[quote=blackcat I'm not sure what dd's motivation is. She likes the group aspect, but she was like this with piano too. She wanted to take the lessons but didn't want to practice for a long period of time.[/quote]

Each of my children has gone through periods like this with the instruments they play. Sometimes it's just a phase where practicing is boring so they simply don't want to bother, sometimes it's lack of motivation because they don't need to practice to keep up. DS is the musician in my family - he loves loves loves music and plays both piano and an instrument in school band. He actually participates in more than one band... but he has very little spare time due to homework. When he has downtime, he likes to play piano - what he wants to play, not necessarily what his teacher wants him to practice. I'm sure we're a great example of what *not* to do, but fwiw, he's also made great progress on piano and his other instrument over the years, and he's doing really well in band without practicing. At home, I'm blown away by how wonderful he sounds when he plays piano. He's not going to get into Julliard, but otoh, he never planned on a career in music anyway, it's his release and relaxation and his fun and he plays confidently enough and well enough to play for friends in social situations. So I'm ok with him not practicing and/or just playing what he wants to at home, and for us, it's worked out a-ok.

If he wasn't keeping up with what he needed to be able to play for band, I'd want him to practice, but I think it's important not to forget that our kids are practicing their instruments every time they pick them up to play during band class at school - so it's not like they aren't getting any practice at all, they are playing and learning while they play. It wouldn't be fair for a child who *needed* to practice to hold other students in band back, but if a student is keeping up and able to play their part, then I wouldn't make them practice at home.

If you're worried about developing lazy habits, you can always pick something else that your dd is interested in to try to help her learn that routine practice is valuable.

And... all of my advice is probably completely irrelevant due to the fact that your dd's teacher is making her students complete a practice log. I'm not sure how I'd deal with that lol!

Best wishes,

polarbear

Last edited by polarbear; 01/26/16 08:41 AM.