The moment it arrived, I was captivated by this full-color mammoth guide to practicing – Practiceopedia:The Music Student’s Illustrated Guide to Practicing. The 376 pages are chock-full of creative ideas to help students learn to practice effectively and conquer those tough spots in their pieces. I found myself reading through page after page, unable to […]
Practice Incentives
Let’s Have A Ball! Practice Incentive
Now that my regular teaching year is over I can say without a doubt that this year’s theme was by far the favorite among my students! In determining a theme for each year I always contemplate whether there is any area in particular in which I think all my students need to improve. As I […]
Assignment Book Pages
Each year I design a new Assignment Book/Practice Journal for my students that goes along with our theme and practice incentive program for the year. If you know how to use tables in MS Word, designing your own Assignment Book pages is pretty easy. Here are a couple basic ones I’ve designed and used in […]
Fun Practice Incentive!
Climbing the Ladder to Success! Each year I develop a unique practice incentive for my studio. I spend the month of August, among other things, working out the details of the incentive so that we’re ready to roll when I start teaching again in September. While a structured incentive program isn’t the sure-fire cure for […]
Fun Practice Record!
Here’s a fun-looking Practice Record that you can download for free from the Piano At Pepper website and print out to use with your students. For about the past six years or so, I’ve made my own student assignment books and practice records, but I always like to get ideas from the designs of others […]
Private Lesson No-No’s
Here are a few excerpts from this site where students communicate their thoughts about teachers and lessons: What this student wants from a teacher: “…be organized, consistent, give specific feedback that a student can work on, be prepared in the sense that if you are about to assign a new piece you are familiar with […]
