Once the excitement of the new school year has faded, it’s a great idea to start a studio-wide practice incentive to ramp up the enthusiasm.
Last year we did the “Pump-Kin Up The Practice” incentive and many of you followed along and also held the practice event in your studios. So, this year, we wanted to give you something new!
This year, we’re giving away our “Wanted In The Wild West” Practice Incentive complete with all of the printables you’ll need to rock this incentive in your studio.
Before You Begin This Practice Incentive…
The success of your studio-wide practice events depends heavily on the excitement you are able to generate before the event begins. Be sure to post promotional posters (we have one for you), write about it in your studio newsletter and share it on your studio Facebook page. It’s essential that everyone knows something fun is about to begin!
I also recommend decorating your studio to the hilt. With places like OrientalTrading.com you’ll never be at a loss for inexpensive decor (these decorations happen to fit perfectly with this theme). Decorations make everyone (including parents!) more excited to be a part of the practice incentive… and this means more practice happens!
How it Works:
To begin, your piano students receive their own Wanted Poster (download, print and cut 4 to a page). They can either draw a picture of themselves in the frame, or you can snap quick photos of your students the week before the event begins and paste these photographs onto their Wanted Posters for some really great wall-appeal.
Next, mount the following posters on poster paper and display them on a prominent wall in your studio in the following order: (from bottom to top) The Repetition Ranch, Creative Canyon, The Inspriation Inn and the World Famous Practice Cactus. Your students will be moving their Wanted Posters between these destinations, so you’ll also want to grab some double-sided tape to allow for easy movement on your wall.
Print out and distribute the “Wanted In the Wild West” practice task sheet. This sheet contains 4 weeks of tasks that your piano students must complete in order to move up the wall and onto the next destination. All of their Wanted Posters start at the Repetition Ranch. As each week’s tasks are completed, your students move their individual poster to the next destination in line until they reach The Practice Cactus. Reaching The Practice Cactus gives them the opportunity to “clear their name”; thus proving to you, The “Sheriff Of Practice”, that they may be freed them from their “wanted status”… and should receive a reward (of your choice).
Everything required for this practice incentive is provided below except for the tasks your students must complete once they reach the Practice Cactus.
We’ve left this final “showdown” at the Practice Cactus up to you. That way, you can tailor it to fit your individual studio’s goals, your students’ strengths and/or the level of difficulty you want to present to obtain the reward. Personally, I’ll be using “Shhh…Your Piano Teacher Thinks This is Practice”; picking 6 different practice tasks that my students must complete using their current piece (a fun way to “test” their practice skills… and it’s super simple to prepare!)
Get Your Freebie Printables Below!
Please Note: Visual appeal is extremely important in engaging your piano students in events such as this one. We highly recommend sending these printables as a pdf file to your local print shop. This saves you money in terms of ink, but also results in a very high-quality end-product that you can proudly display in your studio.
Wild West Practice Incentive Promotional Poster
Wanted In the Wild West Practice Sheet (print in black and white)
Enjoy! We’d LOVE to see pictures of this incentive “in action” in your studios!
Stacey says
Oh my goodness this sounds like so much fun!
Hee haw! I can’t wait to get it started with my pupils next year. Since that’s when the new year starts in South Africa. This year we did a Frozen theme, so Im sure the boys will appreciate this one! It will be an absolute blast!
Ride on cowboys!
Andrea says
That’s awesome Stacey! Send pictures 🙂
Beth Yantz says
What fun. I need to figure out how to tweak it for the music store setting I work in. My students ask about each other, this could also provide a sense of community, as well as practice incentive, if I can make it work!
Carol says
Thanks so much! I’m introducing it at our group lessons today. I am having each student choose their Wild West name from the music dictionary. So far we have Rasgado Ryan.
Mary J says
I love this idea, however, I do not have a studio. I go to my student’s house to give their lesson. Any suggestions on how to use this program in my situation?
Krista Woelk says
I also travel to my student’s homes. You could shrink or print smaller versions of the posters so they fit onto one page that goes into your students binder/duotang/notebook, whatever you use to write their lessons in each week. This might take some cutting out and gluing onto a piece of paper to create a new original. The students then put a sticker, check off or something as they move through each of the Wild West Locations. I usually have a pretty good idea of how many students are in different locations if anyone is asking where they are compared to my other students. Hope this helps.
Evangelina says
you’re ideas rock… thanks for inspiring our profession. Evangelina from Argentina =)
Rachel says
What a neat idea! I’m from Colorado so this is perfect for us! It would make a great summer music camp theme too.
Your Muttzart and Ratmaninoff book is a favorite here. Are you coming out with a sequel to that? Kids love the funny story line and easy to do activities that get them creating their own songs right away.