Spicing Up Piano Practice

Let's address one of the most common skeletons in the closet:

'Why should I practice when practice is BORING?'

This is a common theme I've seen throughout my time teaching. The student doesn't mind or might even anticipate their piano lessons but practice...not so much and understandably so!

When students are having their lesson, they get to interact with their teacher, learn/revise content in interactive ways (Q&As, flashcards, games, challenges etc.) and earn positive praise and rewards when they've done their best.

Meanwhile, I presume in most cases, parents usually leave their child(ren) to practise on their own (we will refer to this sort of practice as 'regular practice days').

If you suspect your child(ren) might find practice boring/troublesome and this is affecting their motivation and willingness to practice, please bring it up with your teacher during the lesson (please do not wait until the end of the lesson as there might be another student after) or through an email correspondence.

The ideal situation would be for the parent and teacher to brainstorm how they can work together to keep change things up for the student during practice.

Some suggestions for teachers and parents working together to help spice up practice include:

(a) Spice 1- Flashcards: The parent can run through some flashcards before the student's practice and 'test' them after to see if they remember the flashcards contents - teachers can designate which flashcards parents should run through with the student

(b) Spice 2 - Teach Me: This is great for content such as general knowledge preparation. The parent can point to certain signs (notes, rests, symbols) or terms (words commonly used in music) in the student's piece and get the student to teach them the name and meaning of the signs or terms.

(c) Spice 3 - Reward System: The parent can implement a reward system for practice at home. For a reward system that works, it is important for a parent to talk to their child(ren) and find out what rewards will motivate the child(ren) to aim for consistent and mindful practice

An example of a reward system could be a fun day out spending quality time and doing the child(ren)'s favourite activities after 2 weeks of consistent and mindful practice.

(d) Spice 4 - Challenges: The teacher can suggest some challenges for parents to incorporate during some of the student's practice sessions and on which tasks. I will usually recommend doing challenges only after a student is confident with their learned content.

Challenge Examples

(1) If the student is able to play their scales/pieces fluently, do a toy toss challenge where the parent tosses a toy to the student during random times whilst they're playing the scales/pieces. The student has to toss back the toy and continue where they left off.

(2) Similar to the toy toss challenge, is the Q&A challenge. Asking the students several questions, e.g math or get-to-know questions whilst they're playing the scales/pieces to see if they can stay focused and continue playing confidently.

I just want to clarify that there is nothing wrong with some of the practice days to remain as regular practice days

Some or all of the above 4 spices do not have to be incorporated into every single practice session.

The spices can be spread out across the practice week in a way which fits both the parent and the student, e.g incorporating one of the 4 spices for every 2 days of practice or incorporating 2 spices spread out over a week of practice.

Before I pen off, I just want to say that the 4 suggestions I've offered above on how to spice up practice is not exhaustive.

Your child(ren)'s teacher might have other suggestions/ideas which I have not talked about in this post and which can be just as (of if not, more) 'spicy' ;).

The key takeaway from this post is, if your child(ren) is experiencing an impasse when it comes to practice, please:

• bring it up with your teacher - again either during the lesson *not at the end though!* or through email

• communicate your child(ren)'s impasse with practice to your teacher - please remember this may not be something which your teacher might be aware of so it is your responsibility to let them know

• let your teacher know you are open to and will appreciate suggestions on how to make practice more interesting for your child(ren) - this is the phase where the teacher and parent can work together and discuss ideas and how to execute them together