You're spending considerable time and money on private music lessons but your child hates to practice at home.  How can I motivate my child to practice and improve their skill? Before establishing strategies for creating a practice routine, we should understand why your child isn't practicing their instrument.  Here are some of the things that might be getting in the way.

1. Lack of Immediate Reward
The music progress is slow and incremental. Many young students are used to quick rewards (like in games or social media) and get discouraged when improvement isn’t instantly noticeable. With music, they listen to popular music and want to play like that immediately and when they don’t, they feel like a failure.

2. Boredom with Repetition
Practice often involves repeating the same passages, scales, or exercises. This can feel tedious or uninspiring.

3. Unclear Goals If students don’t fully understand what they should be practicing—or why—they can feel lost or aimless. Telling them to “play this piece for 20 minutes” instruction lacks the clarity or purpose that keeps them engaged.

4. Feeling Overwhelmed Some pieces or exercises may feel too difficult or out of reach, leading to frustration and avoidance. If progress feels impossible, they may shut down rather than try.

5. Competing Interests Sports, video games, homework, and social media often compete for a student’s time and attention. Practicing an instrument may seem like the less fun or lower-priority activity.

6. Lack of Routine Young students often lack the habit-forming skills needed to incorporate daily practice into their schedules without guidance or reminders from adults.

7. Parental Pressure or Lack of Support Overbearing parental expectations can make practice feel like a chore or punishment. If parents are uninvolved or uninterested, the child may not feel motivated to practice at all.

8. Fear of Failure or Judgment If a student feels they aren’t “good enough,” they may avoid practicing to escape feelings of inadequacy—or to avoid disappointing their teacher.

9. Poor Practice Environment Noisy, distracting, or uncomfortable practice spaces can make focused work unpleasant and difficult. A lack of a designated practice area can discourage regular practice.

10. Not Enough Fun or Creativity Many young learners want to play music they enjoy or create their own sounds—but traditional practice routines often neglect this need. Without moments of creativity or playfulness, practice can feel like pure work and no fun.

Not every student will face all the barriers mentioned and trying to solve several at once can create an overwhelming task for you and your child. So, observing and listening to verbal and non-verbal cues for the greatest challenges and making small incremental improvements in practice activities is a simple and practical approach. We don’t expect your child to play like a virtuoso (or a rock star) overnight, so don’t expect to solve all your practicing frustrations with one change or a short pep-talk. It’s a process!

Here's what you can do…

Think about that lack of immediate reward that might be feeding frustrations. Game developers have figured this out. Early screens or challenges are purposefully easier to complete and at the end of every challenge, the player get’s a “Good Job” message from the game. We’ve all heard how dopamine stimulates good feelings and satisfaction in the brain; simple and frequent praise of small improvements can go a long way in letting your child know that you’re listening and that you think they are improving!

We all know the phrase “practice makes perfect”, yet repetition can be really, really boring. Playing scales or rudiments don’t make sense to the young musician. By design, scales and exercises help our brain and fingers coordinate with muscle memory in the same way that warmups and drills work for athletes or dancers. These sounds or patterns are present in songs, so playing scales creates familiarity in both sound and finger movements ultimately making it easier to play the instrument. Will your eight-year-old understand that? No, but they do see the baseball team out on the field stretching or running drills before every game. Help them understand this repetition gets them ready for the big performance! It's also important to practice at a speed or tempo that ensures success. Remember those video games and how early levels are easier? It’s the same thing with mastering scales and exercises. Try setting a slow tempo with the help of a metronome. Find the speed where your child can play the scale without mistakes. This might require breaking the scale or exercise into smaller parts that they can play successfully at a slow tempo. Then just like the video game, increase the speed gradually and establish benchmarks or goals for where they want to be. A poorly executed exercise played fast is never a replacement for a well played piece at half-tempo.

There’s a big difference between going to school every day and having a weekly music lesson. Classroom teachers can monitor and test for comprehension and repeat the lesson the next day if needed. Music students and teachers don’t see each other for a week or sometimes longer, so creating goals and clear expectations for practice will demystify the practice routine. This could mean breaking the practices into smaller activities, like Day 1: only practice scales, Day 2: practice a set passage or number of measures within a song, Day 3: Practice the most difficult part of the song. Create bite-size goals to give your student a sense of accomplishment and help keep the student from being overwhelmed by a longer or more difficult piece of music.

Understanding all the competing barriers to playing and practicing music is important. Practicing often comes last when finding time for schoolwork, sports, or playing with friends. Creating a schedule or daily routine can establish an even playing field for practice and make sure that its not left for the end when your child is exhausted from everything else in the day. For younger students, this could mean playing a “mini concert” for mom and dad while dinner is being prepared. Taking just a short break to listen to today’s practice piece creates a routine and lets your child know that you care and have expectations for them to succeed. With older students, ask them to record part of their practice and text it to you. Better yet, send it to their teacher for a mid-week check in. Even if we listen to the piece while driving, its important to comment back to your child and show interest.

Did you know that the MMS (My Music Staff) portal allows you to upload video of a practice routine? Ask your teacher or the education team for help accessing student portal features.

Another challenge for your child can be finding a space that is conducive to practice without distractions from family, television, social media or siblings. Realistically, most people don’t all have the space for a dedicated music room and expecting the student to stay focused in their bedroom can invite other distractions like games, phones, and social media. Depending on the instrument, you might have other challenges for example, when a piano is part of the family living space. Finding that perfect practice space is never easy. You may need to have siblings involved in other activities like schoolwork or chores while your budding virtuoso masters their skills. Minimally, turning off other electronics allows the student to focus. In good weather, find a quiet porch or place in the yard and when all else fails headphones are a great way to isolate sounds in or out!

Finally, talk with your teacher. Ask them for practice expectations and suggestions. Then give the teacher feedback on how practice is going.

Teachers LOVE communication and are here to help and truly want your child to succeed!