We all know how to teach piano. But do you know how to teach your piano students to practice? If you’re finding yourself stuck in the never-ending cycle of simply relying on practice minutes per day or number of days practiced per week to determine your students’ success at home, then read on!
Piano Practice 101
A very large portion of your piano lessons should be spent teaching your piano students how to practice. Specifically how to practice the piano effectively. There is a huge difference between practice days logged and efficient practice. And the difference between those two can actually affect the success of your studio!
How?
1. Students who practice every single day, but don’t practice efficiently, will progress slower than students who are efficient practicers. Progressing students are integral to your studio’s success, as progressing students are motivated, and therefore more committed to lessons.
2. Students who practice efficiently enjoy their home piano time much more than students who are simply required to put in the time. Piano practice without specific structure and concrete guidance becomes horribly repetitive and really quite boring.
3. Students who are taught to practice effectively are more confident when learning pieces on their own. Taking ownership over ones own learning is important for piano students; and teaching students to practice well is the first step towards that wonderful moment when they can learn a piece all on their own.
Think Like a Coach When Teaching Piano Students How to Practice
Can you imagine a pro golfer who never worked on his swing, but simply went out and played 18 holes every day? Or a soccer player who never practiced shooting on a net but simply played games and hoped for the best? Athletes know that skill progression relies on carefully planned training. Sure, that golfer and that soccer player will eventually get better – they would improve simply because they’ve put in time; but they would be rapidly passed by their peers who had trained in a more efficient and manner.
So, think like a coach when sending your piano students home to practice and be as detailed as you can. What specific skills are involved in their current piece? How can they develop those skills away from the book? How can they work through any barriers they encounter? What would you like them to do the moment they sit at the piano at home? What would you like them to cognitively understand about what they are playing? How will they demonstrate this understanding to you at your next lesson together? These are just some of the questions that will help you to begin to coach their home practice time.
Try saying “goodbye” to the notion of number of days practiced and instead set your sights on efficiency. It’s a switch that will make a big difference… and rapidly! You’ll find that home practice minutes naturally increase as your piano student becomes invested in the process, and you’ll soon be able to track progress and skill acquisition instead of simply practice days.
Great post! Thanks for sharing, I too spend much of the lesson time showing students how to practice as well
Thank you for posting this! I was never really taught how to practice until I got to college, and had an amazing professor who really taught me what practice should look like. I really feel like I could have been WAY more advanced had I learned earlier on how to practice effectively. I always hated practicing growing up, even though I loved the piano. I was the student that would skirt by on as little practice as possible and would fool my teacher into thinking I had practiced more, simply because the pieces weren’t challenging enough and I could sight read most of them (that is until I got into more advanced stuff in my teenage years). That is not what I want for my students!
Thanks for the great reminder! Sounds like a recipe for expecting parents to be at lessons more so they can accurately help the students practice at home too! So often my students will go home and practice as if they didn’t hear a word I shared. Maybe that corrects itself with a different approach at lesson but then I hear parents complain that their kids complained that they didn’t have enough to do. I feel caught in the middle. Another blog on that someday would be great! Thanks again for sharing!
I’m glad you post about this. I’ve actually been wondering if I’ve been spending too much time modelling and talking about practice strategies…but I probably haven’t. It just FEELS that way sometimes. My piano/music teachers never really taught me to practice that way, and instead, I just remember that my band instructor really lead our group in certain ways and I applied the same principles to my piano practice. I didn’t practice piano a lot, but I think I practiced effectively. I am always trying to give the kids (ages 7-12 right now – and mayny who are completely overscheduled)different ideas on on how to manage a larger practice chunk and balance it out with some little ones here and there….as well as what practice looks like throughout the week. They seem to be catching on because most of them tell me that they really notice when they practice “my” way and when they don’t. 🙂
At each lesson I send my students home with a Practice Plan for each piece. I write down what measures or line with individual spot assignments. I list 4 or 5 problem areas and then have the student perform the song before moving on to another piece. The Practice Plan changes as the piece becomes polished and ready for performance. I post the plan on large post it notes and stick it to the music! We go through the plan at lesson and I remind them to go through the Practice Plan everyday at home. It works.
I agree. Would love to see a post about coaching tips- other than ‘drill this measure’ or ‘don’t play from beginning.’ I mean there is playing very slowly, exaggerating certain hand motions/dynamics, etc., switching up rhythms a bit, isolating a problem area, blocking chords, recognizing patterns, playing hands separately…..what else??
I remember going to a Francis Clark 3 day seminar years…..ago and her thoughts on teaching a student how to practice were astonishing to me at the time. I used her ideas for years…..push the clock forward and I’m needing new strategies. So coaching questions and drills would be great. Let’s hear some more on this topic!
What were some of the strategies that Frances Clarke shared that you were most impressed with? After all these years of trying them, it would be helpful for us to hear which ones worked!