I had a sneaking suspicion that one of my transfer students was a “start to end’er”. One of those piano students who considers practicing to mean “Play my piece from start to finish as many times as Mom tells me to.”
His piece came back with the same mistakes each week (actually, those mistakes were now solidified and un-breakable habits). The start of his piece was waaaaay better than the ending (the result of drifting focus as his repetitions went on) and if any little stumble happened mid-way, he’d have go back to the beginning again to re-start.
My sneaking suspicion was actually blatant, “wack-you-in-the-face” knowledge. And so I needed to do something to change this student’s deeply ingrained practice habits.
Eat Popsicles… Make Piano Practice Progress
To start, I needed 12 popsicle sticks… and fast. I don’t eat processed sugar and neither does Trevor, so my Goldendoodle happily polished off a box of creamsicles for me. I’m kidding… I went to the dollar store.
Armed with my dozen popsicle sticks and a small glass jar, I presented my student with his “Popsicle Practice Sticks” at his next lesson. We followed the directions below and I waited two weeks to measure his progress. It worked like a dream…sicle (couldn’t resist that one!).
Creating Popsicle Practice Sticks
You’ll need 12 popsicle sticks, a small jar or container and a fine-tipped sharpie marker. Your student’s task is to come up with 12 different, pro-active practice strategies and write each one task on a popsicle stick. The popsicle sticks get put in a jar and head home with your student.
When he sits down to play his piece at home, he pulls out six of the sticks at random, completes the tasks listed and THEN he is “finished practicing” that piece. None of the tasks can be “Practice from the start to the end”.
Sample Piano Practice Tasks
Start your student off with a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing (ie. “Roll two dice, add up the number shown and begin playing from that measure.” or “Play every other measure only.” or “Skip every F in the piece.”) and then let the brainstorming begin. He chooses his favourite 12 and writes them onto the popsicle sticks to take home.
The most important part of this activity is having your piano student come up with his own pro-active practice tasks. Simply feeding him tasks to complete at home will not result in as big of a difference as will allowing him to self-reflect and direct his own learning.
My student came up with some really inventive pro-active practice tasks that I would never have dreamed up, so hand over the reins and let your students take charge.
For some really inventive piano practice strategies check out our resource, Shhhh… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is Practice. This fantastic book provides 88 home practice activities that are absolutely, positively, most definitely, NOT BORING!
Mindful Practice Means Major Progress
Most accomplished musicians know practicing from start-to-finish is the least productive way of learning and perfecting a piece (in our past podcast with Dr. Christine Carter she explains exactly why this is so, calling on brain research to prove her point) but your young piano students and their parents may fall into the trap. So, send home this little practice aid as a fun way to introduce your students to a new way of practicing and watch their progress soar!
Read Also
How to Create Peaceful Practice… And End Practice Wars for Good!
It’s Simple, It’s Super, It’s ‘Tap Practice’ – Revolutionize Your Students’ Performance Prep
Stephani says
February 24, 2015 at 6:00 amI love the Guide to Piano Practice. It’s a 3 page brochure-folded bit of gold. It has upward of 50 practice strategies. This would work well to implement a similar thing for an older student who is working on more complicated music. I know even my students who practice well can get in a rut, so having lots of practice strategies at their fingertips is helpful. Great idea. And I laugh when I thought you fed your dog the Popsicles. Your posts are always entertaining. (And kudos to no refined sugar!)
Nancy says
February 24, 2015 at 7:24 amStephani, where can I find the “Guide to Piano Practice?”
Lena Purnell says
February 24, 2015 at 7:51 amI have one titled “Guide to Effective Practicing” by Nancy O’Neill Breth published by Hal Leonard. her description sounds like the same brochure.
Colleen Branson says
August 6, 2015 at 8:50 amIs it the parent one or the student one that you have Lena? Are they both good, do you know.
Sherry says
February 24, 2015 at 6:10 amLove this idea! I will be implementing this one today!
Dorla says
February 24, 2015 at 6:36 amOn my way to buy Popsicles! 🙂
Dianne Chrestopoulos says
February 24, 2015 at 6:59 amI love this idea! You guys are so creative- when and how do you come up with so many fun and practical but completely necessary ideas? Do you ever sleep? I can’t tell you how much I enjoy reading and using all of your ideas. I also belong to the monthly game club and these are SO fun, my kids love each week seeing what new game they get to play – and variety in all of them. I also recently signed up for the monthly book club and although I don’t have very many older kids, The Battle of Arranmore from this month is fantastic! I loved playing through the pieces – worth way more than the small subscription price and I highly recommend anyone teaching to subscribe to both of these. Thanks Andrea and Trevor for making playing the piano so much better!
Linda says
February 24, 2015 at 10:44 amI second everything Dianne said! I love getting up to see what is in my Inbox for the day! Thank you so much! Doing the popsicle stick today!
What I don’t understand is that so many of my messages come at 6:00 a.m and gee that is early! The beauty of being a retired music educator but still loving teaching!
Andrea says
February 25, 2015 at 9:12 pmHi Linda – thanks so much for your kind words! Our emails actually go out at 4am, but our blog is international and so it’s a different time for everyone 🙂 … believe me, we aren’t up at that time!
Sandra says
February 24, 2015 at 7:06 amLOL …I call those start to end-er students ‘A to Z-ers’. Same problem. Often that habit has been engendered by well-meaning parents who think this is the way to practice. ….I have tried various things but I like your popsicle stick idea, with kids proposing their own practice tasks.
Shelley says
February 24, 2015 at 8:46 amAwesome ideas! Stephani, I’m also curious where you found the 50 practice suggestions.
Mallory says
February 24, 2015 at 10:00 amThis is a really fun idea! Usually with these students I will have them number sections of their piece 1-6 (or 1-12 if it’s longer) then send them home with a die or set of dice. They roll the die and it tells them which section to start on, and for that week, they are not allowed to play straight through from the begining (unless by some strange chance they roll their sections in order!)
Tammy says
February 24, 2015 at 10:29 amhttp://www.amazon.com/Students-Effective-Practicing-Leonard-Student/dp/0634068849
lynn kiesewetter says
June 4, 2015 at 10:42 amI do something similar with colored 3×5 index cards. They are kept in the front pocket of the binder. They are generic suggestions, so they can be used with lots of pieces. Some are just silly things, like “close your eyes and tell me the name of the bottom and top keys on the piano” Some are specific- ” Play the last 4 bars backwards.” Sometimes I’ll just say- do one yellow and 2 blue ones. Sometimes I’ll pick out appropriate ones. Periodically we add to the pile. I invite them to draw pictures on the them, too.
Nancy says
October 7, 2015 at 8:07 amMy students are all pretty young – I’m thinking it would be more effective if I gave them a big list of ideas and let them choose the ones they want. So I would LOVE more suggestions from teachers!
Karen Morris says
March 28, 2016 at 2:38 pmI know reviewing finished pieces is so VERY important… For one, the student retains a repertoire. Two, the piece get better and better. And for three, the student retains the skills already learned. This makes the next pieces easier to learn. So I have my students have three cups on their piano. 1) “To Do” 2) “Working On” 3) “Done”… written on the three cups. The title of each song/piece is written on a popsicle stick. It only takes a few minutes a day to go through ALL their pieces during the week. The students who DON’T do this will forget their pieces, and will only know/part way know their current new piece. Can your students play 50 pieces, or only the most recent songs? Think about it. Popsicle sticks are great!
Debbie says
October 2, 2019 at 6:16 amI know this is an old post, but I have a question… at what point do you recommend students develop into this style of practice? For the most part I’ve got only very young and very new students. None of their songs are currently more than two lines long. And they are learning basic concepts that are very new to them. (I’m using the Wunderkeys books.) I’m not sure if this kind of practice would be helpful for them at this point, or just confuse them more. Any thoughts?