age-old problem: student who doesn't practice enough...please help

[mswaller]

For the past few months I have had a student that has not been putting in the time practicing.  As a result she has been stuck on the same songs for weeks.  I have continually tried reminding her that it is not piano she is bored with, but rather being assigned the same songs without progressing.  Her parents are continually making excuses for her: "She had a lot of homework," "We were out of town," etc.

Two weeks ago her parents approached me saying, "can't you give her something she likes...something to help motivate her." 

I don't mind appealing to students by giving them songs that they recognize or like, but I expect them to meet me halfway, I told them.  Both my student and her parents agreed, but last week I heard the same old excuses.  Now I know I could drop her as a student, but that's not what I want.  Like any teacher, I have milled over this problem asking myself what I could be doing differently.

This student has been playing now for four years, and I am still in the process of building her technique and a broad base of knowledge before focusing efforts toward one style or another. 

I guess I'm frustrated that the parents are enabling her apparent laziness, and trying to pen her non-progress on me.

Please offer any suggestions or your experiences with similar situations.

[perfect_pitch]

It might be worth a little bit of effort,

but find out if there's say a disney song or something that she really wants to play (and I mean - really) wants to play, then play it for her once and ask her if she would like to play it for her parents (they love showing off to mum and dad)

Then you tell her that you would love to teach it to her, but she has to practice at home or else she'll never learn it - just like her maths homework... the reason she gets better at her classwork is because she practices outside of the school and the same must be done with the Piano.

As for the students non-progress being blamed on you - you need to tell them that what is learnt in the lesson has to be practiced at home to allow her to progress. They know she doesn't have any disorders or conditions preventing her from concentrating or learning, so the only thing left is to make sure they know that the reason she is not progressing well is because of the lack of practice.

[quantum]

Have the student define her musical goals for you.  If she intends to pursue music seriously, attain diplomas, or continue her music studies in university it is very much to her benefit if she puts more effort into her current studies.  If she is just in it for fun, there is no reason to push results.  Make lessons enjoyable and more towards an environment of creativity rather than that of a classroom that demands results and grades. 

The homework excuse is a rather valid one in my experience.  Many schools nowadays are assigning obese amounts of work to the point where children have no time for anything but homework.  Try to make the music lesson a place of retreat rather than more of the same what they are getting in school. 

[gep]

This student has been playing now for four years, and I am still in the process of building her technique and a broad base of knowledge before focusing efforts toward one style or another. 

I guess I'm frustrated that the parents are enabling her apparent laziness, and trying to pen her non-progress on me.

Please offer any suggestions

Drop the student seems the best thing to do. Simply being honest and telling her the truth should do it ("if you keep up this laziness you'll never get any further than annoing me"). Of course, that set of parents will probably never speak to you again (because of "frustrating" the "sincere study" of their proud and joy, undoubtedly because "you are jealous at real talent"), which may be a bonus....

But perhaps you cannot afford to loose the buck she brings...

gep

[timothy42b]

Of course, that set of parents will probably never speak to you again (because of "frustrating" the "sincere study" of their proud and joy, undoubtedly because "you are jealous at real talent"), which may be a bonus....

Oh, they won't speak to you, but they will speak to every other parent in town, and in a business that where your sole credential is your reputation, and with a slow economy........ be sure you're right! 

[mcdiddy1]

You have to realize that you are the teacher with the knowlege of where you want your student to be. Scales and technique building exercises are important but they are incredibly boring for your students. Your students must have some sort of internal motivation for practicing. You in your practice im sure don't practice pieces you have no interest in so how can you expect your student to?

Whenever I assign a piece I usually grab a book that has pieces on their level and play for them a variety of pieces that usually have a lot of technique requirments and intresting and captivating musical content. They have the choice to pick the piece so the choice on what piece they work on becomes their personal choice and they start with a desire or atleast and intrest to learn it.

Second common problem is students don't know what to practice or how to practice so give them small do able goals for them to accomplish and then test them on it ....the very next lesson. If they give the escuses about how they were busy....ask them " did you brush your teeth, eat, take a shower, watch tv". Usually they respond with of course I did then simply ask them if they are so busy how did they accoplish all thoes other thing. The difference is the other activities became a habit and not a chore but something they just do with out thinking about. Tell them to add piano to the list and give them practice sheets with the number of minutes they practice. Once they get in the habit it will be very hard to imagine not practicing.

[mswaller]

Thank you all for the great advice.

After all this her mom called me and cancelled her lesson this week citing that the hot weather made it impossible for her to practice.

Financially speaking I don't need the bucks, I do this for enjoyment. I just hate to lose a student that's been with me for this long.  As teachers, we know that students retain information that is in some way meaningful to them. The struggle becomes balancing motivating work, while at the same time teaching them the rudiments of music.  Certain method books attempt to combine "likeable" songs with specific learning targets in mind. At some point, however, the student will come upon a piece that they may not like.  It has been my experience that the student's motivation stalls during these periods (obviously).  I do often suppliment the bookwork by having them choose a song that is familiar to them.  This is a good motivater for most students but some simply see it as more work to do.  I digress. 

[go12_3]

I have to realize that students have lives with their stresses and school this coming Fall semester.
I have students that don't practice enough, but it is their journey to learn music and enjoy learning
to play piano.  The lessons has to be interesting to keep the student motiviated.  I have an almost 9 year old student that is self-motiviated and she was a beginner in January of this year, and  loves playing piano.  In fact, on her lesson last week, she played Fur Elise , the first page, with her RH alone.  She figured out the notes herself.  And that is great when my students learn something that they desire.

Another thing to keep students motiviated, is playing a tune by ear and improvise.  Have a student play along after you. 

And if a student shows no desire, and not progress, then I chat with the parent to check what is going on in the home; make a plan on what needs to be done; or if nothing is going to work , then quit teaching the student. 

best wishes,

go12_3

[redragon]

I don't know if this is the case, but: Sometimes, if you keep a student on the same song, they get bored. Some teachers do this. They don't let the students progress. I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS THE CASE, but if it is...there's my opinion.

Here's my other thoughts- let the student pick out a song!

[nanabush]

I had the same issue with a girl for the past 3 years.  No matter what I threw at her (including stuff she brought in that she was interested in) she refused to practice it.  I don't know how badly she manages her time, because her parents made it pretty clear that she does nothing but go to school, and come to her 30 minute piano lesson each week.  She ended up quitting this year (thank god).  In a year she had learned half of a Disney song (much easier than the level she's at) and one piece from her Grade 4 conservatory.  She's in her last year in high school - no joke.

Some students genuinely don't want to practice.  I don't know what their parents are thinking wasting money on the lessons when week after week I remind them AND their kid (who I shouldn't have to remind if she's 17 years old) to wipe the piles of dust off their keyboard and play for 5 minutes!

It's even more annoying when the girl talks about how she's pretty much failing her classes, and that she stays up until 4 in the morning surfing the net.  I stayed up late in high school, but I wasn't on my ass at my computer from the minute I got home until the early hours in the morning.  She must spend 8 or 9 hours a day (during school) on her computer if she is never doing anything on time for her classes, and is literally not practicing for even a minute a week. 

She also has an elitist attitude, the "I'm better than everyone, bow down" kind of mentality, and she often talked back to me when I'd say simple things like "so did you practice this week" or even "how was your week".  Just an all around b*tch.  Good riddance with her.

I kind of trailed off there; if you are having trouble communicating with the parents the importance of practice (which is kind of what happened with the girl I mentioned), try making a detailed schedule - 2 minutes of scales; play piece X right hand alone; play one slowly hands together.  I do stuff like this with the little kids I teach and it works fairly well.  It gives them some idea as to how they should manage their time practicing.  It would seem pretty logical for a student to go and practice several times the stuff they literally did that day in the lesson, but some students just don't understand the process of practicing.