Next to make-up lessons, practice motivation is one of the top answers when you ask teachers what they’re struggling with. So how can we motivate our students to practise? What can we do when they just won’t? And how do we make practice more efficient and bring in strategies that our students will actually follow through on at home?
Relevant Resources
- How to Plan a New Student Interview/Meeting
- Practice Kits (non-members click here)
- Practice Hero
- Practice Pro course
Full Transcript
Click on any word to jump to that point in the audio. 🙂
VMT002_ Setting Practice Expectations with New and Returning Students.mp3
: This is the vibrant music teaching podcast. I’m Nicola Cantan and you’re listening to episode two where we’re diving in and talking the P word. Practice.
: Hello beautiful teachers welcome to episode 2 of the vibrant music teaching podcast. I’m not shying away from the difficult topics in this podcast. It’s only the second episode and I want to tackle the number one complaint or gripe that I hear from music teachers and that’s practice when it’s not happening. It makes our jobs very difficult and I hear more and more from teachers that students are just too busy they have too much going on and no practice is happening. And what are we supposed to do in those circumstances. And it just ends up weighing on the teachers mind more than anything else. So today I want to help you tackle that practice problem possibly before you get started again with a new school year. But this will be useful advice that you can return to again and again whenever you need a little practice pick me up. So some teachers go about this by requiring practice from their students. They have a commitment. Some of them even do a contract that the students signs saying that they practice this amount of time each week. Now while this is a good idea in some respect in theory it tends to lead to a resentment of practice time. So if a student is required to practice that has the implication that it’s like a chore. It’s like being required to fill the dishwasher or put out the rubbish at the end of the day or whatever they have to do around the house at home.
: It’s like when parents require them to do their maths homework before they have their bowl of ice cream or whatever it is it saying that this is a drag and you’ve to get through it and then you can get your reward or you can continue to take lessons or or or write or maybe there’s repercussions even if they don’t do that. So I don’t tend to go for the whole practice requirement option here because I just think it seems too much like a chore and like something you have to be forced to do otherwise you won’t do it and practice can be pleasurable now there is a problem too we’re going the other way. If you leave it entirely up to them it tends to mean that they don’t ever form a practice habit or that it’s going to take a lot longer for them to do so. And while it seems like a benefit to let them practice when they want to and only when they’re inspired and we should provide music that helps them to feel inspired to practice all of that is true but it means that they’re never going to practice as a habit. And it does make progress slower and in my experience making it a habit from the very start it doesn’t become a chore. It just becomes something that’s a part of what they do. They make better progress and therefore they are more inspired because they’re making good progress and they’re more able or more interesting music sooner.
: So when it comes to practice with new students I tackled this at the very first interview or meeting that I have with them and their parents. I’m very clear at that meeting about what practice entails and what practice they’ll be expected to do. However what I don’t do is give any kind of time or requirement. I believe that in the long term this leads to battles between students and parents. And it also leads to this perception that it’s about putting in time and it’s not it’s about getting results and doing things with their time. No matter whether they spend five minutes or 20 minutes or an hour at the piano each day it’s about building up a habit in the beginning. And I emphasize that to the parents and to the student out there. Transfer student obviously that’s a different story and they’ll be doing more and more effective practice strategies as we move forward together. For a new student though at the very beginning of their piano journey what I want them to do is to form that habit. So I tell the parents that that is their job. It is the parents job to form the practice habit in the beginning and they should make that their priority. I give suggestions such as tying it to a particular activity or a particular time of day if they’re always home at 330 then that might be perfect.
: But if it varies maybe they do it immediately when they get in from school. Maybe it’s better to do it directly after their after school snack so that they feel energized and ready or for some students early morning is the best time they get up early anyway and they like to get it in before school and know that it’s finished and they can get on with their day. The key here is just that it’s a habit and then it is tied to something in their day so that it becomes a regular part of the routine and just something they do that’s when they have the most success. And it makes a huge difference through my experience whether they do this from the very start or whether we try and go back and retroactively form this habit or leave it up to them. It really is so beneficial for the parent to get involved with this from the very start and make it their mission to set up the routines that they can form a habit. And the students who I’ve had who I’ve had this discussion with at the very start we generally don’t have a problem with practice. Students and parents do not lie about their practice time. Parents don’t report many problems and when they do they know to come to me about it, first, and they say that they had trouble getting to the piano this week or he was having an off time with it or they make suggestions about maybe this piece was too hard or maybe they could help in some other way.
: So parents who are involved from the very start in the practice routine and who know it is their job to form that. That’s where we establish this great parent student teacher triangle and the student is set up for enormous success and enjoyment at the piano. So for the first month or so that is what I emphasize it’s all about forming a routine. I don’t care how long they practice I don’t even mind if they get through all of their assignments or not. I encourage the parents that if the child is having an off day if they’re tired if they’re saying they don’t want to do it just tell them to practice one thing pick anything off the list or just mess around if it’s really off day but get the piano as part of their routine every day. Now that’s new students. And as I said I prefer to form this habit from the very start with new students it’s the easiest way to do it. But if you have returning students or transfer students it’s going to be a little bit different and a little bit trickier. So for returning students who are not in the habit of practice this is where I might bring in a practice incentive in general. I actually avoid practice incentives that are focused on minutes or days practiced or anything along those lines because it tends to bleed into the territory of chores that need to get done and incentivising something that should just be part of their regular routine and should be an accepted part of the process.
: But if they have already formed the habit of not practicing then I think it’s a different story. And I might do something like 100 days of practice challenge with them to try and return them to that routine and do a bit of troubleshooting to try and get them practicing in a way that they haven’t been up to this point or that they’ve gotten out of the habit of doing. So if you’re a transfer student or returning student who you’re in that position with they’re clearly just not practicing at all or very very little then you are going to have quite a bit of work to do and then incentive might just help you along the way. You don’t want it to become standard though that they get a rise for practice thing because as soon as that price stop they’re going to be even less likely to practice than they were before. No matter how good they are when they’re incentivized with those smarties or whatever it is when the smarties go away they’re even less likely because they were only practicing to get the smartest. And now in their mind practice is tied to the smartest or the Eminem’s or the trip to Disneyland no matter how big or small the prize tying them tying practice to something is never really a good idea long term.
: So a simple practice incentive that just count up the days and reward them with maybe a sticker or something simple is sometimes necessary. Whether returning or transfer student who is just well out of the habit of practicing. Now if you have a returning student who are in the habit of practicing at least a little bit then you can do some work to make that practice even more effective. And I have several things on the blog and in the VMT library that will help with this. So working with practice kids and practice games like practice hero is a fantastic way to level up your students practice. Make it more effective and do the most you possibly can with the time they have available. As I say even if that only 23 times a week you can still do a lot with that time. Probably a lot more than they’re currently doing. So try to integrate some form of effective practice strategies. And don’t ever just tell your student about this. Make sure that you do together in the lesson you need the lesson to be an example in good practice. And what exactly they should do at home because it is so hard for students to apply these strategies if they have not been using them in the Letson and they haven’t had you to guide them through it it’s much like learning a new piece or a new concept.
: You wouldn’t probably just leave them at it to do that at home. So you need to treat practice strategies and ideas in the same way no matter how simple it may seem to you. It is always going to be easier for the student to just sit down at the piano at home and play through their piece from start to finish. They’re always going to feel like that’s the easier option if you don’t walk them through it and show them the result they can get when they use these effective practice ideas using strategies like you find in the practice or in my practice pro Korth or on the practice Euro board will help move the needle toward them being results oriented so that they’re focused on what they’re getting done during their practice time and not just showing up at the piano. Now in the practice pro course which was just released in the VMT library members can access that now I talk about this in terms of three levels of practice. Well technically for low level 0 is where students are not practicing regularly at all. So if that’s the case you’re going to go back to trying to form that habit and doing everything you can to work with them and the parents have a serious job. Use incentives.
: Do what you need to do to get them practice thing at least a few times a week level one is regular practice. Now this doesn’t have to be super regular. It could be three days a week. I’ll count that as regular practice. That’s something for some students we need to accept that that’s what they have available. That Yanto or whatever instrument you’re teaching is not their top utmost priority right now and they’re having taster courses in several other activities as well. So if three days a week is all you can get then take it and use it to the best possible use of that time. Which brings us on to level two level two is about Verrett practice a student who is a level 2 is doing different things during their practice time. They’re not just playing their piece from start to finish. They are working with different practice strategies practice games and practice look a little bit different every day. It’s not just start to finish start to finish. I’m finished. There’s a lot more involved than that. However level 3 is what I call practice pro level and I practice pro is someone who is really planning out how they spend their time in the practice room. So they’re working out what needs to be done with their Ps or their scales or whatever they’re working on and figuring out the best way to tackle that in the time they have available to make the most progress.
: Now in the practice pro course I talk about how even as teachers many of us are not at level 3 all the time. Sometimes we’re at level two and we’re just doing different things that might be a good idea. Sometimes we’re at level one and we just show up at the piano or our instrument and put in some time. And I like to be honest with students about that because if they think about practice as something that needs to be amazing or doesn’t count that’s not really the right message to send and it’s not going to lead to them feeling good about their practice time. So we want to be honest about the fact that we’re not always Level 3 sometimes we’re Level 2 and sometimes we’re Level 1 and that’s how it’s going to be for them too. But the aim is to be at level three as much of the time as possible. Having that planned focused narrowed in practice time where they know exactly what they’re supposed to be doing and why they’re doing it is the best way to make progress at the piano. The full practice course goes into activities that can help reveal this to students and help them to understand how they get these concrete results from their practice time and what they can do to move up to level three as much of the time as possible using an exercise we call the practice.
: Dr. if you’re interested in the practice pro course you can of course get it inside the VMT library so if you’re a VMT member just hop on over to videos and then courses and you’ll find it there. And if you’re not a member you can sign up at VMT dot ninja. If you’re enjoying the vibrant music teaching podcast. Make sure you Subscribe whether you’re listening in iTunes Stitcher on the Google store or wherever else whether you’re on my own site. Make sure that you subscribe to it because you’re going to want to get these episodes as soon as they come out each and every week and I’d love to hear what you think of them as you go. So write to me in the vibrant music studio teachers group on Facebook and let me know what you think about practice. How do you set yourself and your students up for greatness with a new school year. And is there any part of this that you disagree with. Do you prefer to have a requirement of minutes per week or something like that. Let me know why you think that’s a better way to go if so or anything else that you disagree with. I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions. I don’t mind some healthy debate around it so hop on over to the Facebook group and I’ll chat to you there. Bye for now.
: If you enjoyed this episode of the vibrant music teaching podcast then you would love vibrant music teaching membership. For just nineteen ninety five U.S. dollars a month. You get access to a huge library of games and activities a supportive community and courses and lesson plans that make your teaching easier. Including the brand new practice pro course which is available right now to VMT members under the courses menu. Find out more about membership and sign up at VMT dot Ninga today.
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