Making any big change in your studio is an undertaking for teachers, and bringing in a piano practice app is no exception. People (including parents in your studio) DO. NOT. LIKE. CHANGE.
At least, it’s a rare person who does enjoy and embrace change.
If you ask your piano parents if they would like you to switch from using whatever you use for practice assignments now (a notebook, emails, a folder, nothing) to using an app – they will most likely say no. They’d prefer you keep things exactly as they are, because that’s what they’re used to.
But, maybe, you’ve started to feel the need, or want, for a better practice management system. A practice app like Vivid Practice can:
- Make it easier for you to keep track of who’s doing what
- Save you time spent typing or writing the same things over and over
- Give your students easier access to URLs and audio or video files to enhance their practice
Why I Made the Switch
I’m lucky. I was pushed into finally giving a practice app a go during the Covid-19 pandemic (RIP Tonara). Lessons were online for the best part of 2 years, and I started out with PDFs which I emailed to parents.
This was OK, but not amazing. It was kinda the worst of both worlds…students weren’t directly receiving the assignments as they had been with their physical assignment sheets, and it wasn’t easy to make use of links when I was going through the parents’ inbox.
I say I’m lucky because the situation pushed our teachers to move to a piano practice app, and it meant that parents were already adapting to so many changes that one more wasn’t going to cause a revolt.
And I haven’t looked back.
I eventually went on to create our own practice app, Vivid Practice. That’s how much I believe in the value of teachers using a digital app for music lesson assignments.
How to Make the Switch and Keep Parents Happy
If you have an inkling this might be the right call for your studio, I want to give you the step-by-step, how-to guide for making this change without upsetting your studio parents.
Step 0: Set Up and Test
First, you need to be confident with your decision. So set up an account with the practice app you’re considering and test it thoroughly.
With Vivid Practice, piano teachers can set up a free account in the app with 1 student, with no time limit. So you can test and poke and prod to your heart’s content.
Once you’re truly happy with your decision, move on to step 1.
Step 1: Heads Up
We want to give the families in your studio a little bit of warning – but not too much.
I suggest notifying parents about 2 – 4 weeks before you implement the practice app. Send a simple email that lets them know when you’ll be making the change, and that all practice assignments will be in the practice app from that point forward. Make sure they know when to expect the email with their login credentials.
This email can also answer a few questions you think you’re likely to get. For example, in my studio, I emphasise that it’s up to the parents whether they use the app to track their practice, or simply open it to check the notes and attachments. Some parents may want to limit screen time, and it’s fine with me if they don’t want to have the app open for their whole practice session.
Make sure you don’t apologise, excuse or justify the change by emphasising the convenience it will bring to your teaching life. The focus of the email should be on facts, and the benefits for them.
Step 2: Announce
The next email should be sent as you make the switch. I prefer to make announcements like this at the end of my teaching week so that there can be no confusion about what I mean by “next week”. (That phrase is one of the failures of the English language, don’t you think?)
Keep this email simple, light and informative. Give them their login information, the link to the app and a simple tutorial on how to use it. If you’re using Vivid Practice, we have a great little PDF for parents here with all the info they need.
At the end of this email, ask them to put the device they will be using for the practice app in their child’s music bag for the next lesson, if possible.
Step 3: In-Lesson Demo
At the next lesson, you’ll talk to your students about the app and how to use it. If they’ve brought their device with them, have them take it out and show you how they log in. If not, have them use the app on your phone or tablet instead. This is a good opportunity to find out if the child can navigate to the app on their own or need an adult’s help each time.
Show them how to find their practice notes, attached audio, or anything else they’ll need to practise successfully with the new system. Then get them to do all the steps you just demonstrated, to make sure they can do it.
This may seem like a “waste” of lesson time to some people, but I certainly don’t see it that way, and I haven’t had any parents say or even hint as much to me. It should only take a few minutes and will make their practice more effective every day going forward.
Step 4: Flag and Follow Up
Now, I said it at the start but I’ll say it again, change isn’t easy. You won’t get 100% of your students to use the new practice app right away.
If you find this frustrating, please take a step back and ask yourself if 100% of them were using your old system of notebooks and folders. They probably weren’t; it just wasn’t as obvious as it is now since you can see the statistics of their practice sessions and logins.
The advantage here, though, is that you can see who is and isn’t using the app. Scroll down to the bottom of the list to the “zero practisers” and start reaching out to those parents.
I like to start by sending an email that lets them know I can see they haven’t logged in yet, and just ask whether they need some help with the app. If I don’t get a reply to that email within 4 – 5 days, I’ll follow up by text with a similar message.
More often than not, the issue is not the technology. It’s simply that they haven’t gotten around to even reading my previous emails properly. But asking whether people are having tech troubles seems less like pestering than if I ask whether they’re procrastinating on the change.
When switching to a new piano practice app, I recommend that teachers follow up after about 10 days. After that, you can just do periodic check-ins every 3 – 6 months to get people back on track.
Even with this intervention, some of them won’t use the app regularly. But many of them didn’t open your notes before, right? And we know some of them just don’t practise at all, n’est pas?
Want more ideas about practice assignments, plus the latest tips and tricks about routines, motivation and practice strategies? Check out our practice hub page.
Step 5: Surprise Secrets
This isn’t a necessary step; it’s just a fun extra.
One of the things I really want my students to do is just read the notes in their assignments. Even if they don’t use one of Vivid Practice’s fabulous practice modes to organise their practice time, I want them to at least read the notes.
So, I started leaving surprise secret messages for them.
- I put an assignment in all of their lists with the title “Secret Message”. (This is easy to do in Vivid Practice with our assignment groups.)
- When they open the notes for this secret message, they get a “password” that they’re instructed to give to their teacher at the next lesson.
- If they say the password in their lesson, they get to choose a sticker or sweet from our secret box.
- I remove the assignment after a week and say nothing to the students who didn’t give the secret password.
I only do this a few times in a year, and the timing is completely random. Those students who see it just get a little extra reinforcement for reading the notes in their assignments. 🤩
Are you considering switching to a practice app?
Let us know if you’ve any questions or concerns in the comments below, and we’ll do our best to help.