You pull out all the stops. You use engaging materials, fun music, and an enthusiastic approach. Your studio is thriving… your students are learning and laughing and practicing… and then BUMP!… There’s that one student who interrupts your piano teaching utopia.
No matter what you try, he doesn’t practice, doesn’t smile, doesn’t engage… doesn’t progress. But still, he shows up every week. And every week you pull out all the stops again and again.
And when nothing seems to work, you email Andrea and Trevor 😉
It seems we’ve received a few of these “help me!” emails lately, and they all have a common theme: What can be done with these unmotivated piano students? Are they “save-able?” Should I continue trying?
If you have a hard-to-reach piano student in your studio you’ll want to read on to find the cure to piano student apathy. Kick off your 2017 teaching year with a solid plan for turning things around for your unmotivated piano students.
A Change in Approach = A Change In Response
Many piano students fit nicely into tidy, while somewhat varied, categories. They respond well to unique teaching materials, they are excited by fun music, and they thrive under your joyful approach to music making. But there will always be piano students who do not fit into a mould. And it is these students who require a change in your teaching approach.
This change often begins by asking yourself one question. Why is this student here?
This question is one that you may need assistance in answering, and the best person to provide you with this help is your piano student.
Ask Your Unmotivated Student The Following Questions:
How do you think you will use your piano skills one day?
What do you wish you could do on the piano right now?
The answers to these two questions will surprise you and should be used to direct your approach when teaching your unmotivated piano student. Changing your approach for the unmotivated student may mean changing repertoire choices, providing varied performance opportunities and altering lesson structures.
Of course, in asking these two questions you may also get the dreaded “I don’t know.” When this happens it’s time to embark on some research into what piques your piano student’s interest. Discover together all of the different ways that people use piano skills (collaboration, recording, improvising, writing music) and then grab onto the one that elicits a “That sounds cool.”
Once the detective work is done, you’re off to the races! Your approach to teaching then becomes one of applied skills acquisition. “What does he need to know to be able to _____.”
It becomes easy to direct your lesson activities when there is a clear *why*. It becomes more likely that your student will participate and progress if he knows how each activity, skill or concept will directly contribute to his ultimate goal.
Your Opinion Should Also Have Influence
While it’s great to consider your unmotivated student’s piano lesson wishes, your opinion matters too. What your 11 year old piano student finds motivating at 11 may not be the same when he is 15, 27 or 60. It is for this reason, that you want to address his motivation without neglecting the skills and processes you deem to be important.
Kids’ motivational factors change, and by constructing lessons that blend your ideas with your student’s wishes you will ensure that your (now motivated) student doesn’t have anything holding him back when he decides in 5 years that he’d actually really like to be the accompanist at the local Ballet school.
Finding A Piano Student’s Perfect Repertoire Match
With Teach Piano Today’s PianoBookClub you’ll be prepared no matter what your piano student finds motivating! For just $8 a month you can build a library of piano books quickly and inexpensively. Find out more about our books here.
Rita Cooley says
I am a subscriber. I do not get any info about the books. Are they for sale. I have a student that is being made to take . She does not practice and is very bored it seems.
Andrea says
Hi Rita! You can find out more about PianoBookClub on our website at http://www.pianobookclub.com. Hopefully new and exciting music will be the key to turning things around for your bored student 🙂
Jean says
What do you think is the best way to handle printed digital music—punch holes for binders, use sheet protectors, bind into booklets with comb or spiral bindings?
What grade of paper do you recommend?
What is the most cost effective way to get it printed?
I’m concerned about it not being durable and and finding loose pages crumpled in the bottoms of their book bags.
Jane says
I have been putting a card stock cover (front and back) and then slipping it into a plastics sleeve which I label. When I loan out the booklet, the sleeve goes into their binder. Sometimes they store the booklet in the sleeve, but mostly they just tuck it into their regular books. Seems to be working well.
Emily says
I made assignment folders for all of my students that have pockets in the front and back. I ask them to start a binder with the music in sheet protectors. If the music is not copyrighted, i have found it’s cheapest to make copies at a shop. Unfortunately I end up printing most music on my home printer. I do get to write it off on my taxes though so that helps a little.
Inga Feter says
Dear Andrea, thank you for your your ideas, but my “the one” is 5 years old (behaviour more), cannot concentrate, loves to improvise, but only sounds, clusters etc, ANY (I mean it) ANY direction I give is not taken… he wants to learn “Frozen” but has not yet done one thing the way I wanted (I know I know, “the way I want”…). I’ve been teaching for 20 years. Many 3 and 4 and 5 year old… all ages, all levels, ADHD, asperger, autism, dyslexia, shy kids, “needing time” kids… you name it I had it, but this kiddo, is my Mount Everest! And I won’t give up on him! Maybe I should just get Frozen, a super easy version and just try? But he didn’t yet managed “Twinkle Twinkle”… (Looooong breath out…). Any suggestions are welcome! I tried finger games, Improvisation, Rhythm games, colouring, singing, he likes it, but like for 5 minutes. once done, he never wants to do it again. He is very creative, he tells stories a lot, and he improvises on stories, that’s what he likes actually. but can I just do that? lessons after lesson? week by week? the mother doesn’t mind… but I’m (after today’s lesson, where everything I offered him was called “stupid”) a bit tired honestly… So, thanks for letting me getting all this off my chest. Will be looking now for princesses for my little boy “Everest”. You all, hang in there! you’re doing a great job! And Andrea and Trevor, thank you so much for this forum! I got many ideas over the years from you! Kind regards from Switzerland, Inga