In teaching music, a teacher always has to struggle with getting a student to practice. While most older students will practice on their own, (given their intrinsic motivations), the much younger ones need creative ways to get them practicing.
Even though it is not the best, my students are at the stage where external motivation is most suitable. My students get a sticker on the page they pass at each lesson. Some of them earn pieces of candy as the lesson progresses dependent on the completion of each task.
I have a 7-yr old who has the hardest time practicing any of her pieces. I was beginning to really lose interest in teaching and had a hard time getting through her lesson. I asked her how much she watched tv a day and she said, "quite a bit". I asked her to do a "game" for me. Each time a commercial break occured she was to run to the piano and play through her pieces. When the programme resumed, she could stop and go back to watching tv.
I had way more progress with her than I had in weeks. As a recital approached, I found she wasn't progressing as much as needed and I checked with her on how much she was practicing. She answered, "I'm doing the commercial practice." I was pretty amazed and told her that we had to suspend the "commercial practice" for a special practice that would get her in good shape for the recital.
She took to the "regular" practicing instructions very well:
1. Sing your piece.
2. Sing and play your piece.
3. Practice measure 4-5.
4. Play whole piece with score.
5. Try it by memory.
We tried it a couple times in her lesson and she was very happy at her own progress. We wrote down the instructions in color together. She was so excited to go try this "special" practice at home. I think she saw the rewards immediately.
I guess maybe she could be weaned slowly from the "commercial practice" a term she coined. I will keep my fingers crossed.
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