Have you ever seen the show Punk’d? It’s a reality show that originally featured Ashton Kutcher playing practical jokes on other celebrities. It’s mildly amusing if there is nothing else to watch on television, but it’s downright brilliant if you need to motivate your piano students to practice.
Why My Piano Students Have Been Punk’d
A few years back I had a twelve year old student who didn’t practice… at least, it appeared as though he did not practice. The problem was… I could never say with 100% certainty that he hadn’t practiced.
Which left me with two choices… confront him about his lack of practice, or find a way to motivate him to practice without him realizing he was being motivated to practice.
Having taught my fair share of teens and tweens and being well aware of their varying emotional responses, I chose the latter when dealing with this particular student. That’s not to say I let all kids get away with weeks of no practice, but rather that I do everything in my power to motivate through positivity before pulling out the reprimands.
So What Did I Do?
One week, toward the end of his lesson as he was busy playing, I jotted down a little note on the top of one of his piano pieces. It said, “You’ve been punk’d! Find the messed up measures in the piece below. Then fix them.” With a pencil, I then coloured in a couple of half notes to look like quarter notes and tied a few notes together.
Before he left the lesson I (somewhat jokingly) made him promise to open his book at least once the following week hinting there was a definite reason to do so.
Needless to say, the exercise was a hit. .. although he did say he was a little confused initially. You see, I hadn’t mentioned in my message HOW I had messed up the measures… but he was intrigued enough to have a good look at his music and ended up finding the pencil marks.
In the weeks and months that followed I continued to pull my little prank, not only on him, but on other students as well. And once students were used to the process, all I had to do was mess up a few things in their music, write the words “You’ve been Punk’d!” at the top of the score and let the practice magic happen.
In the end, I had stumbled upon a little practice strategy that was a hit for me and my piano students. Because the message does not appear every week, the activity tends to stay pretty fresh.
And, of course, the most brilliant part of it all is that I have hard, physical proof of piano practice. If the notes are erased I know with some degree of certainty that the piano book was opened and the music was at least analyzed.
And as it happens… once the students have opened their books they tend to play through them as well because… well… the book is open anyway 🙂
How To Motivate With “Quirky”
My piano students love my quirky side. It turns out that “quirky” is incredibly motivating. If you want to infuse your piano studio with a bit of “quirky” and inspire your kids to practice, check out our resource Shhhh… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is Practice. Is is jam-packed with 88 practice strategies that are absolutely, positively, most definitely NOT BORING!
Denise says
I love that idea! I do something similar. At random times during the year, I print out a joke, piano fact, composer fact, etc. on address labels. While the student is playing, I stick the label somewhere in one of their books. Then, on their assignment page, I write a secret message, like “look on page 23 of your theory book for a composer fact.” If they find it and can quote the fact during the next lesson, they get 5 bonus points added to their honor roll points. Boy, are they disappointed if they miss it! I do this at least once a month. It sure makes them read their assignment page! 🙂
Sandra says
Denise ….how does your ‘honour points’ system work? What sorts of things gain a students points in your studio?
Denise says
Send me an email, Sandra, and I’ll give you the information. denisemwest91@gmail.com.
Holly Kukkonen says
Many years ago, when I was just starting, I had a student who just couldn’t practice. The frustrating thing was that she wanted to practice, but other things got in the way during her week. One day, she came in to her lesson beaming. She had solved her problem – instead of putting her books away, as was her practice, and probably what her mother wanted her to do, she left them out on the piano, and opened a book to the piece she wanted to practice. When she walked past the piano, she saw the music open, sat down and played her music. Then she opened the next book, and so on. Her progress just took off after that! If only Punk’d had been around then. Probably Ashton Kushner wasn’t even born then!
Andrea says
Hi Holly – this is funny isn’t it – we actually have a post “waiting in the wings” about this very strategy. It’s all about getting those book OPEN and then the rest hopefully will fall into place! Something so silly… but I guess it’s like putting your gym clothes in the car (you’re more likely to actually go if your stuff is already there!)
Beth T says
In the spring I wrote “ask me for a loonie & I’ll give you one” in his notebook (he never practices, never cracks the book, never reads the assignment). At the end of the following lesson, I asked if he had anything to ask me. “Nope”. I showed him what I had written & he just shrugged & said, “I’ll just ask mom for one instead”. Maybe I’ll try punking him in the fall (yes, he’s back)
Andrea says
That’s the problem with kids these days… they’re difficult to bribe as they’re typically not used to having to wait for something they want! I think the punking works because it’s humor-based, not rewards based. Hope it works for him! 🙂
Roni says
I really enjoyed reading these ideas, thanks everyone. I will try them next year, only a few weeks to go till summer break now!