“Who remembered to play their pieces at home during the week?”

In class this week I’ve been asking this question and it’s great to see most students respond enthusiastically with their hand up in the air, nodding their heads, “Yes I did!”. Occasionally a student offers an “Ahh, well, you see…”

“Remembered” is the key word in my question, as most students have busy lives and all too easily a week can go by and before they know it, it’s lesson day and whoops, I didn’t get my fingers on the keys this week!

Of course, there is nearly always time for some piano. Rarely is a week so busy you can’t find 10 minutes here and there a few days a week, but did you remember to do this?

After an open class discussion about how to “remember” to practise, students who successfully remembered to play their pieces at home, offered the following ideas:

•    Mum or Dad help me to remember.
•    I do it at the same time – after breakfast, when I get home from school, just before bed.
•    I write a list for each day and make sure piano is included.
•    I have a schedule for the week that tells me when to play the piano.
•    The piano is somewhere I walk past each day, which reminds me to sit down and play.

Before the year gets any busier, I would encourage you to think about what might work for your family and put a process in place. Students who arrive at their piano lesson each week, having played their pieces at home, feel good about coming to class, are keen to share their progress and can look forward to starting something new. I would love to see every student set up for success in this way!