5 Golden Rules for Encouraging Kids to Learn Violin

Let’s be perfectly honest here – kids aren’t typically known for their patience and discipline, which makes the prospect of encouraging them to stick with violin lessons a daunting one.

However, there are some tried and true methods to getting little ones to not only regularly attend lessons, but to enjoy regularly attending them too.To boot, there’s a lot to gain – it has long been established through study after study that those who learn to play an instrument at a young age tend to do significantly better on standardized tests and go on to have a higher IQ.

So, how best to encourage them to stick with the violin lessons and reap the rewards?

Here’s five great ways to set them on the right path.

1. The Right Teacher is Vital

This cannot be understated enough: a good violin teacher who is personable and genuinely cares about your child’s progress is worth their weight in gold.

Moreover, it’s the ability to know how to get the very best out of a young student on an individual level that separates a good violin teacher from a great one.

2. The Right Music Also Helps

Despite how much we want to hear it, it’s a fact of life that no kid wants to learn how to play Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Forcing them to endlessly recite and memorize music that they neither know nor care about is a quick path to a loss of interest, so make sure they’re mentally stimulated and have input into the songs they’re learning… after all, learning the violin should be fun and it will be more rewarding for the child when they master a piece that they wanted to learn in the first place.

3. Encouraging, Not Overbearing

As your child progresses with their violin lessons, you’ll often find that they’re rightfully proud of their achievements and are keen to show off. Other times, they’ll show little to no interest in practicing.

Take the rough with the smooth. Celebrate all their great progress with them, but at the same time, don’t demand it – you’ll only breed resentment.

4. Ask Questions

Kids love showing off their new found knowledge, so take an active interest in what they learned in each lesson and ask questions about their instrument and what they’re working on. It can also help to ask questions about their frustrations and help them figure out mental blocks together as they come up against walls, too.

5. They’ll Perform Publicly When They’re Ready

A good violin teacher will never force an unconfident child to perform outside of their comfort zone, and neither should a parent (and that includes ogling a shy kid to show grandma that thing they were playing flawlessly on their own.)

As we all know, children will not perform if they don’t want to. But rest assured that this confidence will come in time, especially if all of the above tips are put into practice. Good luck, and keep it fun!