Drawing inspiration from Proverbs 11:25: “Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,” I included an element in this year’s practice incentive theme where students could opt to leave a “Blessing Card” in the destination they were leaving in order to give the next arriving student an opportunity to earn extra coins. This has been a huge hit with the students, and it’s been fun to see the creative ideas they come up with (that have to correlate with our theme in that the student gains knowledge, practices skills, or shares music).
Here one student turns in her card that says “Play one piece with opposite hands for 3 coins” and demonstrates playing Ode to Joy with her hands reversed.
This card says, “Draw a picture of an animal and create a piano sound to go with it for 2 coins.” Somehow it’s a little more motivating when another student has contributed the idea and you can carry out the challenge to earn something extra. This is yet another way that using a practice incentive theme builds camaraderie among all the students in the studio, something that is very important to me as their teacher. And of course I always love seeing the outflow of their creative minds!
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