Musical Practice: Mother and child interactions during the first year of learning an instrument

Mother and child interviews were analysed for a group of 157 beginning instrumentalists aged 7-9 during the first year of their learning. The purpose was to study interactions in terms of the quantity and content of the children's practice, the mother's support and supervision of home practice, the relationship of previous exposure to learning an instrument and consistency of practice, and differences in expectations and practice habits of children who ceased instruction compared to those who continued learning. The children's mothers were able to make accurate assessments of how much support they would need to provide for their child even before instruction began. Mothers who reported that they were worried about practice before their child commenced lessons were more likely to have children who ceased instruction. Children who ceased learning typically had unrealistically high expectations about how much practice they would undertake even before commencing lessons. After they started, and the reality of learning set in, they also consistently undertook less practice than their peers who chose to continue. Implications for future research are discussed based on the results of the study.