Encouraging Summer Practice for Instrumental Students

This article was adapted from "How to Keep Your Instrumental Students Motivated This Summer," by Scott Watson.

As we reach the end of the school year, and after several months of virtual instruction, one common concern for instrumental music teachers centers on encouraging students to keep playing throughout the summer. Getting kids to practice any time of year is tough enough (it’s no wonder Wynton Marsalis’ famous discourse on the topic is entitled, “Tackling the Monster” ), but motivating summer practice can require new thinking. Below are strategies—some tried-and-true, others somewhat new—that might make a difference this summer with students at all levels.

Structured Playing Opportunities

Summer is a great time for the following playing opportunities, though each requires some scheduling effort and a specific commitment of time.

• Virtual Private Lessons. This is a no-brainer; do whatever you can to encourage it. Most kids stop playing either because they are frustrated, or are bored and need more of a challenge. Private study addresses both, and this is a great time to send an email to parents vaunting the benefits of private study. Maintain a listing of recommended instrument teachers in your area; using Google Docs makes it easy to share an up-to-date list. I recommend you make personal contact (phone call) with the parents of students you strongly feel would benefit from summer lessons. If you’re sharing that a student needs lessons to keep from falling dangerously behind, or to unlock musical potential that might lead to them qualifying for district (or regional or state) events, I believe parents need to hear your voice. With younger students, especially if you sense money might be a concern, perhaps the right high school student (strong player with a gracious personality) can serve as a less costly mentor. It’ll be good for both of them.
• Summer Virtual Hangouts. Under normal circumstances, many middle and high schools hold weekly or monthly summer music rehearsals to keep students engaged. While we’re social distancing and virtual rehearsals are not as realistic, consider doing something special during each meeting to keep students coming back. For instance, a guest soloist (i.e. a local university teacher, alumnus playing professionally, etc.) could perform a selection or two followed by a brief Q & A session, or parents (and/or student leaders) could organize a “make-your-own-sundae” party. Attendance can be less rigid than during the year.

Independent Playing Opportunities

The following are suggestions for summer musical engagement that tap into students’ intrinsic motivation and don’t require a specific time commitment.

• Fun, Compelling Music. Players of all levels enjoy working on familiar tunes, movie themes, pop/rock songs, and other novelties. I recommend sending out a list of suggested collections (and where to order them) appropriate for the level you teach. Many solo collections of all sorts—fun, pop, classical, and sacred—come with accompaniment tracks (CDs or online) or are available in SmartMusic . Create a Google Doc or Bracket Challenge to share with students/parents that lists the solos—books and individual pieces, by category (i.e. fun, classical, sacred, etc.)—that you recommend for each instrument at the level you teach. Include links for ordering these resources online, plus contact info for any good brick-and-mortar sheet music retailer in your area.
  • Play-along books are great motivating tools. They often contain content from some of the latest songs by current artists and themes from current TV shows and popular movies. If included, the play-along accompaniment tracks give the student a sense of playing with a band, or sometimes a full orchestra depending on the genre of music. Alfred Music has created a vast library of play-along books in various music categories including pop, classic rock, movie, video game, traditional hymns, Christian rock, holiday, classical themes, and jazz. A wide variety of play-alongs are also available in SmartMusic.
• Fun, Free Music Tech. There are some wonderful, free music apps that are sure to capture student’s attention and/or unlock their creativity. Here are three great apps sure to musically engage many of your students who use them.
  • SmartMusic’s Compose Tool is part of the SmartMusic premium subscription package, and empowers users to create new music from scratch. Several templates are available to help get started, and all creations play back with high-quality Garritan sounds. Notes can be entered using a mouse, computer keyboard, an on-screen keyboard, or using an external MIDI keyboard. Additionally, students can learn about the composition process with SmartMusic’s free Compose YOURSELF! series.
  • Soundtrap is a leading cloud-based digital audio workstation, or DAW (think GarageBand online). Students can record and edit audio and MIDI (assigned to a decent collection of synth sounds), add effects (i.e. reverb, EQ, etc.), create a groove using loops, and more. Because of Soundtrap’s intuitive interface, kids will be creating “sick beats” in no time. If you want your students to do something more directly connected to playing their instrument, ask them to create a track to accompany a scale or warm-up exercise you do routinely. They can create their accompaniment using several tracks of layered loops, then record the scale or warm-up exercise in an audio track with their instrument.

Wrap Up

Encourage your students to be in touch with each other over the summer to work on the fun solos you recommend in a [virtual] group. Encouraging students to actually play StaffWars2 in remote lessons/sectionals/FaceTime is better than only sending an email to parents with a link to download it. And I guarantee if you introduce/demonstrate Soundtrap to your students, many will jump in that very day inspired to create their own music with it!