Essential Tools and Tips to Keep Students Practicing Over the Summer

It’s crucial to continue encouraging your students to hone their musical skills while they’re on summer vacation. Not only can music relieve stress, but practicing consistently can combat the ‘summer slump’ when it comes to music education.

However, it’s a fact that most students hardly play their instruments during the summer. The loss in momentum can lead to a loss in progress, which may discourage students from moving further in the music program. As a music educator, it’s your task to find activities and tools that keep students engaged in practice throughout the long break.

What Is Summer Learning Loss?

Summer is an important season for music students, as they have more time to focus on improving their skills and challenging themselves. Compared to taking music lessons during a busy school year, there are fewer pressures when learning music during the summer.

Realistically, however, it’s unlikely that students would pick up their instruments during this free time. And that makes them susceptible to summer learning loss , a condition where students “lose” what they have learned due to lack of practice. Music has unique physical and intellectual demands; without a consistent practice schedule, it’s easy for muscle memory and music reading ability to deteriorate with inactivity. It could take months for a student to get back to their playing level before the break, which could eventually lead them to quitting.

So how can you keep your music students motivated to play during the summer, when all they want to do is to take a break? Here are a few ideas to keep them playing and let them have fun in the process:

1. Reinforce your reminders

You’ve ended the school year on a positive note with fun, end-of-year activities . Now comes the big challenge of the season: How do you get your students to practice during summer? The first step is to remind them that not practicing is not an option.

Students and parents should know about summer learning loss so they can work with you to retain their hard-earned skills. The expectation that students must practice during the summer should be repeated and reinforced throughout the year; they’re more likely to practice over the break if they’re aware of these expectations. You can reinforce the reminders through classroom materials or communicate them to parents directly.

2. Make them responsible for their instruments

Aside from putting your students in charge of holding onto their musical knowledge, they should be responsible for their instruments as well. Let them know that if they don’t play their instruments for a long period of time, the instruments won’t work anymore.

Instruments suffer when they are untouched and unplayed. The moving parts dry out and get stuck in place, while the oils and lubricants thicken and congeal. Ask your students to keep their instrument in a place where they can see it, so they will be reminded to use it and practice with it regularly. It’s also smart to provide them with maintenance guides so they can keep their instruments in pristine working condition.

3. Encourage them to make it fun

In regular summer months, practice sessions may be interrupted when students travel. Since the pandemic, however, most students have been stuck at home more often, so they may have the time to play their instrument, even if it’s just for 20 minutes a day.

But there’s no rule that music should be locked up at home, especially on clear and warm days. If the weather is nice and they can observe social distancing protocols, suggest practicing outdoors for a change of scenery. If they have friends who also play musical instruments, practicing together is much better than doing it alone. Playing together through duets or group performances can help gamify practice and improve listening skills as well.

4. Set realistic goals for them

Realistic goals are an important tool when students are learning to play music, but they can be even more valuable during the summer. Before sending them on their break, establish specific goals and a consistent practice routine for them. Provide unique checklists on exercises, scales, sight-reading drills, and pieces they should try to achieve for the summer.

This time can also be an opportunity to let your students set goals for themselves. Formal music classes can be restrictive, but summer is the perfect time for a young musician to learn music they want to learn. Maybe learning how to play their favorite pop song by ear is the challenging and exciting task they want to commit themselves to—and can keep their skills from getting rusty.

It would help to ask parents for their cooperation. Positive reinforcement through a reward system (like pizza for dinner or a trip to get ice cream) can further push students to reach weekly goals.

5. Recommend tools to help them learn

There are plenty of tools that can help students practice over the summer. For instance, they can practice by recording songs instead. This will allow them to not only hear themselves play and pick up any mistakes, but also allow them to send off their recordings to their tutors. All they need is a quiet room and a good microphone for instruments or vocals . A good microphone will allow them to capture the full sound of their instrument or voice compared to a cell phone. With a program like SmartMusic , students can play directly into their device and receive immediate feedback on their performances. The web-based app includes practice tools like a metronome (with tempo adjustment), looping, a tuner, and more. By finding new tools to help your students to practice away from school, you will be able to help keep up their motivation and ability.

6. Recommend new resources

Young students tend to get excited by new things, so you should try to stimulate them with a brand-new challenge. It's boring to rehearse the same pieces over and over again, but there are accessible ways to mix things up. Let your students try a number of available at-home resources for music education ; book recommendations, sheet music, websites, or apps can greatly help students experiment with their sound and grow as independent musicians.

For more ideas and resources for music education, be sure to explore alfred.com today!