September brings many of us back to a more regular music lesson and practice routine. It’s also a great time to think about musical goals for the upcoming school year.
Not everyone has clear goals for theirs or their children’s music education and that’s ok, but setting some specific goals in agreement with the teacher greatly increases student success. A very common goal is just a general goal of “playing the piano”, or other instrument. This is a great start but it can mean very different things to different people. Talking with the teacher to set a more specific goal will greatly help them develop a plan for the lessons to achieve that goal.
Some specific goals could be:
- Learning a particular song, or technique
- Gaining the skills needed to play or sing in a band
- Learning to compose songs
- Playing around a campfire
- Passing a certain level of RCM exam
- Competing at a festival
- Memorizing a few songs to perform for family and friends
We also encourage everyone to think about the long-term, big picture goal. At The Piano Studio, our goal for our students is that they will develop a lifelong love for making music and all of the necessary skills and techniques to express it. We want our students to be playing their instrument or singing 20, 30, 40, and 50 years from now, long after they have stopped taking lessons.
Learning to play an instrument or develop proper singing technique takes a lot of hard work, practice, and discipline. The best way to develop discipline is by setting some highly motivating goals for the student. Students who are excited about the goal will usually find the discipline needed to reach it. And of course they will need lots of encouragement and support along the way.
So we encourage you to speak to your teacher this week and set a motivating goal for this school year!
