Anonymous wrote:If you want them to be good then they should practice 1 hour per day.

Oh, I had you as a mom. I was good at music. A natural. Took lessons, won awards at statewide competitions, played in honor groups, got paid to teach music lessons to grade school kids when I was in middle and high school. Every time I walked into the room as a kid, my mother would look at me, frown, sigh, and say: Have you practiced your music today? I haven't heard you practice your music today. Don't be lazy, go practice. I want to hear you playing your instrument, since we're paying for lessons. For an hour. So I would, but she would say I should keep playing. Why play for one hour when you can practice for 90? Every single time I walked into a room where she was in our house, she would say: Have you practiced your music today? It got to the point where I would actively avoid going into the room if she was in there, because I knew she would nag me about it. She never asked about my school day, or my classes, only if I have practiced my music. Then I was never good enough for her when I won. I would walk up to her after a performance and she would say how she heard me make one little mistake while I was playing on stage, I should have practiced more. She wanted me to become a professional musician on that instrument.

I don't play anymore.

Anonymous wrote:Looking for some perspective here. DD is 9 and plays a string instrument. If you pay for weekly lessons, how much time is each lesson? Does that correspond to how much your child should practice? For example 30 minute lesson per week = 30 minutes of daily practice?

This is exactly what our piano teacher told us. If you have a 30 minute lesson, you should practice for that amount of time. We made our kids practice every day except their lesson day and Sunday.

My child is younger (7) and has ADHD and a Specific Learning Disability, but their teacher just gives them specific instructions about what to practice that is reasonable for him. He's doing Suzuki violin, so this week it was:

bow circles 3x
Lightly row part 1 x 3
Lightly row part 3 x 3
Pick 2 different twinkle variations (different ones each night)

TBH, there are many days that he can't even do this, but he feels proud of himself for what he's already learned, and it's a great skill to have. For him, when we know he's really not feeling "feeling it" or there's a natural break from school/lessons...he often comes back so refreshed and can pull everything right from his head and those are the moments he really makes progress. Whatever you do, make sure they enjoy it and feel proud of themselves.

Anonymous wrote:We pay $90/one hour. Former teacher $70/one hour. Teacher before that I think $25/30 minutes.

Sorry, I failed to see "time" in "how much time" but daily practice is recommended. The current teacher doesn't really say how much, but the others said 15 minutes/day. My kid practices much more than 15*7 minutes a week but they're not a beginner.

We pay $90/one hour. Former teacher $70/one hour. Teacher before that I think $25/30 minutes.