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LennoxDyerViolin t1_j7yd4j9 wrote

Hi Ray hope we're not too late. Wondering how long you practiced per day at 8 years old? My son is pretty talented according to his teachers, playing pieces around 4 courses above his level in the conservatory, but recently been feeling he has a little burnout with all the classes and practice. Need to keep him loving music. Any suggestions? We started using your Tonic app a couple of days ago and he likes that! Thanks

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raychenviolin OP t1_j7zklzh wrote

Thanks! When I was 8, I was playing 8 hours a day

Just kidding. I think I practiced around an hour to an hour and half on weekdays and 2 hours on weekends.

Interesting though that you mentioned you "need to keep him loving music". If love for music is the primary goal here, then he certainly doesn't have to play pieces 4 courses above his level. People (especially kids) need to feel accomplishment and there's no better way to do that, than for him to be the one to say "Yeah, I'm ready for more". There's a balance to strike here but the fact that you're already aware of the burnout tells me that things need to level out for a little while before going higher.

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LennoxDyerViolin t1_j80jh8p wrote

Thanks so much for the reply. I don't think it's the level of the pieces he's struggling with.... (he's pretty proficient at that level and he also loves his classes with his private teacher) (not so much the conservatory which is very strict and in his words 'boring'). The issue I guess is more that I think he feels some pressure and expectation and I wondered how much practice is enough to keep improving to reach a professional level at some point, without killing the joy he gets from playing by doing too much/more than he wants to. That was my reason for asking how much you practiced at his age to gauge whether we're doing too much/little. Hope that makes more sense! An hour and a half to two hours sounds good. Thank you so much. He hopes to meet you one day. Maybe one day he can 'Play with Ray'. You're very kind taking the time to reply, very much appreciated.

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