Improving at playing piano would not be possible if you are not dedicated towards practicing your skills regularly. Practice is key to learning and becoming a professional pianist. This significant aspect of learning is nothing if you do not follow a regular pattern or schedule. Following a consistent schedule would not only improve your piano playing skills but you will find the rate of improvement to be much faster in comparison to those who oversee regular practicing. Busy tiring schedules may become a hurdle in regular practicing and many of you may not be able to realize improvements on the road of practicing and thus gets demotivated quite easily. Here we have shared some tips and ideas that would encourage learners to practice piano regularly.
Tips/Ideas for Encouraging Regular Practice!
It is best to have a regular schedule of piano practice once a day however some of you may have finding it really difficult to adjust a daily practice session in your hectic schedule. But the main idea behind daily practice sessions is to ensure consistency of practice for greater improvement in piano playing skills.
Some tips that would motivate and encourage students for piano practice are shared here. However you must keep in mind that some factors may not work well with all students. Different people need varied motivation factors and so you yourself can find things that motivate your students in the best manner.
1. Have a Schedule for Practices throughout the week:
When you are teaching your student piano, you must set a weekly schedule for them. This schedule must be based on individual’s skill level and there should be varied pieces included along with number of times each should be practiced. Apart from that each practice session for home should include some fun element at the end that student can enjoy playing. You must not restrict your student to stick to practice schedule but they should be encouraged to go beyond if they are interested in doing so. Even though you have set a practice session for a specific time, students must not be forced to follow. Learning piano is something that would be more constructive and easier if the student is inspired and is interested.
2. Practice Consistency:
According to the age and skills of piano student a specific time length should be set for practice session and it should be enforced. Repeatedly practicing would give more improvement. Before the practice session begins, student must be encouraged to go through the daily session structure in order to follow the flow.
3. There should be a Set of Rules to Follow:
Discipline is something that shouldn’t be missed out whether it is academics or extra-curricular activities. Your students especially children would be really excited about something they really like such as a game, TV show, friend’s party etc. You must set some rules and use some consequences in order to motivate them for practice. Such they can only go out for a party after they have finished their practice session.
4. Offer Rewards:
Children love rewards and it is okay to bribe your students or children for something good. You can offer them some rewards in order to get their practice session done. Something bigger can be promised as a reward after they learn a certain piece of music playing over piano. Set small goals for bigger rewards. You can even design a chart for them where you could mark their progress towards achieving their goal.
5. Remind them that learning the skill would be Worth:
Your student would only realize the benefit and worth of gaining piano playing skill once they have the confidence and have learnt something that they could perform among their peers. This would surely give them a sense of worth and would boost their self-confidence. Until they realize this, you would need to remind them that they are working towards learning an impressive skill that would gain them respect and popularity among their friends and loved ones. Make them realize that they are practicing to learn something that not everyone knows and it is something unique.
6. Encourage them to Perform and give Opportunities:
When in small gathering or parties of friends and family in your house, you should encourage your child/student to perform. This thrill of playing and the praise they get from audiences works wonders for encouraging practices.
7. Praise them:
Praise students and they will be more motivated towards practicing. People love to be praised and this gives them a sense of achievement. Praise from others such as family and friends would solidify their self-confidence and they would realize that their hard work for practices is beginning to turn in to a success.
8. Retell them their Love for Music:
All the students would have some favorite pieces that they would love to play again and again. Playing these pieces gives them pleasure and it proves to be rewarding for them. If at some point of time you find that your students are demotivated, retell them their love for music and remind them of their favorite pieces. Tell them that how good they are at playing those pieces and that learning new pieces would be hard in the beginning but as they learnt their favorite pieces well; they would be able to learn other hard ones with ease soon.
Conclusion
Not only regular practicing but proper monitoring is also important. A teacher must analyze outcomes and improvements at the end of each practice session and analyze the goals achieved. Remember that you should not force students to stick to their practice sessions rather encourage and motivate them to do so. If they will be encouraged to practice on a regular basis, they will be able to enjoy their daily practice sessions and would themselves stick to them with consistency. Make it enjoyable for them and it will be easier for you.
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