It’s had to believe, but summer is already just around the corner! It’s an exciting time for year for people of all ages!

As we get ever closer to the last few days of school, and the vast expanse of potential that the summer months can represent for younger music students, now is the perfect time to think about all the ways a young music student (or even an adult student!) can maximize the potential of their summer break.

It’s easy to waste the summer; with all the opportunities for fun and adventure, keeping up with their music can get left behind. But there are also countless wonderful opportunities for music students to grow and experience the music around them. Take advantage of it, because it will be over before they know it!

So, let’s jump into a few ways for music students to maximize their summer break!

Veg Out

This may seem like an odd one to start a list about MAXIMIZING the summer, but it is just as important as the rest. Music programs can be rigorous and challenging, and a little downtime before hitting that heavy fall workload might be just what the doctor ordered.

Let them take some time for themselves to go to the beach, read a new book, visit with friends and family. The decompression is important.

Practice!

Of course, it can’t all be fun, game, and veg’ing out in front of the TV. The summer is the perfect time to get ahead and “train” for the upcoming fall. For example, the next few months might provide the perfect time for a vocal student to strengthen their vocal muscles, or for a guitar student to work on their chord progressions, preparing for the upcoming session.

Many younger students struggle with practicing during the summer (there’s just so much to do!). Try helping them come up with a few goals to hit each week. Help them to make a commitment to practice at least twice a week.

Collaborate

Garage bands, jam sessions, and even shared practices are great ways for music students to learn to collaborate over the summer months. But what if I told you playing together isn’t the only way for them to collaborate?

Have your music student create a shared playlist with their music school friends on Spotify, where they can go crazy for new music they’re each adding to the playlist. Encourage them to write songs together. They can even use web applications like Soundcloud of Bandcamp to share their latest collaborations with the world!

Learn

We all know how it goes.

The summer starts off with limitless potential, and then before they’ve even had a chance to take a lap around the pool, they realize two and a half months have flown by and it’s late July, with school starting back up again in three weeks!

Don’t let their summer fizzle out without them learning and growing in big ways!

Encourage them to start – and finish – a good book. Help them to start learning a new instrument, or start a music blog for their website. There are countless goals (both musical and otherwise) that can be made and achieved throughout the summer months!

Experience

For the avid music fan, summer vacation can mean only one thing – concert and festival season! One of the best (and often overlooked) ways to help your music student over the summer months is to attend performances! They can be big-name headlining concerts or major week-long festivals, but they don’t have to be.

Even just going to a community event where an amateur band will be playing can be an incredible experience. The sights, sounds, and of course the music, can be a wellspring of inspiration for a budding musician, and can help motivate them to continue practicing and improving even during their time off.

Plan

Yup, you read that right: planning should be an important part of their summer – don’t let them get overwhelmed by waiting for the semester to start to get the planning in!

Help them set goals for the new year; how many hours a week do they need to spend practicing? Do they want to try songwriting? What sort of connections do they want to make this year?

Set some high-level goals and help them write out the steps they’ll need to reach them.

And one of the very best ways to get a jump start on those goals is our next and final way music students can make the absolute best out of their summer break:

Summer Camp

Summer camps devoted to music are, of course, the perfect way to keep their minds and bodies working, keeping your music student in top mental and physical shape for when school begins again in the fall. But summer camps also provide a lot more value than just the music!

They’re great place for kids to meet new friends with similar interest, and explore these new relationships both through music, and outdoor fun in the sun! Summer music camps provide a safe place for kids to get a ton of mental and physical exercise, build their creative powers, improve social and interpersonal skills, and build their self-esteem and -confidence through the magic of music!

If you’re still on the lookout for that perfect summer camp to enroll your young music student in, look no further than The Music Studio’s catalogue of camps!

With camps for kids aged 4 to 16, there’s something for everyone! Check out our Music Theatre Camp for the singer or thespian in the family. Or maybe you’ve got a little rocker that would be perfect for our Kidzrock Camp.

There’s lots to choose from – make sure you sign up before it’s too late! Space is limited and classes are filling up!