School is back in session! With all of the excitement and newness of school starting, and all of the uncertainty that comes with this year in particular, it could be easy for your student to get overwhelmed. Now, more than ever, it is important to keep creative activities at the forefront of their schedule.
Creative outlets, such as music, serve as the perfect escape and stress reliever. As we get older, we realize this and learn to prioritize these activities into our lives. However for young adults and kids, a parent's encouragement to stay creative and indulge their creative outlets is extremely important! Here are a few ways you can encourage your student to stay creative:
Make time for practicing - especially the songs they really like!
Some days you don't feel like practicing; but it is always fun to play the songs you like to play - even if you've played it 50 times. The familiarity of the piece, and the ease of playing it, is a breath of fresh air. Ask your student to play that song you haven't heard in a while, or maybe even to put on a concert of their top 5 favorite "hits". Some seasons as a musician are meant for major growth, and some seasons are meant to enjoy the fruit of your labors and prepare for the next season of growth coming up.
2. Write or compose a song!
We've used this in lessons before - it's a great way to shake off the day and get out of your own head! Plus, it's incredibly creative and can be accomplished in 5 minutes for a simple melody! One of the best feelings is getting lost in a creative space where anything can be right and you get to call the shots. This can be very liberating for a child who has been at school all day learning and abiding by rules. Encourage your musician to make a song up... maybe with words, maybe just instrumental like a soundtrack to a scene. Then give it a title and voila!
3. Listen to something or someone new!
Listening is such an integral part to being musician - it's not just playing and reading music! I would not be the pianist that I am today if I hadn't listened to Billy Joel as a young adult. We all have musicians and songwriters and artists who have shaped us as people; as a musician, the music we listen to shapes how we hear things! Our ears become accustomed to different styles and sounds, and eventually we begin hearing beyond just the surface of a song. We hear the production elements, the piano part, the chord changes - the more we know, the deeper we hear into the music. Find a new artist for your student to listen to and absorb. Maybe make it a theme - "September is classical music month", and explore Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Elgar. The options are endless!!
4. Attend a concert!
The first thing I do when I feel like I've hit a creative block or lost the excitement for music is go see a concert or production of some sort. It reignites my passion for music and inspires my creativity! I want to go home and play and create and be better than I was the day before. And as a young person, these concerts shaped so much of who I am now and what I do for my career! Plus these events create memories that can't be replicated.
Speaking of, our studio is incorporating "field trips" to live music events! This is the perfect opportunity to create memories and spark some major creativity and appreciation in your young musician! Please join us when these events get added to our calendar - I can assure you that it will be something your student remembers for many years.
Happy Playing!
Andrea