How to Create a Practice Nest

Piano lessons are fun (I hope!) and regular attendance is necessary for a student to learn and progress but time spent at the lesson is only a fraction of the time it takes to play the piano well.

The rest of the time is spent at home. Practicing.

I don’t know about your students but I know that as a kid, even though I loved playing the piano,  I would avoid practice at all costs! I can’t count the number of times I would cram the night (or hour) before my lesson thinking “my teacher won’t notice”. Umm…I think she noticed.

This month my studio is having an e-Fish-ent practice incentive. Let’s see how many fish we can put in the fishbowl! Oh, and there is a draw with some pretty awesome prizes for everyone who gets 3 fish. Each student should have a sheet in their binders with tasks to be completed this week. Ask them about it! A couple of items will need a parent’s signature 🙂

So how can you encourage practice at home?

1. Make it a regular occurance. Choose a time that can remain the same each day and help remind your student that this is their time to practice. Make it routine the same way it is with school homework and brushing your teeth. It’s just something that happens.

2. Have your student show you what they are working on. Or have them teach you something.

3. Give them feedback on their playing. Now maybe you have nightmares of your mom correcting your mistakes from the kitchen while you practiced as a kid. So don’t do that. When you hear something that sounded great – tell them! And try sitting with them to create a strategy to fix what doesn’t sound so good. If you get stuck write me a note and we can work on it at our next lesson.

4. Make it comfortable! This is one of the most important things and it is so often forgotten. If a student doesn’t like spending time in their ‘piano space’ they will not want to practice. Period. Check out Teach Piano Today’s post about how to create a Piano Nest for your budding pianist!