Most of our students are with us for a long time. Many of our students practice, and many practice a lot and work really hard! Of course some practice less, some maybe even not at all. There are many music students that don’t practice a whole lot or don’t apply themselves the way that their parents might like to see or that we might like to see. That’s not uncommon. And that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be in music lessons. We hear all the time from parents whose kids don’t practice the way they’d like things like, “he just doesn’t apply himself.” Or “we just wish he would spend more time practicing. He doesn’t sit down at the instrument the way he should.” 

We get that. And we’d love to see them do it more too! But it’s so important to understand that a student who isn’t practicing regularly, a student that isn’t investing the time you want into their music or their instrument, is not necessarily a student that’s not learning and not growing. If they’re showing up on a weekly basis and they have a great teacher (and we can assure you of that part), they are learning. 

So many of us probably share similar stories of not applying ourselves the way we should have when we were young. I’m the director and I can tell you that I didn’t apply myself the way I should until probably around middle to late high school. I can also tell you that going to one of the number one colleges for music in the world, I worked hard and I practiced in college, sometimes hours a day! But there’s only so much you can do to apply yourself in some situations. I found myself after graduating going, “man, why didn’t I do this or work on this specific thing when I was in college?” I did everything I thought I could do while it was in college. Sure I could have applied myself a little bit more, sure I could have practiced a little bit more, but I was working my tail off. And it is kind of like drinking from a firehose when you study music—there is so much to learn, it is nearly impossible to apply every single thing right away. Many of those concepts I learned in college took me several years after college to unpack, but, I have learned them and eventually learned to apply them well.

Life is a journey. It’s about staying the course. It is 1000% worth it.