“Don’t forget to practice!” The words can’t help but fly out of my mouth at the end of lessons, and I immediately regret them as I see the cloud of duty pass of the face of my student. I just gave them another chore, more homework, and the prospect of it creates an attitude made more of dread than excitement.
It’s an inevitable part of learning piano: I know few ways to master this craft than to spend increasingly more time with the piano, studying the music, and yes, repeating drills enough times that you could do it in your sleep. People often speak of then outcome of this with great admiration: “They can play that piece with their eyes closed. That’s called muscle memory!” Yes, it’s possible to know a piece of music so well, your fingers seem to take you through it by their own volition. And it’s definitely fun to get to that point! The question is, how to develop the mental tenacity to help students change the perspective of practice as drudgery and keep the experience of practicing fun.
Developing good practice habits doesn’t happen overnight. Starting with just 5 minutes of piano time a day for young students can help immensely, to give them time to see the keys, touch the piano, make mistakes and just enjoy making noise! Adjusting lessons and practice pieces according to how each student likes to work can help students enjoy practicing and hone their skills even faster. And of course, celebrating their successes is huge, having mini recitals at home and working toward getting a piece performance ready can really help the students to see their hard work come to fruition.
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