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How To Teach Piano To “Nancy Neverpractice”

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I used to be a Nancy Neverpractice.  And I’m not ashamed to admit it. I loved my piano lessons.  I loved my piano teacher.  Often I loved the pieces I was assigned.  But I did not love to practice the piano.

In fact… I got pretty good at avoiding it at all costs. And while I ended up spending most of my later life on the piano bench, my early years in piano lessons were successful only because I happened to be smart, I knew how to cram, and my piano teacher liked me too much to give me the heave-ho.  I can only imagine how much I would have accomplished if I had a) spent more time on the piano at home and b) used the time I did spend there more wisely.  But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Why?

Because as a former Nancy Neverpractice, I can now spot a fellow Nancy a mile away and know how to prevent her from becoming a Leslie Loses-interest and then a Kylie Quitter. Here’s how:

Piano Students Who Don’t Practice

Music lessons are one of the few extracurricular activities that require a daily commitment from a young child. Most activities (aside from ones that are geared towards extremely competitive sports) simply require the child to attend one or two times a week where their “practice” is completely supervised, structured and directed. When you think of it this way, we’re actually asking a lot of our young piano students to have enough self-discipline to practice on their own at home day in and day out. The thought process of “If I work hard at this then I will improve” requires a certain level of maturity that many children just don’t yet have. It’s so much easier to show up at dance class or hockey, surrounded by a group of friends, and be directed by your instructor.

Remember Your Audience…

As a young piano student my practice was anything but fun. My assignment book was a plain piece of lined paper in a black binder. My assignments for the week were written in a difficult-to-deciper handwriting and were nothing more than “drill measure 18 hands separately” and other such uninspired directions. My pieces came from black and white (and slightly faded) repertoire books. My piano was in the coldest and darkest room of the house. It’s amazing that I lasted through 18 years of piano lessons. Most kids wouldn’t have. Most kids don’t.

When Practice Becomes Play

For piano practice to truly be something your students accept as a part of their daily life it needs to be fun.  It is simply human nature to avoid that which is unpleasant. As adults, we’ve learned to accept that life is full of unpleasant “must-do’s”… but for a child this is a tough  pill to swallow. And if you’re in the business of selling piano lessons to kids you’ll want to stay away from unpleasantness as much as possible. The key is in turning “Practice” into “Play”. It can be done, and it can be done in a way that produces results that are every bit (if not more) beneficial than the age-old “sit and practice your piano for 45 minutes a day” approach.  All kids are proficient at one thing… and that is play. Tap into this natural inclination and watch their skills blossom.

Give Nancy The Equipment She Needs To Play

Nancy Neverpractice needs you, but she doesn’t need you to spend your time making up practice charts, offering reward systems and shopping at the dollar store for tempting trinkets. She needs your attention; but she doesn’t need reminders and reprimands. What she needs is fairly simple:  She needs you to show her that piano practice can be enjoyable. Writing “drill measures 24-30” is pointless. Your student may or may not drill those measures. And you can bet they’re not having fun doing so! You need to able to create reasons behind the practice that needs to happen. Make practice into a game.  Be inventive, innovative and exciting in your approach. Give your student the equipment she needs to play the piano.

I learned quickly that all piano students have the capacity to be a Nancy Neverpractice… they just vary in the degree of their “Nancy-ness”. As their piano teacher you should continually treat each and every one of your students as a potential member of the Neverpractice family. But if the thought of coming up with inventive, fun and motivating practice activities exhausts you… I hear ya!  I spent the last 14 years of my life creating unique and fun ways for my students to practice the piano.  And I spent the last 6 months putting them all into a resource that is available simply by clicking here “Shhh…Your Piano Teacher Thinks This is Practice”.

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17 Responses to How To Teach Piano To “Nancy Neverpractice”

  1. I admit I was a little skeptical at first, but went ahead and purchased the “book” anyway. Much to my surprise, the first week that I handed out “fun activities” (I can them this) all but 1 student had done the activity. Thank you.

    Reply

    • Hi Joyce – that’s great to hear! I think the book is so different from what piano students are used to seeing that they can’t help but be interested 🙂 I hope it continues to make practicing fun for your students.

      Reply

  2. I have found that, when all else fails, a very reliable cure for the student who doesn’t seem to practice enough (or who clearly only practices the day before their lesson) is to insist that they have more than one lesson each week. When the student has two (or three, if they can afford it and the schedule allows it) lessons each week, two things happen: 1) the “crammer” is now cramming more often, guaranteeing at least two good days of practice at home, instead of one; 2) the second lesson of the week becomes a supervised practice session with the instructor. Now, you’ve created a situation where the student who was getting one lesson (usually of going back over the same material as last week) and one day a week of practice is now having 4 productive days at the piano every week. Parents are usually resistant, at first, to double the amount of money they are investing into a child who isn’t practicing. But I can usually talk them into trying it for a month, or two. The results are so dramatic, and so immediate, that it’s usually difficult to ever convince them to go back to once-a-week lessons. And the pattern has become so convincing to me that I am actually considering requiring two lessons a week for all first-year students.

    Reply

    • Hi Rebecca,

      Good points. I would love to live in an area where bi-weekly lessons were an option for families. I know the results would be dramatic! Where we are this would just not be accessible for many families – so I have to do my best to inspire them for the 6 days they weren’t with me. You are so right that the continuity of twice a week would be ideal. Thanks so much for commenting and presenting this idea.

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    • I have actually just started doing 2 lessons a week with one of my students a few months ago. It has done wonders for his progress. This particular child has ADHD and some kind of learning disability (I don’t know the particulars but his mother mentioned it to me in passing). However, I have other students who would do the same thing: Cram the day before and do nothing else. I teach at my home and after school 3 days at a private school, so it’s not really possible for most of them to do twice a week, but I like your idea of requiring it for first years.

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  3. Children love their piano lessons because it is one to one with an adult, and many of them don’t get this at home. It is a chance to feel special, as it all about them. Practicing by oneself seems lonely and that is why kids don’t do this. But….when a child does practice, comes to the lesson, and the teacher really praises him or her, the child gets excited and wants to continue pleasing the teacher. I have a student who is in this category now. She was a non-practicing student for four years, and this year I told her she is one of my top students, and that I can’t wait to see her each week, because I know I am going to get a great lesson. I constantly praise her with enthusiasm, and I have sent several e mails to her mom. Sometimes just a little effort on the teacher’s part can make a big difference……plus exciting music too!

    Reply

    • Hi Hope

      I just love your positive approach to teaching. You seem to have a knack for creating strong relationships with your students. They are lucky to have you!

      Reply

  4. How long do other teachers say practice -at -home time should be? I teach ages 5-9 and I find myself at a loss when telling each parent how long to practice. Thanks for any advice/ thoughts.

    Sarah
    Piano Adventures Beacon

    Reply

    • I adjust time to each student as needed but my standard expectation is as follows: ages 3-6 — 30 mins a day, 6-8 — 35 mins a day, 8-10 — 45 mins a day.

      I have some 6 yr olds I already have precasting longer because they were begging to. I also have 10 yr olds I am happy to get to practice 30 mins everyday. I adjust older students as their schedule and commitment allow. Every student is unique but this is a general rule of thumb.

      Reply

  5. I have found it helpful to educate and encourage parents to provide feedback for their practicing and budding pianists by simply popping in to say something like, “When you play that song, it makes me feel like dancing!” Educate the parent(s) to listen for fast and slow tempos – happy and sad keys – and then provide appropriate, short and sweet, feedback during practice time. Parents can become great allies in developing a practicing pianist.

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  8. Is “How To Teach Piano to Nancy Neverpractice” actually a book? If it is I would like to purchase it. My daughter has a large piano studio and has some students as we all know who do not practice. This could be very helpful.
    Please let me know.
    Thank You,
    Jodi

    Reply

  9. I was the opposite of Nancy… I was the practicing queen from day one and my mom would kick me off the piano so my siblings could practice. So when I started teaching, I thought it was crazy that kids didn’t practice and struggled trying to convince them to do it. This is an excellent article (and comments) and great advice! Thx so much!

    Reply

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