Keep the Progress Going: Reasons to Continue Summer Music Lessons

With the busyness of the school year coming to an end, you might be starting to make plans for the summer. Are your music lessons a part of those plans?

While you might think this would be a good time to pause your musical endeavors, it is actually the best time to continue! Although there are many advantages to learning during the summer, below we have shared the top 3 reasons many of our students choose to stay enrolled.

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Significant Progression Over the Summer

Now that school and academic activities have adjourned, there is more time to better your musical skills at your own pace! This is the time to continue building what you have worked so hard for during the year, as well as sharpen and discover parts of yourself you never knew as a rising musician.

Many students have found that continuing music lessons is easier to manage than taking a long break and rebuilding what they have lost. Continuing lessons during the summer will keeps students on track for musical success.

​It is also not as hard as you may think to incorporate lessons into your summer plans unlike the school year where you have to bounce from place to place and work lessons into your schedule. You can still enjoy your summer, have relaxing beach days, and continue lessons as you normally would!

Potential Digression Over the Summer

With any activity, stopping for a period will digress the progress you have worked so hard for during the year. What students typically experience with this gap is known as learning loss which refers to "any specific or general loss of knowledge and skills or to reversals in academic progress, most commonly due to extended gaps or discontinuities in a student’s education” (Education Reform, 2013).

For students, seeing progress is a way to measure the effort they are putting in and if they are consistent in their lessons, they will see more desirable results each week! Stopping for the summer halts that continual growth and it begins to backtrack to the results they had months before.

Simply put, if a student continues June through August, they will be 3 months ahead. If a student pauses June through August, they may return in September and be 6 months behind, playing at the level which they played back in March.  

Flexibility

Our instructors' availability is limited due to the rising demands in music education. If you have seen progress and built a strong connection, continuing lessons guarantees that will work with your same instructor. If your instructor's schedule fills during the summer, you could potentially lose the opportunity to work with them during the fall. 

Instructors are typically able to be very flexible during the summer months, with options including:

✓ Temporary morning vs. afternoon lesson times
✓ Extended lesson times to make-up for a missed week
✓ Meeting virtually instead of in-person, as needed
✓ ... and more!
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We understand that there is a lot to think about when making this decision. That is why we are here to help! We want you to grow and succeed in your musical goals. If you have any questions, please contact us!

- Adelaide Lovelady -
​Client Services Coordinator