The ability to sing with control, confidence and clarity is an amazing skill to have that lasts a lifetime. Kids singing lessons provide an excellent head start to a potentially lifelong art. While having natural talent can be a huge asset, the only way to become the best you can be at singing is to practice.
Often.
The best time to learn how to sing is when you are a child because the vocal cords are still developing. Practicing at a young age pays off tenfold. Singing is one of the best kids activities for a child who enjoys performing and really hamming it up.
Children, especially boys, have access to such a wonderful range when they’re young however, they might lose this range later on if they don’t practice.
Motivating children to stick with something can be hard. They are easily distracted and their level of interest can flicker in and out.
Luckily, as a parent, you know best. They will thank you when they are older when they have a beautiful singing voice because you kept pushing them to stick with it.
Here are the top 12 ways you can encourage your kids to practice singing lessons.
#1. Have them set goals
Setting goals is a good way to stay motivated. Having a clear target in mind can help anyone stick with their task until its complete.
Setting small achievable goals is the best way to go about this. This gives a child more opportunity to build confidence and celebrate every small victory after hitting every benchmark goal.
A goal such as “practice for 15 minutes each day this week” is an example to start with. Another is singing without reading from a sheet or iPod. As your child develops more skills, these goals can become more advanced.
#2. Make a schedule
Making a schedule puts everyone into a routine. A regularly scheduled activity eventually becomes just another part of their week if you stay consistent with your attendance and dedication.
Consistency is the key to seeing the most improvement. If you can get your child to associate a specific afternoon of the week with singing they are going to show up to their lesson with the right mindset and be ready to go when their lesson starts. Building productive habits into your regular routines serve as extremely effective self-motivational tools.
#3. Offer rewards
Sometimes children’s interests can wain and even though they haven’t truly given up on singing they might want to take a break from the regular practice routine. By offering incentives you can keep your child motivated in their singing.
This could be anything from their favourite dinner to going to see a movie with friends. It is best to agree on a reward with your child so they know what they are working towards.
#4. Make it a competition
Children are naturally very competitive, this can be a great motivational tool. You could encourage them to compete in public competitions, against friends, siblings, or even you.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you can sing, you can still have a singing competition. When you inevitably lose your child will get a big confidence boost and inspire more practice from such positive associations.
Many kids thrive when participating in activities that are fun, challenging and with things that they can see improvement and success from their efforts. Keep things light, exciting and challenge their competitive spirit from time to time.
#5. Always be supportive
Always be supportive of their singing. Even if they have a bad day, even if they can only manage 5 minutes of practice, always be supportive.
Without you being there to support them they will lose confidence and interest. If they sing in public and it goes horribly still tell them that you are proud of them for trying and that they did a good job. Don’t ever let them feel alone in failure as this will lead to a deeper fear and dislike for singing.
#6 Take an interest in their singing
Show you are interested in the progress of their voice training. If you don’t care, why should they? They will be much less likely to take interest in their vocal lessons if you aren’t encouraging their progress and cheering them on.
Make sure to ask them questions that spark thoughts about their own development. Ask them what music they like, which singers they look up to, what they are working on in their vocal lessons, etc. The more interested you are, the more interested they are likely to be.
#7. Take them to see professionals sing
Some of the best kids singing lessons can simply be watching and listening from the best of the best in the industry. Taking your kids to see professionals performances are such a great way to spend time together and can be a reward for working hard.
Have your kids watch professional performances to set the bar in the standard of quality they believe are possible when it comes to how well people sing.
There could be a bunch of opportunities such as a local choir, their favourite musician, a live music festival, or attending a musical. Expose your kids to as many different styles of singing and types of music as possible to show them the different possibilities that singing can lead to.
#8. Hire a voice coach
Not all of the responsibility to motivate must come from you. Hiring a voice coach is not only great for their singing skills but for motivating them to work harder.
A vocal coach is motivating, encouraging, and supports their students. Hiring a voice instructor, even if only once a week, is still a great benefit to your child and their singing career.
#9. Give them breaks
Being in a routine is great for motivation and steady improvement. IN many cases, however, it can be a good idea to step away and take a break for a little while.
If your child is starting to get a little burnt out, they may need just a week or two off to get some distance, regroup and refocus. This is perfectly normal in many situations and can have an amazing impact on their performance with a renewed and refreshed focus.
#10 Send them to singing camp
Attending a camp for kids singing lessons can be a great experience for your child-especially if they are used to private lessons. Camp allows them the opportunity to make friends and have experiences they will remember for the rest of their life.
Attending a camp for kids’ voice training allows them to spend time with other like-minded kids and professionals. This can be a wonderful opportunity for any young singer.
#11. Enroll your child in a theatre group
Theatre groups are fantastic opportunities to improve your kid’s voice training and performance skills. Singing and acting go hand in hand.
When they are practicing for a reason such as rehearsing for a musical or play, they will find a deeper sense of urgency to practice and are able to motivate themself much easier.
They will also have friends there that push them to practice too.
This circles back to the idea of setting goals. A play, musical or any type of public performance is a good goal to have that motivates kids to practice and is a goal that is shared with their peers.
Being in theatre groups are excellent confidence boosters for performances as an actor or as a singer.
#12. Let kids choose what they want to sing
It is important to let your kids choose what they want to sing. At least for a portion of their practice time. Being told to practice singing songs you have little to no interest in is only going to cause disinterest and resentment.
Give them some creative freedom and their enthusiasm will grow.
Use positive reinforcement to encourage your kids in their singing lessons
Hopefully, this article has given you some good ideas to help encourage your kids to practice singing. Singing is a practiced skill that almost everyone wishes they had. Your kids will be grateful for guiding them to pursue the art and develop a well-trained singing voice.
