How do you measure progress?

Success is highlighted during recitals and through achievement programs, such as our Musical Ladder system. Be sure to communicate regularly with your teacher and listen in on the last five minutes of your child's lesson. One of the best things a child can do is incorporate practicing their instrument at home. If they are young or new to the instrument, their practice sessions may last five to ten minutes at first. As time goes on and the child improves, they may eventually practice for twenty of thirty minutes. Consider this: if your hobby is golf and you get busy for two weeks and can't play are you going to throw your golf clubs in the lake and target about it? Or are you going to resume when your schedule permits? Children deserve the same respect and level of patience that you would give yourself.

There are currently over 100 school in the US and Canada that utilize the Musical Ladder System with their students. You should choose a school that uses the System (Happy Valley Arts Academy is the only school in the state of Oregon using this program currently) and allows for children to see breakthroughs in their progress every 3 months. It's very important for kids to be rewarded at certain levels so that they are continually engaged and hopeful that they'll perform better each week. To see that your child is progressing in their skill, follow my three-step action plan:

1. Ensure your child receives achievement tests every three months.

2. Allow your child to participate in recitals every six months. 

3. As often as you can, pop into the last five minutes of every lesson.

These steps are a healthy action plan for any parent to follow during their child's musical journey. As a parent, you will be doing enough by seeing that the above action steps are followed through. This will require you to have faith in your teachers curriculum and trust in the school's administration. If you follow through on these steps and come to find out that you're not happy with the results, then find a different professional to work with your child. At the end of the day, parents need to trust the process and feel good about it. Take it from me as someone who has been in the industry for a long time, the process is incredibly strong and can allow for the parent and child to be incredibly happy. Parents from all backgrounds whether it's a small business, corporate America, or military, can value for being accountable for one's work. We incorporate this philosophy into our curriculum by providing an evaluation in the form of a recital every six months. 

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