YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM
SCHOOL YEAR RHYTHMS | Vance & Michelle Shepherd
How is summer over already , and school already back in session ? Summer is always a great time to learn a new skill set ( like music ), because there ’ s more free time to practice and see results quickly . Many of our students like to pick up another instrument and learn the basics of it in the summer , just to switch things up and keep it fun . But when the school year hits , there ’ s not much free time in their schedules , and we have to go back to a more focused , shorter daily rhythm of time spent on their musicality .
How can we continue to instill in them the motivation to practice , when they have so many other things on their plate ?
When a student first starts taking music or vocal lessons , they generally don ’ t desire to become a musician or vocalist to just sing or perform in their room for themselves . They hope they ’ ll get the opportunity to be featured in a band and perform live . To help them see that vision , we like to show them videos of their favorite worship artists or musicians to encourage them that they can achieve that too , but it will take a sacrifice of their time and much dedication and hard work to be able to learn the skills to pass an audition to get to play with a live band .
They ’ ll have to learn how to manage their practice time and be self-motivated to achieve their musical goals . One of our first steps we suggest is they get something on the calendar right away to work toward ( like an audition or playing a session with a couple other musicians ) so they feel a part of something bigger than just practicing in their room . It lights a fire for them and gives them a target to hit , and that ’ s where we ’ ve seen the most success for new music students .
Switching up the routine is also great to keep things fresh . During the school year schedules can be pretty rigid , and not too exciting .
Anyone that has worked with a professional fitness trainer knows their trainer will switch up their routine after four to six weeks . The routine needs to be switched after this amount of time because the body adapts to it and stops seeing much growth or benefit ; we call it the plateau . Same thing in music . Practicing in different rooms of the house , reconfiguring your room to be more inspiring for musical practice , going to the park to practice your guitar scales , forming a small group of musicians to practice with , etc . makes it so much more fun !
Time blocking is a great strategy that can help prioritize the right work at the right time . Time blocking is a time management strategy where you schedule out every part of your day . With time blocking , you ’ re effectively breaking the school week into bite-sized time slots for homework , music , taking breaks , and even time slotted for exercise . Setting up two or three 15-minute blocks of practice time throughout the day , with a particular focus is extremely beneficial , and 30 minutes of completely distraction free time once or twice per day for practice will be amazing for their musical growth . Teaching students how to time block early on will go with them into adulthood and give them crucial time management concepts to set them up for success in whatever they do . What we plan , prioritize , and put on the calendar we will most likely achieve , instead of just hoping we ’ ll find the time to practice .
Also , time boxing is another helpful strategy that works with time blocking . Take your set amount of time dedicated to practicing ( 15 , 30 , or 45 minutes ), and break that down into smaller focused tasks ( example : 5-10 minutes per song if you have a 3 song setlist to learn , running musical scales for 5 minutes , learning a new guitar strumming technique for 10
minutes , etc ).
Set a timer for each of these tasks inside the time blocking event , and when the timer goes off , move forward quickly to the next task regardless of how well you feel you did on the previous task . This helps you to touch on all the things you need to , without spending too much time on just one task , achieving your goals much quicker . And if you ’ re a youth worship leader , reach out to students ( especially ones you know that are taking music lessons ) and let them know you would love for them to join the youth team . Set up an audition date and check in with them to see how they ’ re doing . A little encouragement goes a long way !
May you be blessed as you pour into or become the next generation of worship leaders !
Vance & Michelle Shepherd Founders of The Shepherd School of Music in Las Vegas , NV , where they work with youth to raise up the next generation of worship leaders and musicians . facebook . com / shepherdschoolofmusiclasvegas www . ShepherdStudiosLV . com
48 August 2023 Subscribe for Free ...