Finding out your child wants to learn to play a musical instrument can be exciting and uplifting. However, that excitement can soon turn to disappointment if your child experiences difficulty learning to play. This can be in the form of learning difficulties, such as listening, attention to detail, memory, and behavioral difficulties, such as skipping musical material or dropping a lyre.
Music lessons are a great way for younger kids to learn the basics of music. From how to count beats and find the right chords to how to practice, music lessons can help them develop skills that will help them throughout their lives. But, like any other learning activity, music lessons that will help you to learn an instrument come with their own set of challenges. Knowing what to expect in advance can help children and their parents navigate those challenges.
Here are six key things that can go wrong when your child plays a musical instrument for the first time.
Broken instrument
Musical instruments are expensive. The options can range from cheap to expensive. So, sometimes parents take matters into their own hands. They pick a cheap instrument at the local music store and give it to their child. Sure, it may be cheap, but it won’t last. Like any instrument, a child’s instrument needs to be cared for properly. And if your child decides to pursue learning to play, they must have the responsibility of ensuring that they take great care of it. As they get older and more talented and as their instruments get more expensive, it may be a good idea to invest in Custom Flight Cases by Packhorse or a similar instrument case company to ensure their instruments stay protected, especially if they’ve started to play in an orchestra where their instruments could easily get bashed and broken.
Not picking the right instrument
When it comes to picking out musical instruments for kids, the first thing a parent should consider is their child’s interests. For instance, a child who plays an instrument may enjoy having their own bass or guitar, while a child who plays in a group may want their own ukulele or recorder. But regardless of what your child’s preferences are, there are a few things that can go wrong with first-time instrument use, and parents need to be prepared for them to happen.
Less confidence
While taking piano lessons, for example, can be a lot of fun, it’s certainly not a prerequisite to becoming a musician. Some kids decide to start playing an instrument, be it piano, guitar, violin, or other instruments, because they like it.
If you’re dreaming of playing an instrument, but your confidence isn’t as high as you would like it to be, you may not know that having confidence in learning to play an instrument is more important than being able to play an instrument. Music is a rich expressive art, and that expression comes as a result of self and musical confidence. Self-confidence can come from a lot of different places, and regardless of where it comes from, you need to find it if you want to play the instrument to the best of your ability.
You or your child have unrealistic expectations
Practice makes perfect, right? Unfortunately, we don’t get to practice in real life, so there’s always the chance of making beginner mistakes that sound pretty bad. (The first time you cut your finger on a piano key, for example.) It’s easy to get carried away with enthusiasm, so setting your expectations too high is easy. But don’t despair; you’re far from alone if you make mistakes. Making music is a learning process, and the best way to learn is by practicing, practicing, practicing.
Fear of failure
The fear of failure is one thing that can go wrong when learning an instrument. People who love music often play an instrument well, so it’s easy to feel confident about your musical ability. But those who struggle with an instrument often feel like they will never be able to play well.
Learning an instrument can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life, but it can also be extremely challenging. When someone takes up a new hobby, experts often tell them to set goals for themselves, such as learning to play a piece in a few weeks or months. But if this isn’t achievable, don’t feel like you have failed, as making mistakes is all part of the learning process. You will never be able to play the instrument as best as you can if you don’t overcome hurdles along the way.
Having a terrible mentor
A mentor is someone who has life experience and knowledge that you just don’t have. While some people have brilliant mentors, not everybody ends up with a mentor that is a good match for them. This could be bad for a lot of reasons, including the fact that your mentor may not actually be able to teach you anything, and they may not even be a good person to learn from. – (This is why it is important that students know they CAN change mentors, if necessary.)
So, these are all the things that you need to think about when letting your child play an instrument for the first time. When you consider these, you can be sure that you are prepared for anything should it happen.
