters so much now

In a 1996 study, Davidson, Howe, Moore and Sloboda interviewed 257 children who had learned an instrument, and their parents. The most successful young players had parents who were highly involved in lessons and practice in the earliest stages. Parents of children who gave up were, on average, less interested in music themselves, and their own involvement with music did not change as their child learned.

You do not need to play an instrument yourself. Andrea Creech's 2010 study of 337 parent, pupil and teacher groups in violin lessons at the UCL Institute of Education found that children's enjoyment and motivation were linked to parents who kept a structured practice routine at home, agreed practice within the teacher's guidance, and were an engaged audience.

Keep sessions very short

There is no research rule for how long a four year old should practise. Many teachers suggest starting with about five to ten minutes and stopping while your child is still enjoying it. In a blog post for Finchcocks, a piano course centre in Kent, Suzannah Rose writes that "consistency matters more than length" and that ten minutes can be enough on some days. A few minutes most days is far more useful than one long session at the weekend.

Build a routine

• Choose the same time each day and link it to something that already happens, such as after a snack or before bath time.
• Leave the instrument out and ready, with the music open.
• Follow the same simple shape: a warm up, one small new task, then a favourite piece.
• Finish with something your child plays well, so practice ends on a success.

Enid Wood, a Suzuki teacher whose advice is shared by the University of Northern Iowa, suggests planning the week's practice on the way home from the lesson and always finishing with something your child can play beautifully.

Turn practice into games

Young children practise best when it feels like play. Ideas used by many teachers include:

• a concert for teddies or toys lined up on the sofa
• a lucky dip: write small tasks on slips of paper and let your child pull one from a hat
• rolling a dice to choose how many times to play a tricky bar
• swapping roles, so your child is the teacher and shows you how it goes
• making up words or a story for a tune
• moving a button from one side of the music stand to the other for each good repetition

Sit beside them

At this age most children cannot practise alone. Sitting next to them helps them focus, and you can check the teacher's notes and remind them of the week's task. Your job is to support, not to teach. If you can, sit in on lessons and jot down notes.

Keep instructions short. Wood recommends teaching mostly without words: a gentle touch on the finger that needs attention often works better than an explanation. Offer small choices too, such as which piece to play first. Creech found it helps to ask children how involved they want you to be.

Celebrate the small things

A 1960s Suzuki newsletter from the Eastman School of Music urged parents to praise any accomplishment, "no matter how trivial or insignificant it may seem". Make the praise specific and about effort: "You kept your fingers curved all the way through." Research by Mueller and Dweck found that praising children for intelligence led to less persistence after setbacks than praising effort. Their studies involved children of about ten, not musicians, so treat this as a sensible guide rather than proof for this age.

Stickers on a chart suit many young children, and Music-Ready's free weekly chart for ages 4 to 7 on the free printables page is made for this. A family concert at the weekend gives them something to aim for.

On hard days

Some days nothing works. Keep it to a minute or two, play one favourite, and stop on a good note. If practice regularly ends in tears, tell the teacher.