I think the practice routine that you have is fine, and I think you should ignore the other parent who is criticizing how you are handling practicing. My dd is very much like yours in age, and she started playing the violin at age 7.
My daughter doesn't practice violin very much. (She actually practices less often than your dd.) My dd has several friends who each practice at least ten times as many minutes each week as my dd practices. But my dd is advancing rapidly, and those friends of hers who are practicing literally hundreds of hours more per month are not making very much progress.
Part of the reason for this is because I know how to play the violin, and my dd's friends' parents do not know how to play the violin. So I can guide my dd to practice more efficiently. When kids are that young, they think that practicing is playing a piece from start to finish, stumbling through the hard parts, and then going back to the beginning and doing it again. That is a waste of time, and you are really just ingraining the mistakes, instead of learning to play the piece correctly. It is more efficient to identify the problem spots, and practice just one or two problem measures over and over again until it is correct and you develop the muscle memory for the problem spot. So you have the advantage of a husband who can play the instrument. He can ensure that the practice session is short but efficient. If your husband doesn't have time to sit down with your daughter earlier in the week to identify the problem spots with her, then you can ask your teacher to identify the problem spots during the lesson. Then just have your dd practice just those few measures for those initial days of the week until your husband has time to work with her.
Here is another example of why my dd is doing quite well even though she doesn't practice a lot. If my dd plays something wrong, I can instantly tell her what is wrong so that she can fix it right away. If one of my dd's friends plays something wrong, her parents don't realize that it is wrong and her friend plays it wrong all week long until she goes to her next lesson, and then the teacher has to point out what is wrong, and then break the bad habit before the teacher can train the child to play it correctly.
I have found that it works best if I make my daughter practice as soon as possible after the lesson, preferably on the same day as the lesson, even if it is a short practice session without dad. That way, she is most likely to remember what the teacher told her, and it will carry on into the other practice sessions for the rest of the week. It is much better if my dd doesn't wait until the day after the lesson to have that first practice session because people forget a ton of stuff even just overnight.
Last year, when my dd first started taking private lessons, I would sit in on the lesson and take meticulously detailed notes of everything that the teacher said and did. I didn't take the notes for my benefit. (I already knew all of that stuff because I know how to play the violin.) I took the notes so that when I got home, I simply gave the notes to my dd and told my dd to reproduce everything in my notes that was covered in the lesson. In this way, my dd was able to practice on her own more independently with a lot less hovering from me. (She liked the less hovering part a lot.) It worked really well for a year or so. I wish I could have continued it, but I don't have time to attend my dd's lessons any more and my husband refuses to take notes. Plus, my dd has advanced quite a lot in the year since, and she is now quite good at practicing by herself. We personally have never done the egg timers, although I can see how it would work well for some kids.
Several of my dd's teachers say that if you can't practice every day, then what you should do is practice for 20 minutes, take a break for an hour to do some homework, and then practice another 20 minutes. The teachers say that splitting up a day's practice session into two sittings is like fitting in two practice sessions on two separate days. The teachers said that they were amazed by how rapidly their students progressed when they tried this strategy.
My feeling is that I would be upset if my dd didn't practice at all, because I feel that lessons are a waste of money if there is no practicing going on between lessons. (I'm speaking as someone who did exactly that as I grew up.) But I am fine with not practicing every day. I do require a minimum level of practicing, and that's all. If my dd gets good enough and comes to enjoy violin enough, then she will start practicing everyday on her own. If you force practicing everyday, backfiring on you is certainly a possibility. You want practice to be a fun thing.
So ignore what the other parent says. As long as the teacher is happy with what your dd is doing, that is all that matters. If, on the other hand, your teacher is one of those teachers who insists on practicing an hour everyday and that is not what you are going to do, then I'd be looking for another teacher. But that doesn't seem to be an issue for you.
For the record, I don't know why the parent you were talking about was dissatisfied with 15 minutes a day. I would have been perfectly happy with 15 minutes a day. My dd practiced much less than that during the first year of playing violin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rusticity
I am just looking at perspective regarding how our family is handling music lessons. My oldest is in 4th grade and soon to turn 10 yrs old - she has been taking piano lessons since age 6. The lessons typically go year round although the teacher takes 4 to 6 weeks off a year to travel out of country. The lessons are something my oldest wanted as well as my husband who grew up playing instruments (I have no musical background at all). My DD enjoys the lessons and wishes to continue but like many kids is not keen on practicing. I'd say she practices 3 to 4 times a week - once or twice on the weekends with my DH (these being the most productive times) and maybe 1 or twice on 2 weekdays - playing each piece 2 times, maybe a time or two more if she likes it. Typically, her practice doesn't take her very long. Currently she's mid-way though level 3 in the Alfred books (4 books - lesson, recital, technic, theory). In theory, we'd like her to practice more but I'm not up for straining our relationship over this & we don't really see piano or music as a career avenue in the future.
Anyway, I recently had a discussion with a parent (whose opinion I typically respect) who questioned (nicely) our lackadaisical attitude toward practice since we don't enforce it every day & have no routine. I know I've read on this forum and elsewhere about how music can be so beneficial to discipline and the importance to establishing a routine especially for gifted kids. It has me questioning our approach and while I don't want to be the practice enforcer, I might consider it if I can be persuaded.
The money for the lessons is not an issue for us so I have so far been happy that my DD enjoys the lessons and seems to be making some progress (although I'm sure she could be making much greater progress).
Just looking for some perspectives on what course to take.