How to keep kids interested in music,without it becoming a chore

Missy Higgins hated practising piano when she was a child – just hated it. When she was just six,her parents enrolled her in Suzuki piano lessons,the method by which you learn to play by ear.

“It was definitely a chore. My Dad sat me down every night to practise ... I remember feeling resentful,” says the singer-songwriter,whose national tour begins in Melbourne on June 22. Still,Higgins appreciated her father’s enthusiasm.

“So I just accepted it until I was about 12. I was so bored of playing classical music and didn’t have any passion for it,” she says. Then she asked her parents if she could quit piano to take up the guitar. They agreed.

Parents are always the ones who make the arrangements for children to learn music. They pay the fees. They get super-stressed when the children don’t practise. And they wonder whether the money they are forking out,term after term,will make music part of their children’s lives.

As James Humberstone,a specialist in music education at the University of Sydney,explains,provision for music in schools is limited these days. We can no longer be sure that our children will experience music education at the hands of trained music educators in the classroom.

“The opportunity for musical lessons with a musically trained teacher is like winning a golden ticket,” he says. And he says that some classroom music is focused too much on music theory and not on including children of all backgrounds,cultures and abilities.

“Music lessons can be so expensive but there are a range of ways for kids to get involved with music learning,but that’s not the same as classroom music which should be available for everyone.”

Turns out Higgins’ father had the right idea. Australian research says children whose parents sit with them during practice in the early stages of learning are far more likely to persevere.

Gary McPherson,Ormond professor of music at the University of Melbourne,knows more about what works when it comes to music practice than anyone else. He’s been researching it for decades. He’s also very firm about what doesn’t work.

“Practice is important,but it’s what you are thinking and feeling that is just as important,” McPherson says.

Giving their child a choice is exactly what Missy Higgins’parents did. Once she took up guitar,her enthusiasm soared. She asked for lessons,which her parents happily provided.

“I was a big Courtney Love fan. Once I had my own electric guitar,I just strummed the shit out of it. I could just play and scream through some big feelings,” she said.

Higgins ended up getting more piano lessons eventually,but instead of classical music,she moved towards pop and jazz. “That was really fun because I did it on my own terms and I had the technical chops from having learnt at such a young age.”

Jack Peggie,25,of Balgowlah on Sydney’s northern beaches,started developing his own technical chops when he heard his next-door neighbour playing the piano. By the time he was five,he was having lessons. He started playing the saxophone a few years later and got a taste of what playing in a group would be like.

“When I was little,my parents had to push me a little to practise. When you are young,you just don’t see the fruits of your labour … You can’t fully explore and play songs but once you get over that initial hurdle,that’s when the motivation began to kick in.

“I started to see where it could take me.”

Saxophones gave him the opportunity to play in groups,to play in a community. In 2014,he applied for the Sydney Youth Orchestra. “That was a real turning point,” he says.

But not the last one. When he was 20,he switched instruments,from saxophone to percussion. Just five years later,he is now one of a handful of musicians appointed as fellows to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

He says his parents didn’t nag him – but they did emphasis that he had to make the most of his opportunities. Neither of his parents was a professional musician,but they did play with him. “Dad would make up funny songs he wrote on the spot. He’s a quirky individual and would just put random words together.”

Bronte Ellis,mother of Yanai,7,knows exactly what it’s like to be pressured to do music practice. Ellis grew up with two musician parents who met at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

“I had some tough times with them. They were always very on top of my pitch and my rhythm and I felt a bit of pressure even though their intentions were good. It caused me to quit cello. I try to have a less strict approach with Yanai,” she says.

“I try a bit of a hands-off approach.”

Ellis,a music teacher and cellist,is also her son’s teacher,but the lessons don’t happen at home. He goes to cello lessons with his mother as teacher at his school in Sydney’s inner west. He also goes to orchestra on Tuesday mornings to provide the community aspects of music that experts say is important.

Ellis does practise a little bit of bribery. Yanai now has a digital watch with which he can earn “coins” for various tasks. And yes,the task with the most coins attached is cello practice – even if it’s just for five minutes a day.

Do the coins affect the way Yanai practises? Bronte says his favourite time is when she sits with him while he plays his repertoire. Current fave?Ode To Joy.

And what of Higgins’ children,now the pedal is on the other foot? Well,she has two – aged five and nine – and they have zero interest in picking up an instrument.

“They are really resistant. It breaks my heart,but I don’t want to push it because I can already feel the pressures of having me as a mum.”

And as she points out,there are incredible musicians who never had a musical education. “I’m not convinced that methods of forcing create a lifelong passion for music.”

In the meantime,she says,her children sing all the time and have extensive playlists. I was too chicken to ask if Mum was on their list of most played.

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