What are some excuses you get for not practicing?

[keyofc]

There are loads of excuses out there for not practicing,

After reading Elissiana's post, I started thinking about one of my students excuses,
He said he did not practice because he was afraid he would turn out like Beethoven and die early.   
When I told him he had nothing to worry about, he was a long way from Beethoven
he didn't like it. 

[chocolatedog]

I had one 8 year old tell me she couldn't practise because they had moved house and she couldn't find the piano....... I would have thought something that big would be hard to lose in a house but you never can tell, I suppose......... 

[emmdoubleew]

Lmao, your students are hilarious.

[Bob]

"I don't have time.

I had baseball (any sport) practice.

My mom made me do chores.

I had lots of homework.

I had to watch tv.

I didn't know I was supposed to practice.

My family went on vacation.

Relatives came over.

My mom says I don't have to.

I was at my Dad's this weekend.

I did practice!   (15 minutes.... maybe.... well once anyway.... I thought about it... once...)

I couldn't find my music.

My little brother kept bothering me so I couldn't practice.

It's your fault (you the teacher) that I couldn't practice!

My mom forgot to tell me to practice.

I know the music.  I don't need to practice."



I think there might be an old thread on this topic somwhere.

[stevehopwood]

Here in the UK there is a breed of parent that likes to book up all their childrens' spare time with out-of-school activities, frog-marching them from one to another at a million miles an hour.

On discovering that filling in that spare half-hour their precious darling has on a Tuesday night will lead to an expectation of some daily practise, they respond thus, "Oh no, my Little Angel cannot possibly practise."

There follows and exhausting list of activities, followed by the cruncher.

"And of course, Little Angel needs some time just to be herself." 

I only ever ask who else Little Angel is being the rest of the time, if I am in a bad mood. 

Steve 

[keyofc]

How do you lose a piano? 
I had one little girl say that to me, she couldn't find it.

One day I phoned her parent and said, "You know, Sally sure makes a lot of progress in 45 minutes"  So I know she is not praciticing - if you work with her to practice she can make a lot more progress.
The mother said, in a very sweet voice, "Ok, I will make sure she practices once this week."

[henrah]

I had to watch tv.

Haha, said da truth dat kid did

[Bob]

Sometimes it seems like they put more effort into coming up with excuses than it would take just to practice.  New excuses each week.

[klick]

My piano teacher always tells me about how one girl said she couldn't practice because a dear got into her house and broke her piano. Makes quite a nice excuse.

[pianowolfi]

The dog/cat has eaten my music.

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

This is not an excuse to not practice, but a situation, concerning on of my piano teacher's students. He is young, around 12-13 years old, and has potential according to my teacher. However, his parents indulge him in so many activities that the poor kid just simply doesn't have time to practice, quite literally. He does singing(sang in Ragazzi mind you), tennis, concerned about not getting into good and expensive schools, etc. He travels alot due to the activities and he quite literally doesn't have time to practice. Once during a lesson, as I waited for mine to start, he broke to tears because he could not accomplish a specific technique detail, which is okay. My teacher spent some time to succor and console him. Some parents just put on way too much stress on the child, which is not good at all.

[henrah]

Debussy, I think you should take it as your own personal mission to talk with the parents of said child, and hopefully get them to allow him more freedom. I fear that if this were left untreated he might go on to live a very unsatisfying and sad life, and I hope you fear this enough to help him.
Henrah

[debussy symbolism]

Debussy, I think you should take it as your own personal mission to talk with the parents of said child, and hopefully get them to allow him more freedom. I fear that if this were left untreated he might go on to live a very unsatisfying and sad life, and I hope you fear this enough to help him.
Henrah

Thank you for your concern. My piano teacher has already talked to the parents a load of times and stressed out the mental health of the child. However, as determined the parents are, that their child is and needs to be the best, they may just nod their heads, but in reality continue with their ways. I have talked to my teacher about it, and yes, it is understood that over stressing a mind will only lead to dissatisfaction in the future, despite the encomia provided by the parents.

[keyofc]

I have a good friend that went on a retreat with me.  Her son has piano lessons from someone else - since she prefers another method. (Suzuki)
When we were away - she was talking to her husband, and he mentioned that the son had made a mistake at his piano lesson. 
She said, "Oh no! He made a mistake!?!" in a tone that sounded like you just heard someone lost their job or worse than that.  Of course, I couldn't help overhearing that and thinking about the tremendous amt of pressure he was under  -
  I do not believe that excellenece is arrived at like this and I feel sorry for children that have too much pressure - I guess same goes without no expectations too.

[henrah]

Keyofc, you have just made me hate the Suzuki method. Although I don't know anything about it, the fact that 'no mistakes' are so strenuously taught that it drives a teacher/mother to shock/horror when they hear of a student making a mistake really makes me angry with that method.

[debussy symbolism]

Of course everybody makes mistakes, and that's totally okay. However what is not okay is repeating mistakes. That's where a teacher comes in. No teacher should get mad at a student making mistakes. He should only get upset if a student is not trying to correct a mistake.

[keyofc]

Henrah,
Well, maybe I shouldn't have named the method.
Because I'm not sure if that's why she has that feeling - or if she is like that
about math too. 

[chocolatedog]

My piano teacher always tells me about how one girl said she couldn't practice because a dear got into her house and broke her piano. Makes quite a nice excuse.

An old dear? From the local nursing home perhaps?? 

[tompilk]

when you say about parents pushing them to do things, i wish my parents pushed me to play the piano more... but then i might have ended up hating it...
maybe they were right with what they did for all of us, because otherwise we may not enjoy music as we do 
Tom

[debussy symbolism]

I am all for pushing a student for success. I am very thankfull for my teacher for pushing me very hard. However, there is a thing such as an overpushing. Now that is bad for the student.

[keyofc]

Yes, pushing kids to succeed is not what I was talking about though.
Sure, I believe we should do that!  Otherwise, what kind of teachers would we be?
But if you're going to have a coronary when they make a mistake,
that's unreasonable, unrealisitic and too much pressure.
I would just try to help them fix it.

I still make mistakes with new pieces before they are polished, and I just keep working on them until they sound they way they should.
But focusing on mistakes gives you a very narrow view of music, don't you think?

[debussy symbolism]

Yes, pushing kids to succeed is not what I was talking about though.
Sure, I believe we should do that!  Otherwise, what kind of teachers would we be?
But if you're going to have a coronary when they make a mistake,
that's unreasonable, unrealisitic and too much pressure.
I would just try to help them fix it.

I still make mistakes with new pieces before they are polished, and I just keep working on them until they sound they way they should.
But focusing on mistakes gives you a very narrow view of music, don't you think?

Of course the point is to make music sound beautifull, and focusing on dynamics, expression is very essential of course. However it is hard to make music sound as it should with wrong notes or poor technique. I completely agree with you on teachers that flip out on every wrong note or detail.

[mike_lang]

Of course the point is to make music sound beautifull, and focusing on dynamics, expression is very essential of course. However it is hard to make music sound as it should with wrong notes or poor technique. I completely agree with you on teachers that flip out on every wrong note or detail.

I think a good analogy is this:  You see a woman as you are walking through the park.  She is the most beautiful woman you have ever seen.  As she walks by, you smile at her.  When she smiles back at you, she is missing her two front teeth.

And so, I think it is important to learn to play cleanly as not to spoil the whole with a couple of mistakes.

ML

[cjp_piano]

I've gotten these excuses every now and then too.  I really don't allow them to not practice, unless of course their grandmother died or some horrible emergency.  Maybe I'm too strict, but if they don't practice, I won't see them.  If they have too much going on then they shouldn't be trying to play piano.  No one can learn piano if the only time they play is during one short lesson once a week.  They will just get frustrated because they can't play anything, and then won't WANT to practice, which just worsens the situation

I know another teacher that, when she interviews new students, she won't take them if they have more than 2 other activities they are involved in!

[chocolatedog]

I've gotten these excuses every now and then too.  I really don't allow them to not practice, unless of course their grandmother died or some horrible emergency.  Maybe I'm too strict, but if they don't practice, I won't see them.  If they have too much going on then they shouldn't be trying to play piano.  No one can learn piano if the only time they play is during one short lesson once a week.  They will just get frustrated because they can't play anything, and then won't WANT to practice, which just worsens the situation

I know another teacher that, when she interviews new students, she won't take them if they have more than 2 other activities they are involved in!

My problem would be - if I didn't see them if they hadn't practised, I'd be nearly bankrupt by now!        I either do supervised practice in the lesson with them, or other activities such as sight-reading, tranposition, rhythm work, theory sheets etc.

[stevehopwood]

I couldn't agree more with chocolatedog.

It is all very well being 'strict' and setting up 'I will not continue to teach children who are not practising' or 'I will do interviews and only take on the dedicated ones' systems. Trouble with that approach is, those adopting it will find it difficult to find students at all.

Here is another thought. Most children do not practise enough in the eyes of their teacher - I know for sure that my lot do not. Most of them practise enought in their eyes, and get from the activity whatever it is they want.

Children taking lessons might not be making the progress of which they are capable. One thing is guaranteed, though. If teachers refuse to teach those children, they will make no progress at all.

Any teacher thinking they are working only to produce top quality pianists is either deluded, broke, or both 

Steve 

[jlh]

I've had a few students in the past (I don't teach them anymore) that would frequently come to lessons without their music.  Their excuse was that they had X activity right after school and before their lesson, so they forgot to pack their music before school in the morning.  I put up with this probably way too much, and let them read from my music.  This is completely unproductive in my view, because all the notes I had made in their score weren't there to help them get through it, and I couldn't make notes in the score for them to practice during the week (this was the type of student that has every hour of the day planned out with activities and very little time to practice anyway).

Does this happen very often to you?  What do you do... do you tell them not to even show up if they don't have music?

I don't teach privately at the moment, but when I accept new students in the future, I think there will definitely be an interview with the student so I don't have to worry about this.

[stevehopwood]

Does this happen very often to you?

Not often, but it does happen. After all, we are talking about human beings here, who make mistakes.

What do you do... do you tell them not to even show up if they don't have music?

No. I give them a lesson.

I don't teach privately at the moment, but when I accept new students in the future, I think there will definitely be an interview with the student so I don't have to worry about this.

How do you imagine that interviews are going to magically remove all the idiocies thrown up by teaching real live human beings?

Take it from someone who has been doing this job for a long time. The only thing that will overcome the problems met by private instrumental teachers is the skill of the teacher.

A sense of humour helps, too. 

Steve 

[jlh]

Thanks Steve.  I'm not talking about genuine "once in awhile" mistakes... but I had one student in the past that for her this was a regular occurance.  This was in a business building, so I would usually photocopy the music from my collection and send them back with her so she could transfer my comments from the music... then the next week she would come without anything again.  It got old pretty quick, but I did work around it and we eventually got some work done, but it was slow because of this.  We were still able to do a lot of theory and technique regardless.  I only taught her for a few months before I moved for grad school, so I didn't make a huge issue of it.

Thanks again!

[jlh]

How do you imagine that interviews are going to magically remove all the idiocies thrown up by teaching real live human beings?

You're probably right.  Though an interview might help in finding a more ideal time for a lesson so there won't be a problem to deal with in the first place...?  Interviews are useful for other reasons too, as you know.

[cjp_piano]

My problem would be - if I didn't see them if they hadn't practised, I'd be nearly bankrupt by now!        I either do supervised practice in the lesson with them, or other activities such as sight-reading, tranposition, rhythm work, theory sheets etc.

Yeah, this is what most teachers do, the problem is that student learns that it's okay if they're not prepared because the teacher will just practice with them or do something else.

As far as being broke if you didn't see them . . . My students have already paid for lessons in advance, so if they don't show up or if they aren't prepared and I don't see them, they are paying anyway, so I still get paid.

[cjp_piano]

It is all very well being 'strict' and setting up 'I will not continue to teach children who are not practising' or 'I will do interviews and only take on the dedicated ones' systems. Trouble with that approach is, those adopting it will find it difficult to find students at all.

I have no problem finding and keeping students, I have about 40 per week 

Any teacher thinking they are working only to produce top quality pianists is either deluded, broke, or both 
 

I hope you don't think I'm working only to produce top quality pianists.  I guess it's just that my students need to take it seriously, that's all.  Practicing regularly is fundamental, I don't think that's demanding too much.  I'm not deluded OR broke       Maybe it's just different where I live.

[lostinidlewonder]

I don't let my students give excuses for not practicing. EVERYONE can get at least 15 minutes of practice every day (and even that is a pathetic time). If you are studying music it must be a daily commitment otherwise don't bother learning it.

Everyone can make time for piano practice there is absolutely no real excuse unless you are injured/sick or something tragic has happened in your life. Having too much school work or work work or family work is not an excuse, I always tell those students you can easily spend half an hour or more watching television, play computer or whatever every day you can easily spend 20 or so minutes of focused practicing your piano and the rest mucking around with it a little throughout the day. There is always time, so I always cringe when I heard that "I had no time" excuse.

Some pipe up and say but I have to study for school as well and at the end I am too tired to do any piano practice. I away say to them it is all in the mind, if I sat next to you with a million dollars and said you can have this at the end of your practice you would be all of a sudden awake and motivated to do your piano work. It is a matter of finding the correct motivation to suit yourself and keep you going. Why do you want to learn piano in the first place? Is it a task or is it a joy? It has to be both! Young kids see practice always as a task but they have to see what results they can get out of actually trying and sweating a little. Achievement is always a great joy and should be the basis of your motivation.

I tell kids, imagine that the piano is your favorite computer game, wouldn't you just love to get on it and play? Piano is just like that, it is a game, a board with 88 keys, we can press these keys in all different ways to make different sounds, something which can make people cry or laugh just by watching you play it. No computer game can ever do that. Most kids don't get it, but it gives them the idea, hey if the piano was like a computer game I would play it heaps more, so I better not say to my teacher I haven't got time. At least they won't lie to you and let excuses defend why they didn't do work.

If a student says to me, I was too lazy this week to do any work, I will accept the admission. It is not an excuse, they are admitting that they have been lazy full stop. Students start to feel stupid if they have to say this every lesson and start to feel motivated to show their teacher something new that they have learnt. I am always so excited when they do show me something new, mostly because it motivates them to do more and because I personally enjoy seeing them get somewhere! I always ask when we sit down with a student, so what have you got to show me today?

Some students I don't care if they do the work every day or not. Because it is a matter of their personal devlopment more than anything else. Doing piano every day is sometimes an impossible ask for some people because they don't really do anything that requires work every day! The idea of being committed to your work is something that is learnt, most people never get the hang of it, some of us stuggle through our whole lives to try and "stick" with something!

I know personally I am always forcing myself to sit down at the piano and get through my work (and music is my life but I have so many other interests which distract me (no excuse though )), I do not naturally say with great joy, Oh yay another 50 bars of music to memorise I am so happy lets do this! It is a lot of work, physically and emotionally draining, but I love sound, I am extremely excited when I get the right sound, I also love the physical feeling of playing the piano and get very curious as to how to produce the right sound with minimal effort at the keyboard. So my mind is set, not worrying about the work but just working through what I need to do and observing what I learn. It is all about mindset and excuses are just a way to avoid setting your mind to a task. Human's are naturally lazy anyway so the sooner we realise we have to act against our nature here the sooner we will get off our ass and do some work.

[cjp_piano]

Yes, I agree with what you've said: it's all in the mind, their motivation.  If a student really wants to learn a piece, he will.  I gave one of my students a piece that was much more difficult than anything he had ever played, but he WANTED to learn it very badly. 

The next week, he played it for me memorized!  It was at least 2 grades higher than his other pieces.  And it usually took him 3-4 weeks to learn the easier ones 

[donjuan]

My mom forgot to tell me to practice.

i like that one.

[stevehopwood]

My mom forgot to tell me to practice.

I had forgotten until I read this, about the time a little boy told me that, "My mum won't let me practise."

Wow, you should have heard the explosion when I told mum.

[Tash]

this is slightly different, but once a girl in my music class walkeed in about 20 minutes late, saying she had dislocated her knee on the way to school. then we had an assessment due, and apparently hers had somehow gotten muddled in her dad's stuff and he had flown off to singapore with it...

[anda]

Does this happen very often to you?  What do you do... do you tell them not to even show up if they don't have music?

i had a student who constantly forgot to bring his scores. when i realised it was a system, i found the perfect cure: you don't have the scores? ok, scales and exercises. after a whole hour of scales and arpeggios and technical drills, he never forgot his scores 

[chocolatedog]

i had a student who constantly forgot to bring his scores. when i realised it was a system, i found the perfect cure: you don't have the scores? ok, scales and exercises. after a whole hour of scales and arpeggios and technical drills, he never forgot his scores 

I did that once with a manipulative pupil who conveniently forgot the music that I had asked her to practise but oh! just look! she happened to have a book of pop music in her bag! So sorry, we didn't look at anything out of that book, we did scales all lesson - she never did that to me again.......

[barnowl]

This thread must have made an impression on me.

This morning when I awoke, even before opening my eyes, I heard thunder rolling in the distance and immediately thought:

"I couldn't practice because our digital piano got struck by lightning."

(I bought a surge protector the day my digital p arrived.)

[counterpoint]

Most children do not practise enough in the eyes of their teacher - I know for sure that my lot do not. Most of them practise enought in their eyes, and get from the activity whatever it is they want.

whatever it is they want

When they don't want to play piano at all, this is easy 

Any teacher thinking they are working only to produce top quality pianists is either deluded, broke, or both 

produce top quality pianists?

My exxagerated gratulations, if you have one single student, who does fall in this category. I never had one, and I propably never will have one in my life.

The problem is: you have to do with so many student, who really don't care about what they could learn from you. They are not wanting to take your advice, because they are simply not interested in piano playing. If it's good or bad, right or wrong, it doesn't mind for them. You tell them the same things (each time in other words, of course!) week for week, month for month, but it doesn't have any influence on them. Some of them seem to find it even funny, looking at you, how you are straining to get their attention.

produce top quality pianists?    

[mike_lang]

Any teacher thinking they are working only to produce top quality pianists is either deluded, broke, or both 

What a jaded remark...

Perhaps it is difficult to find good students if one posts advertisements for one's studio at the grocery store, but certainly on faculty at a music school (Midwest Young Artists, Music Institute of Chicago, etc.), it is realistic to expect hard work and good students.  Be careful when saying "any teacher."

Best,
ML

[debussy symbolism]

I would like to add to the "students practice to their own pleasure" remark. This is very true. True practice is work and needs every bit of focus. Many students just go and repeat some passages twice and move on to the next thing, accomplishing nothing. It is better to work on a couple of bars for an hour, then to fly through the entire pieces and claim that as practice.

[stevehopwood]

What a jaded remark...

Perhaps it is difficult to find good students if one posts advertisements for one's studio at the grocery store, but certainly on faculty at a music school (Midwest Young Artists, Music Institute of Chicago, etc.), it is realistic to expect hard work and good students.  Be careful when saying "any teacher."

Best,
ML

Okay, Michael, I will rephrase it.

For the overwhelming mass of music teachers, expectiations that they will only ever work to produce top-quality pianists are misguided. Adhearing to this expectation will result in them being broke.

Better?

It may come as a surprise to you, Michael, to learn that not all of us live close to a music school. My nearest one is 70 miles away, and they cater for their own students.

My remark was aimed at someone whingeing about the standard of his students - can't remember whom and don't much care.

It seems to me that there are teachers here who do nothing but complain about their students. There are others who claim they want to do violence to their students.

None of these characters appear to have grasped that students react to the way they are treated. If we treat them with kindness, teach them with enthusiasm and humour, then we will have great students. They may not be the best pianists, but they will be great to teach.

Including the ones we picked up advertising in the local grocery store.

Many years ago, a mother remarked to me that, "You get the students you deserve." She meant it kindly and supportively.

Guess what; mine are fantastic 

Steve 

[bella musica]

Oh, um, I forgot.

I didn't know I was supposed to practice this week.

The dog ate my piano.  (Okay, just kidding on the last one...)

[xavierm]

Keyofc, you have just made me hate the Suzuki method. Although I don't know anything about it, the fact that 'no mistakes' are so strenuously taught that it drives a teacher/mother to shock/horror when they hear of a student making a mistake really makes me angry with that method.

Ahhh! I must fix this. The Suzuki method has nothing to do with being perfect, nor does it exahault any more pressure than any other method of learning on a student - so don't think that it does! It's a wonderful method which I think more people should learn about.