Practicing, most people don’t like it. I didn’t like it all that much growing up. And I liken the idea of practicing to my adults to “working out”. We know we need to do it to get better but, you have to make time for it to truly make a difference in growth and ability to progress.

With kids, it’s a little easier, because you have the parent there to remind them to get it done. For my own child, who takes lessons from another teacher, has a reminder on our home speaker device to remind him at 3:15 to practice each day. Here are some top tips to help incentivize your students to practice more frequently.

Personal Incentivizing. My kid knows that he can’t go out to play with friends until he is done practicing. He has now developed the habit to practice before the reminder goes off because he really wants to go out and play. So he developed his own personal incentivizing. Talk with the parent about how they can figure out or learn what is a personal incentive to practice for their child. Could be anything from watching tv, or playing with friends. Or creating their own little sticker chart at home.
Sticker Charts work wonders. Not only does it allow the student to see their stickers increase over time but they are likening the idea of results-based progress. “If I do this, I get better at this.” Each year, we have a 75 Days of Practicing challenge in my studio to help incentivize consistent practicing leading up to our big spring recital.
Candy Bowl. It’s as simple as having a bowl with candy for your students to take a piece at the end of each lesson. But, set rules to go with it. Good lesson and practicing the week before they could take an extra piece before they leave.
Have the student perform regularly. You can create monthly or bi-monthly performance classes for your students to perform for each other. That way they are always working towards something to showcase, which means, if they are going to perform it, they have to practice it to be ready. If the student isn’t at a specific level of performance for a piece they can’t perform. It’s harsh but it keeps the kids at a certain level of expectance in their practice habits.

Which tip would have helped you most when you were a kid learning your instrument? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know!

Happy Teaching!