Summer is quickly approaching and with that comes a break in the school cycle, even if just for a few weeks. As a music major, I was always asked if I ever took a break. I can honestly say, No. I did not. I didn’t even take a break during the summer months. In fact, those months are when I worked my hardest.
I worked on new songs to improve my sight reading skills, new techniques and I worked to improve in areas I struggled in during the school year. It wasn’t even really structured. In fact, I might have only practice a couple days a week, but I did not stop.
As a mother who wants to instill not only a love of music in my children, but a solid musical foundation, I find myself fighting the “summer slide” with my own children.
Whether your kids take formal music lessons or you just do some fun music activities in your homeschool, I want to encourage you NOT to take a break from this music class summer.
3 Reasons to Continue Music during the Summer
- To help keep what they learned. This is possibly the most important reason to continue music learning through the summer months. It’s also one of those reasons we like to homeschool year round. Each year your child learns new skills in their music lessons, which is essential to their growth as a musician, these are quickly and easily lost when time off is taken.
- Great time to work on problem areas. Summer is a great time to work on problem areas in their music lessons. Whether its with rhythm, keeping time or a particular song they want to learn, summer is the perfect time to perfect them! Practicing can be less regimented during the summer and often times kids are more at ease during the summer and things will just “click” easier. PLUS…they can return to their lessons with improvement and surprise their teacher.
- Gives time for fun activities you can’t do during the school year. Summer is the perfect time to do some of those fun musical activities you can’t or didn’t have time for during the year. It’s also a great time for making fun musical instruments – to play outside! Here’s some ideas to get you started this summer:
- 5 Musical Games for Summertime | Let’s Play Music
- 8 Summer Songs for Kids | Let’s Play Music
- Music Baseball Game | Elementary Music Methods
- Teaching Kids How Sound is Made | Kids Activity Blog
- Outdoor Music DIY Chimes | Hands on as We Grow
- Outdoor Music Wall | PreK Sharing
- Mini Harp from a Plastic Throwing Disc | Instructables
- Tin Can Backyard Band | Growing a Jeweled Rose
- 5 Ways to learn about Music using Sidewalk Chalk | And Next comes L
- Learn a Line Dance (Cotton Eye Joe) | YouTube
What are ways you have included music class in to your summers?
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