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Topic: Motivating students  (Read 2508 times)

Offline carrie10

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Motivating students
on: September 13, 2011, 11:40:43 AM
Does anyone have any tips on how to keep students motivated as they begin to lose interest in piano lessons?  Especially when their parents insist on them continuing lessons??

Offline ethure

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Re: Motivating students
Reply #1 on: September 13, 2011, 02:36:34 PM
I guess you have to firstly find out why they lost their interest.

it's normal for very little kids to lose interest in things that their original curiosity were caught on. and for kids a little older, to let them constanly feel their accomplishment and the fun to chanllenge new things time after time is important.  :P
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Offline lostinidlewonder

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Re: Motivating students
Reply #2 on: September 14, 2011, 05:42:34 AM
Everyone needs to feel like they are achieving something and can do things without too much effort. So ensure that you allow your students to be able to solve problems in fast time as well as puzzle over issues that can take a lot of effort. Too many teachers tend to give students constantly work which requires a good amount of effort, trail and error to appreciate. This can disinterest students quite fast who do not naturally have an interest in improving.

Sometimes you must give them work which is too easy for them so that they can solve things fast and feel happy and good about themselves, from here then you can slowly increase the difficulty without them noticing. If they are still not interested in this then you have a difficult case. I rewards young students with stickers and when they get a certain amount they get a little prize. This keep some of them very interested in what they are doing and can act as a stepping stone into actually wanting to personally achieving something in music. The young student associates learning music with a positive view and when they mature they still associate learning music with a positive view, the most important development issue all teachers who teach with young children should strive for. Learning should be a positive rewarding experience, yes hard work but never without something to show for it, all children should learn "you get out what you put in" when it comes to work.

Sometimes children are disinterested in music not because of music itself but because of the discipline required to learn it. While their other friends spend time practicing sports or computer games or whatever they have to play a musical instrument because their parents want them to do so. I have taught several students over the years who are like this.

Of these students the ones that lasted where the ones that actually practiced a little every week, and this is the point that there is every week at least some work put towards progress/maintenance. However if a student does NOT practice at all without a teacher there is literally no point in teaching them. How can you as a teacher enforce them to do it? You cannot! In the end the student and their family need to organize that, but I make it clear to my students and their parents if they are younger students, that if the students does not do some persistent practice each week then there is no point in learning anything seriously. Some students I have had over the years have been a real challenge teaching discipline and work ethic much more so than piano itself. Because of this the parents kept the piano lessons because I drilled them to be disciplined and organised their weekly timetables. I can remember ordering one students who absolutely couldn't do something out of her routine daily to water her mothers vegetable patch outside the kitchen window every single day just to teach her something about breaking routine and doing something without failure. She managed to do it only for 5 days! Then it became silly things like putting a pencil on top of the fridge every morning from closing/opening the curtains of the living room every evening/morning. So you can plan tasks outside of the music environment to teach younger students something about organisation and discipline. How to stop thinking inside their little box and think about things that might not totally interest them and get a job done.

Generally I find children whose parents make them do chores every day at home are much more better geared to learn things that might not totally interest them. Some children however have everything done for them, the lifestyle they have been brought up in has always accommodated for what has interested them the most. Some of these children see someone play piano and it interests them for a moment, so they get a piano bought for them and seek lessons. Then they realize how hard the work can be and give up and lose interest. Piano teachers have to deal with these type of students now and then and it really is not our duty to force a student into being interested to learn the instrument. All we can do is ensure that the information that they are learning is being absorbed at an efficient rate. We can't expect to change how their family functions!


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Offline jaggens

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Re: Motivating students
Reply #3 on: September 17, 2011, 08:36:32 PM
Hi,

A very interesting and wide question of course.

I once taught a 7-year old piano student together with my tutor who was teaching me how to teach.

I somehow really enjoy teaching children and I think for them the lessons and time spent with me are also interesting.

Why?
I think because I take them as equal. I talk to them really what I think and discuss things. It really changes them. I really try to understand them and am interested in them.

Because of my tutor and pressure from school the student one moment decided not to continue learning.

I just talked to her. Asked why. I told that interest comes from inside and can not be forced. Told that playing the piano is really playing and later she would be sad that she once stopped learning. And tried to make it as interesting and colorful as possible at the same time tried to give her recognition for everything she achieved. She is really talented. So the problem solved.

I saw how school system and parents and all this started to force the inner interest and joy to fade and how all this learning in an elite school and so on had a ruining effect on her because of enourmous pressure. But yes, with piano it went well. I also had a long conversation with my tutor who teached me how to teach :)

Long story, but my ideas:
1) Recognition for every little achievement.
2) Teaching through different images and pictures etc. instead of talking too much about dry and boring details.
3) Always staying positive and even criticising through positive side. You can say:" You did it wrong." or you can say:" You have a great opportunity to play this place even better."
4) Staying simple and sincere.
5) Taking child students as equals. Discussing things and respecting their opinion.
6) Guiding instead of ordering.
7) Giving an alternative instead of forcing the child giving up doing something.

I have never been strict or argued with children in lessons. And never had any problems.
Recently got a great compliment from a 8 year old boy student when he asked:" Why are the piano lessons so short?"

Just quick ideas also very subjective.

Hope it gave some insight.

GL
Jaak

Offline naomicampbellmusic

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Re: Motivating students
Reply #4 on: September 20, 2011, 02:42:08 AM


1. inspiration flows from you. Your passion and positivity will infect the student. Get your sleeves rolled up and play some lovely music to give your student a vision of what he or she is aiming for. They are there because at some point they were ignited by something they seen or heard. This vision or ideal can often fade when hard work sets in. It is so important to play for your student on a regular basis to keep this aspect fresh. Playing well in front of your student may also establish a strong sense of respect and therefore more accountability and eagerness to please. 

2. Why not encourage your students to bring blank CDs to their lessons. As they are playing you can burn a playlist of music that may inspire them and tell them to put it on their ipod. Include a wide mix of things because you maybe inspire a particular avenue for them. Perhaps a classical student may grow up to be a jazz pianist. Who can tell. In any case it is your job to offer these little seeds of thought, even to children at a young age.

Even if the music is far advanced it has the potential to increase curiosity and passion, even on a subconscious level. Advise advanced students to listen to a range of recordings before beginning the piece. This instills a sense of style and approach as well as encouraging independent study and developing a more mature ear as to the distinct style of each composition. 

3. Sweets!! I have a delightful little boy who is 8 years old and playing to a grade 3 level. I set him a special summer task to play an adagio and presto by Grieg. It was fairly difficult for him at that stage. I said he could substitute it for the sight-reading exercises during the summer months. I ensured him that if he performed it successfully in September he would be awarded with Haribo. Needless to say he had it note perfect, even if it was a little below tempo. His mother said he was scrambling to the piano instead of going to the x-box. Surprising...the effect of sweets. ;)

4. Form a connection with your student. Ask about their ideas and passions taking into account their character and external pressures or commitments that may affect music progress. If they see you as a friend often they will open up to you more. This, in turn, will help you to realize how to better your teaching methods in order to connect to his or her individual needs. Don't forget to ask them questions and make them feel that they have contributed to the flow of the lesson.

5. What's done is done. If there is a bad week, and little/ no practice has been done, going on about it and intimidating a student into doing more work doesn't tend to work. If they are lazy and lack the pro-active qualities that other students seem to have, naturally, then don't panic. This is not necessarily the end. Spend time thinking of ways to encourage practice. Maybe a visual account will resonate more effectively with this particular student. Give them a practice log book or have a colored sticker chart. Accepting less and being positive about it is much better than getting frustrated, and ending up in a vicious circle of complaining and negativity, that may eventually put your student completely off. Intensives and little rewards can really make a difference. Be really careful to over-congratulate a student like this when little things eventually get done.

6. Explain that the need to establish good practice habits can often be as difficult as the technique of playing. When you help students to understand principals and you take the time to discuss important aspects this can often help them to justify and make logic the things we take for granted as being important. 

7. Make sure the music you provide for your student isn't TOO hard/ easy and is something that will appeal to them. If a student is particularly difficult to motivate perhaps setting them a series of easy pieces (and actually finishing them quite quickly) is better for them than chewing your way through more difficult repertoire. This may not be a long-term solution for sustainable, technical, development but it will improve their sight-reading and present them with more attainable goals and a sense of accomplishment.

Good luck- Naomi

 

Offline raw_piano

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Re: Motivating students
Reply #5 on: September 29, 2011, 05:41:00 PM
1- I agree with the stickers idea for kids, kids love stickers! Use small stickers, and you can stick them for every part of music that they try to play well.

2- I use the last page of the assignment books of my students as a incentive chart with 25 spaces. Each piece that is played perfectly gets a stamp, each theory homework gets a stamp, etc. when all the 25 spaces are filled they get to choose a small gift from a gifts basket (it contains things like treble clef pencils, some musical pens, glow in dark sticks , silly bands (which seem to be out of fashion!!) , etc..

3- To make kids repeat some passages for 5 or 6 times in a row I use a drawing of a pony I found online, the pony is flying in the sky and it has 10 steps to reach to a garden, I make them move a plastic pony through those steps each time they play the passage perfectly.

I think those are enough for young ones..

As for older students and adults, I try to give them nice easy pieces once in a while, other than the exam pieces and the classical repertoire they're playing, it depends on what they like, something like Yiruma's River flows in you, Jacob's theme from twilight movie, things by Yann Tiersen..

and lots and lots of encouragement and patience helps  :)

Offline lukebar

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Re: Motivating students
Reply #6 on: September 30, 2011, 11:27:24 PM
Once in a while, when a student comes in, I say to them all excitedly, "You've got to hear this piece I was just practicing earlier. It's so beautiful/powerful/sad/dreamy/whatever....". It doesn't have to relate at all to what they are working on, or what I have in store for them in the future. It just shows them how I feel about music, and that music is a powerful driving force in my life. We may take this for granted, but this is not the way it is in many households.

Kids love getting e-mail from their teachers during the week too. You could send an occasional e-mail with a link to a youtube video of a cool piano piece. Try to encourage lots of listening to good music (not just classical, but all kinds of good music) at home. Reward students for attending concerts and other types of performances- piano or otherwise. Students have to fall in love with good music first before they fall in love with making good music at the piano.
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Offline megadodd

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Re: Motivating students
Reply #7 on: October 09, 2011, 12:43:18 PM
Once in a while, when a student comes in, I say to them all excitedly, "You've got to hear this piece I was just practicing earlier. It's so beautiful/powerful/sad/dreamy/whatever....".

I would love that to happen next time I walk into my teaching room!
Repertoire.
2011/2012

Brahms op 118
Chopin Preludes op 28
Grieg Holberg Suite
Mendelssohn Piano trio D minor op 49
Rachmaninoff Etude Tabelaux op 33 no 3 & 4 op 39 no 2
Scriabin Preludes op 1

Offline pianoplayjl

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Re: Motivating students
Reply #8 on: October 26, 2011, 09:00:07 AM
Or maybe show them a clip from youtube about a good piece and say 'you could play that one day'. Or, as a student slumps midway through a lesson, get them to sit back and listen to one of your pieces.
Funny? How? How am I funny?
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