Partners Make Practice Fun!
We believe music lessons benefit students from a very young age and offer lessons from age 3. Our faculty welcome parents in lessons and will encourage them as practice partners through age 9 for most children. (In most cases, siblings are also welcome as long as they can listen without distracting the student.) This means parents will observe lessons, perhaps taking notes and definitely helping the child to remember which things to work on during home practice each week. The practice partner can be any parent or adult who can be there to help with practicing.
Practicing is A Great Habit to Have!
In the early months of study, students should focus on establishing consistent practice habits. In the first 15-week term of lessons, 15-20 minutes every day is a good goal for younger kids. Most teachers ask students to practice for a time equivalent to their lesson length once they have set up a daily habit. So a youngster taking 30-minute private lessons will commit to 30 minutes every day at home reviewing what the teacher has given them in the lesson. This time can be broken into two shorter sessions.
"Only practice on the days that you eat!" ~ Shinichi Suzuki
Groups Strengthen a Student's Musical Roots!
Group lessons are in our experience the simplest way to plant a love of music in a child. Children learn from and are inspired by watching their peers. Music is an expressive art, giving children a vehicle for their own creative spark. Our groups focus on fun, while maintaining the good posture & techniques taught in private lessons.
Musicians who play in groups learn more, practice more, and are more likely to keep playing. To encourage our students to join in a group lesson, we do not add any fees to our tuition. In other words, if your child is enrolled with us for private lessons, they can choose any 30-minute group free of charge! Additional groups (including theory classes!) are just $50 for RCMA community members.
Local teachers often send students to our groups. For those students taking lessons with a non-RCMA private instructor, groups are just $150 for each ten-week course. Please note that all students enrolling in our group lessons must be taking private lessons with a local instructor.
