Young piano students respond well to goal-setting. When they have a concrete target to work towards they are more likely to participate in regular and purposeful home practice. And while I aspire to encourage piano practice simply “for the love of music”, my students need regular boosts as they build the skills required to play repertoire that they find motivating.
These “boosts” usually come in the form of rewards. When my piano students achieve their goals, it’s fun to celebrate their progress with something special. Sometimes, however, celebratory piano lesson rewards get a “bad rap” as they’re commonly associated with a “prize”. But this doesn’t have to be the case.
Today we’re sharing 15 ideas you can use to celebrate your piano students’ success… without using stickers or candy.
15 Unique Ways To Celebrate Your Piano Students’ Efforts
If you need to motivate your piano students to work towards learning goals, pick a reward from the list below. Your students will delight in working towards meaningful celebrations of their efforts. And the best part? Not only are these “prizes” motivating for young piano students, but they also contribute to the goal of making music itself the ultimate reward!
1. A Coveted Piece
Every piano studio has “that piece”… it’s the one that your piano students hear their friends perform at your recital and then beg you to play, or the one that they’ve heard on the radio, or the one that their friend from school played in the talent show. Working towards a beloved piece is an exciting way to encourage practice and skills acquisition.
2. Your Studio Mascot
We shared our Studio Mascot Practice Buddy several years ago and studios around the globe are still loving and using their practice mascots! Offering the opportunity to take home your studio mascot as a reward is a great way to pump up the enthusiasm for your studio mascot program. It’s also a great way to keep practice on the right track after reaching goals and working towards new ones.
3. A Spot On Your “Brag Wall”
Having a “Brag Wall” in your waiting area is a fabulous way to share your students’ successes. For an easy way to implement a Brag Wall, select four categories (for example, “This Week’s Practice Stars”, “This Week’s Theory Champs”, “This Week’s Creative Composers” etc.) and create headings for each. Next, take photos of your piano students and post their photos under the appropriate heading when goals are met.
4. A Special Video Recording
Kids love to see themselves on video, so offer the opportunity to create a “mini documentary” of your student that explains what he achieved and how he reached his goal. The video can end with a demonstration or his newly-squired skills. Share the video with parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends! Always obtain parental consent before taking any videos or photographs of your students.
5. An Invitation To A Piano Party
While you may already incorporate group lessons or piano parties into your schedule, consider hosting a special party for students who have reached certain goals. This is a great way to increase enthusiasm in your studio. Select an educational party theme that your piano students will find exciting to pump-up the prestige factor 🙂
6. A Package of Practice Tools
If you use teaching tools in your studio that your students love (ie. mini erasers, our practice pegs, toy animals etc.) offer a small “practice package” of these teaching tools as a reward for students who have achieved their goals.
7. An Invitation To A Studio Outing
Exposing your piano students to live music is a great motivator in and of itself, but when the chance to be part of a select number of students headed to a live music event is offered, you double-up on the motivation factor! Seek out an inexpensive and family-friendly live music event and offer students who meet their goals the opportunity to come on a field trip.
8. A Take-Home Piano Game
Many teachers have set up a game-lending library in their studios, but if you haven’t done so yet, consider offering a “take-home piano game” as a reward for a job well done. Students love the chance to include Mom, Dad and siblings as at-home game opponents, and teachers love getting families involved in home practice!
A membership to PianoGameClub makes “take-home games” easy! All of our games are studio-licensed, meaning you can print as many copies as you like! Plus, 4 brand new games every month means you’ll always have a new game ready to excite your students.
9. Duets and Partner Lessons
Collaborating with a friend to learn a duet is one of the most enjoyable experiences you can give your piano students. Offer your goal-achievers the opportunity to take part in partner lessons in preparation for a duet performance. Attending lessons “with a buddy” is exciting and fun and gives your students the skills they need to collaborate with other musicians.
10. Recognition On Your Studio’s Social Media Pages
A great deal of excitement can be generated by recognizing your piano students in a special way on Instagram and/or Facebook studio pages. Create a shareable image by photoshopping a simple “Congratulations!” graphic over student photos or have your students hold one of our studio props and then snap a picture to share. Share the images only after parental consent has been confirmed.
11. The Power To Choose
If you have piano students who absolutely love certain aspects of their piano lessons, then offering them the opportunity to pick the lesson format for one week is often one of the greatest rewards you can offer! Give them complete control over what activities are included, how long you spend on each one, and the order in which the activities occur.
12. Participation in a Studio-Wide Event
Young children love small changes in routine, so hosting a studio-wide event that is easy, silly and fun is a great way to motivate your students. For example, goal achievers might be invited to wear their pajamas to lessons during “Pajama Week”, or colorful socks to lessons during “Crazy Sock Week”.
13. Piano Parent Participation
Offering your piano students the chance to invite Mom or Dad for a “partner lesson” is a great way for your piano students to share their pride in their accomplishments. Have your students and parents play simple improv duets or piano games and then allow Mom or Dad the opportunity to sit back and enjoy a mini-concert of their child’s latest accomplishments.
14. A Swap in Roles
Your piano students will delight in the opportunity to “be the teacher” for a lesson. They get to sit in your chair, direct the lesson activities, correct you when required, choose the piano game you’ll play, or teach you a new piece. This is not only great fun, but also a powerful “learn by teaching” tool.
What About Number Fifteen?
For our last idea we want to hear from all of you wonderfully-creative teachers out there. What do you use in your piano studio to reward piano student achievements? Share in the comments below.
It amazes me how effective it is to make a video of my kids performing their new piece. It’s particularly effective when you the kid to make a final push from an OK performance with a few understandable mistakes, to a perfect performance. We always immediately watch the video and they usually see where they’re going wrong and they always want to be better. They love watching themselves, especially when you make it fun by doing a dramatic or amusing introduction and round of applause at the end. I just use my phone, and share the video only with the parents.
It’s so true! Video is so fun for the kids (and parents) – it creates such a great yearbook too as they continue piano lessons for years 🙂
I agree with some of them but, ensure that you have authorization from parents before posting pictures and shout outs etc….. Privacy laws apply.
This is what I use with my students, genuine praises. They know I will always give them a “unique” compliment if they did a good job. Children need a lot of positive support. I might even say “I think you play that piece better than me, can you show me again?”
Hi Kristine – yes, permission is important. We do specifically mention this at least twice in this post as it is a consideration. Many teachers have a media release form in their registration routine.
Genuine praise is also a great motivator 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
There is always the “high-five”!!!!!
So true Debbie! Sometimes simple gestures mean the most 🙂
For my little ones ( up to age 12) I have a treasure box that they get to pick from once a month for their hard work & practice. They earn 5 stickers each week for good work that lead up to treasure box day. For my teens, I do a lot of what you have suggested & will do even more thanks to you! The one my tweens & teens love the most are $5 gift cards to cool teen places like an ice cream store, coffee shop , or a gift card to buy apps/music for thier phones.
Sounds like a lot of fun Jennifer! I love your easy system for it as well 🙂
I make CDs of the kids and teens for their moms as a special Mother’s Day gift. That is a practice motivator and reward like none other. We don’t tell the mothers, so it will be a surprise. The students plan out which songs to use and practice them faithfully for a month or so before. When they are ready, we record the songs and when l am burning the disc, they draw or colour on a paper sleeve for the cover. They are thrilled to present it to their mothers, and the bonus is that they are very well prepared for the year end reciital. I have received many heartfelt thanks from moms, but the best part is how rewarding it is for the students. I already have some asking if we are going to them again in the Spring! Better than candy 🙂
Hi Ronda – I also do CD’s and it’s incredible how much they practice in preparation for “Recording Day”! I create CD liners in a photo program and they look amazing! Love your idea of their own artwork though!
what recording equipment do you use?
Hi Lynn – I use Garage band with a MIDI hook-up to my keyboard 🙂
Once a piece sounds good we do an audio recording of it. Then, as a “special treat”, we take a few minutes and turn it into an iMovie. If it’s an older student and a long piece, I send them the audio recording and let them do their own thing and then they bring it to their next lesson. For young kids and short songs, we make the movie right there at the piano in the last 10 minutes of their lesson time. All the kids love doing this!
I love the idea of an audio recording and have done that — and occasionally the parents have videoed their child perform at the end of a lesson. The iMovie sounds intriguing — but could you be more specific or give an example of what that could be? Thanks!
I have been following your emails with great interest and have noticed that some of your suggestions involve taking photos of your students. They are lovely ideas but here, in England, you just could not do this unless you had written consent from all the parents.
Hi Jackie – yes, this is important no matter where you live. We mention this specifically at least twice in this post as it’s definitely a consideration. Most teachers have a media release form in their registration package – but if you don’t it is important to get permission.
I love all of these. I recently started using beads instead of stickers and so far the kids are loving it. They have the choice of making a necklace, keychain or light catcher. The kids receive a bead every week they meet their practice goals, and we do sight-reading, ear training and rhythm challenges in-lesson where they can earn extra beads. It also works with motivating/rewarding good behavior and focus at the lesson. At the end of the month, if they have met all their goals, they can choose a special bead. I’m not a big fan of a prize box with cheap plastic toys that kids and parents don’t really need, but I like the idea of something tangible that can show them how much work they’ve put in. Plus, it cost less than $50 to set it up for my entire studio.
So Kate, are these just the small beads? Do you provide leather, etc. for them to make a bracelet, necklace, etc. Would love to hear more about how you set this us. Thanks.
yes! I bought a tub of small colored beads as well as a few strings of more expensive beads: jewels, stones, baseballs, pumpkins, etc. last month I did a pianolympics so the kids won gold or silver beads at the end of the month. I gave them each about a foot of string and I bought keychain hooks and suction cups for those who didn’t want a necklace.
That is a really neat idea, to collect items to make something!
exactly! so much better than a prize box in my opinion 🙂
Great idea Kate! I would have loved this as a child 🙂
thanks andrea, me too!
I love the idea of doing student recording CDs. Just wondering how your make the recording. I have a MacBook with Garage and, but is the audio quality okay? Any suggestions from anyone who has done this successfully?
Hi Sarah – you can get great microphones off Amazon. I just use Garage band and I have a keyboard with a MIDI connector so the sound goes directly into Garageband. Quality is great!
I have the board game Musopoly. When my students have 5 very good lessons they get to play Musopoly for an entire lesson! We keep track of it by using a star cut out of colored construction paper (they like choosing their favorite color). When they have a really good lesson I put the date in one of the points of the star. When all 5 points are filled up, they play Musopoly. It’seems a bignore deal to get a “point” on their star! They know they have to work hard to get to play Musopoly! It’sounds fun for them, but they are still learning because they have to name notes, clap rhythms, define terms and perform pieces. Win win!
I am having problems getting this article to print.
Any suggestions?
I have tried twice.
Thank you for your time. Ethelyn
Hi Ethelyn – the best way would be to “copy and paste” the text into a word document and then print it 🙂 Web pages aren’t generally formatted for printing so you’re best to take the text out to print it.