We have learned more about how the brain works in the last decade than ever before. Even with all the new knowledge we have about how children learn, our schools have been slow to adapt accordingly.  In my time as a teacher and administrator, I have often been amused to see school leaders and academic teachers scrambling to adjust their delivery of instruction to match what music teachers have been doing all along  — engaging all children regardless of ability level and exploiting their natural curiosity.

By the time instrumental music enters school curricula around the fourth or fifth grade, most students have been divided into “haves” and “have-nots” academically — or, if you will, “smart” kids and kids who need extra help and time on task with test prepping.  By middle school, students are aware of their academic “levels” and begin to either engage fully in — or turn off and run away from — their schoolwork.

But instrumental music instruction hits a “reset button” of sorts, and levels the playing field again — everyone starts at “level zero”, and teachers and administrators are often surprised at who ends up thriving in instrumental music.  It’s not always the students they considered to be the “smart ones”.

It’s through musical instrument instruction that schools have a beautiful opportunity to share music teachers’ best practices with the academic teachers.  Great music instruction teaches habits of the mind that are recipes for success in every other academic endeavor.  Here are some of those lessons:

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Dear Parents:

As our school year winds down, I would like to congratulate you on completing the first year of your child’s instrumental music study!  It’s amazing to think that only a few months ago, your child chose an instrument that  “spoke to” them, and opened the case for the first time.  We take this time to celebrate not only the hard work of your children, but also the mindsets that they have developed through their successes and their failures throughout their musical journey thus far.

It’s a fact that the majority of people who are literate in music learn it in a school setting, and we are extremely fortunate to provide music instruction through our school curricula.   If students were not part of our school music program, there is very little chance they would seek to develop their musical skills outside the school setting — and that would be detrimental to their human growth.

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I often observe that many parents hold some age-old assumption that musical talent is God-given or inherited, but let’s be clear:  everyone possesses musical talent to some degree.  I believe the high attrition rate of students between the first and second year of musical instrument study in school music programs is partly due to parents who are unsure of how to help their child develop their talents.

Regarding these beginner students who only have one lesson per week in school, the questions remain :

How can parents cultivate their child’s talent in its early stages?

How can their child gain a lot of progress in the small amount of time school offers music instruction?

The habits created during the first two months after a child receives their instrument have a lot to do with whether or not the child will continue playing beyond the first year of study.  Parents play a huge role during this 8 week “window”, and with minimal guidance their child can be set up for a lifetime of musical enjoyment and character development.

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In the next few weeks, schools all across our nation will have assemblies for their young students in order to introduce band and orchestra instruments available for them to study.  Music shops will be coordinating visits, demos, and instrument “petting zoos”;  teachers are writing letters home in anticipation of their new young ensembles that need to hit the ground running right after summer.  Hundreds of thousands of parents are about to be introduced to a world of instrumental music education that they may know nothing about.

Meanwhile, music vendors will be receiving thousands of instruments back from families of students who have chosen not play any longer.  The children in these families may be frustrated, bored or even worse: disenchanted with music.  It’s an interesting dichotomy to these students’ younger counterparts, who can’t wait to open their instrument case for the first time soon.

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While the United States used to pride itself on the percentage of its young people who successfully passed through the higher education system, things have changed drastically over the last decade.  Now, education policymakers are focusing all their energies and monies on preparing K-12 students for “college readiness” — and the best way they can come up with a quantifiable way to assess “readiness” is…

…wait for it…

…more high stakes testing!  Testing that begins as early as second grade.

But the US has a bigger problem than limited college access; it has an issue with college completion.

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I’ve been a professional musician, a music teacher or a college music professor most of my life, and I didn’t learn how to practice efficiently until a few years ago.

Therefore, it is safe for me to conclude that there are also many teachers out there who don’t know how to effectively practice or teach how to do so properly.  This obviously trickles down to students, who then struggle to improve and don’t know why they are not getting better — and then to parents, who have no idea how to help their child.

Luckily, it is easy for anyone to craft a great practice session.  You don’t need a musical background to succeed at this.  If parents spend a minimal amount of time helping their child out in the beginning stages of their musical instruction, there is a great chance that the child will continue playing throughout their school life and reap all the amazing benefits music education has to offer.

Here’s how parents can help create a perfect practice session for their child:

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Parents often feel helpless when it comes to advocating for their school music program.  Usually this is due to lack of knowledge of the subject and not enough time in their lives to attend PTA and Board of Ed meetings. Because a large amount of students quit between their first and second year of study, there is often not the same critical mass of parents involved in the program in order to advocate properly, as well.

Meanwhile — on the “inside” of the system — school leadership is so consumed with outside accountability measures, educational fads, and high stakes tests that they quickly lose sight of aspects of education that are truly important to our kids’ growth as human beings — namely the arts.

But we the parents need to remind school leadership what is important.

You don’t need to be a “helicopter parent” who attends every single PTA and Board of Ed meeting in order to help ensure music programs thrive in your schools.  All it takes is 5 to 10 minutes a day of being mindful of what children need to be great at a musical instrument — and therefore at life — for parents to realize how much collective power they really have.

Here are four ways parents can help keep music education thriving:

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Hopefully your child will begin a musical instrument through their school music program.  If so, when they bring home their instrument for the first time, it is more than just an exciting day…

...It is an opportunity...

…Perhaps one of the greatest opportunities in your child’s life thus far.

If you are like me, you want your kid(s) to complete their K-12 education with far more than factual knowledge and an ability to score well on tests.  You don’t believe that your child’s success in life depends primarily on cognitive skills — the type of intelligence that is measured on IQ tests and such.  You don’t believe that school should be primarily focused on stuffing kids’ brains with as much factual knowledge as possible, but instead is focused on growing skills and mindsets that will last a lifetime.  Psychological traits that include

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Many parents find small ways to help their children with school homework each day.  They also may know the basics of how to help their children with things like swinging a baseball bat, throwing a football or swimming.  But when it comes time to playing a musical instrument, many students quit too early because their parents have no idea how to help even the slightest bit.  Whether your child has just come home with their instrument for the first time or they have been playing for a while, there are a few things you can do right now in order to ensure your child continues their successful study of music for years to come.

Here are seven things you can do today to help your child continue to succeed in music:

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On any given day, one can scroll down Facebook and see inspiring memes and articles about the benefits of music education.  Articles sprout up in major newspapers about the benefits of a STEAM education (Science, Technology, English, ARTS, Math) vs. STEM.   But all said and done, and much like any other subject, music education only has the magical benefits we all read about when it is taught masterfully.  And most parents don’t know if it is taught well or not, especially if they do not have any musical background.  This is why I recently wrote a post about what to expect from music teachers, and it’s why I am passionate about writing this blog.

Just because someone has chosen to become a music teacher and is mediocrely teaching the subject in a room in the back of a school does not mean they are doing a huge service to our society.  Becoming a music teacher is a huge responsibility that extends far beyond the classroom.  If they are to be successful, music teachers sign up to do many things whether they know it or not, including:

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