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The following notes are intended to give parents and students an understanding about the various skills that need to be developed in order to successfully play a musical instrument.

As you will appreciate learning to play a musical instrument is not easy, however, it can be extremely rewarding.

As a parent please give support and encouragement to your aspiring instrumentalist, and if you have any concerns please contact NEMCO.

As a student please remember that playing an instrument is a lot of fun but it is also hard work. Do not be afraid to ask your teacher for help if you find some things difficult and some things are; there is not a musician in the world who has not had to overcome difficulties.

Have fun and good luck!

Playing a musical instrument requires mastery of many interrelated skills. All of these skills need to be developed simultaneously and consistently over a long period of time if a high standard of performance is to be achieved. It is very important that students are given opportunities to gain understanding and appreciation of the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, historical and stylistic components of music being studied. The following information briefly outlines these essential skills.

The core skills are essential areas of learning which need to be developed if the student is to experience the expressive and creative qualities of music, gain knowledge and understanding, and become technically proficient. These core skills are:

• Instrumental skills
• Musical skills

Students come to their lessons with a range of experiences, aptitudes and expectations, and no two will progress at the same rate. The different levels of ability can be identified as:

• Beginner
• Elementary
• Intermediate
• Advanced
• Collegiate

These levels of abilities are not intended to be compared with established external examination levels or years of playing experience. They simply represent stages of learning, which will vary according to the following circumstances:

• Individual or group tuition
• Length of lesson time
• Number of lessons each year
• Age range
• Mixture of instrumentation
  

And most importantly:

• the amount of individual practise a student does.

Practice sheets are available from here.