Your students' practice schedule/routine

[m1469]

As far as a teacher's concern for a student's practice, there seems to be two main concerns overall :

1.  Student practices with most efficiency as possible
2.  Student learns how to design efficient practicing


So, I wonder...

**Do you design for your students a practice schedule, macro and micro? 

**If so, do they just "pick up" on how to design such a rountine on their own, or do you go through the building of it with them?



If you design for them, these seem to me the things the teacher must know of the student (well, I guess these are should knows anyway):

1.  Pianistic Goals
2.  Repertoire Goals
3.  How much time in each day the student committs to practise
4.  How quicklly the student learns
5.  Am I missing anything ....?



**How closely do you keep to/watch over your student's practice?

Check ins everyday?
Practice sheets for each week?


Please forgive the perhaps obviousness of some of this  , but I am just trying to get organized and need to be crystal clear.


Thanks a bundle,

m1469

[bernhard]

Do you design for your students a practice schedule, macro and micro?

Yes, in great detail (sometimes going down to two notes) and all in writing, so that there are no excuses. 

If so, do they just "pick up" on how to design such a rountine on their own, or do you go through the building of it with them?

After going through the material I gave them for a while (say, six months),I will give them a piece that they will be able to tackle easily and I ask that they write down a “guide” to learning it, following the ones I gave them previously. Then we go over it. Sometimes they  don’t have a clue, sometimes they surprise me by inventing some clever stuff I had not thought about.

My ultimate aim is exactly that: that they should be able to figure out how to best learn/practise a pieceby themselves (“independence”, I think it is called ).

If you design for them, these seem to me the things the teacher must know of the student (well, I guess these are should knows anyway):

1.  Pianistic Goals
2.  Repertoire Goals
3.  How much time in each day the student committs to practise
4.  How quicklly the student learns
5.  Am I missing anything ....?

Here a few more (I am sure there are more):

1.   Motivation: How interested/motivated the student is? And what is motivating him/her (love of music? impress the girls? Grandma promised him a car if he passes his grade 8 exams? You get the idea).

2.   Home environment: What is the attitude of parents/siblings? Do they hate the practice because it disturbs TV watching? Are they into classical music at all? Are the neighbours a nuissance?

3.   Economical situation: Is there a budget for CDs, going to concerts, sheet music, etc., or do you have to provide these opportunities for the student if you want to expand his/her horizons?

4.   Priorities: How high are piano studies in the list of priorities of the student /family?

5.   Social life: Does the student have one? And if s/he has, does it take precedence over practising/studying the piano?

6.   Health issues: Does the student has good health in general, or are there problems you should be aware of (I am thinking of chronic conditions like diabetes, epilepsy and so on – you do not want a nasty surprise in the middle of a lesson).

7.   Discipline/personality issues: Can the student concentrate, does s/he have self-discipline, is the home environment structured enough so that practice time will come naturally and be respected? What is his/her relationship with authority and authority figures? (you may have to adapt your teaching).

How closely do you keep to/watch over your student's practice?

Very closely at the start. But the aim is to eventually not to pay any attention whatsoever to it.

Check ins everyday?

Yes, in the first three/six months daily lessons. But I expect not to have to pay any attention to it in about one year.

Practice sheets for each week?

Yes, and a detailed written guide for every piece the student learns.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[keys]

I just started using a practice journal with one of my students. It has room for me to write specific goals for the week, and then a space for the student to record her daily practice sessions. I didn't go into NEARLY as much detail as Bernhard, but it sounds like good advise and I'll give it a try. I've only been teaching for four years, so I'm just a rookie; and in my piano study I progressed very quickly and loved it, so there wasn't any need for my teacher to go to that much effort. She told me that I would have a difficult time teaching because learning was always so easy for me. If my coordination were the same as some of my student’s co-ordination, I would think I was having a stroke Sorry, sort of went off on a tangent. I'd just like to encourage more people to post their teaching techniques; it helps the newbies out immensely!

[anda]

Yes, in great detail (sometimes going down to two notes) and all in writing, so that there are no excuses. 

i do that too. but most of them prefer playing through the work a few times instead of following my instructions. then they get really shocked that i can tell them exactly how they "practiced" (and i emphasize on the fact that this is called "playing" the work, not "practicing").

After going through the material I gave them for a while (say, six months),I will give them a piece that they will be able to tackle easily and I ask that they write down a “guide” to learning it, following the ones I gave them previously. Then we go over it. Sometimes they  don’t have a clue, sometimes they surprise me by inventing some clever stuff I had not thought about.

that's a great idea - i never thought of that. thanks for sharing, i'll try this.

My ultimate aim is exactly that: that they should be able to figure out how to best learn/practise a pieceby themselves (“independence”, I think it is called ).

for me, it's called "utopia" 

[abell88]

One more thing it would be good to know about your student is their learning style...do they understand better when something is explained, or shown, or do they need to hear something, or be given a word picture, or do they need the physical experience? (Ultimately I guess it will all boil down to making the physical gestures, but how is the best way to get that student there?)

Alice

[anda]

one thing: i have a 10 year old who wants to become a piano teacher some day (sic!). so, she comes to me whenever she has some spare time just to watch how i work with other students as well. i have seen her adapting for herself some practice routines i designed for others, and i love the fact that she tries on herself everything i say - whether i said it to her or to some other student; and also the fact that she constantly asks me about this or that exercise - what's it good for? what should she watch for?

[Lauren98]

Hello,
I have really benefited from the comments and suggestions everyone has said!  Anda, that's great that you have someone who is so interested in what you do, that she will actually stay near you to watch how you teach people...it sounds like she will be a great teacher someday!

I currently have only one student, a 12-year-old boy (actually he's my brother ); I will hopefully be getting two more students in September.  All 3 are/will be beginners.  For the 12-year-old, I just have him use my own practice routine on a MUCH smaller scale (obviously on a smaller scale, as I am the teacher and he is the student!).  Since he is my brother, I am withing hearing range of each of his practice sessions and am able to make adjustments to his practice and assignment accordingly.  This is the regular practice routine:

=====
-Warm up with Technic book.  Play 3 times with metronome.  Gradually work up tempo to 76 beats per minute.
-For each piece:
     -Day 1 of practice: Divide piece into 4-measure sections.  Practice each part slowly, no mistakes, 1 time right hand, 1 time left hand, 3 times hands together.  Then, whole piece slowly as well as possible 3 times.
     -Day 2 of practice: Whole piece slowly, counting to self, but always counting 3 times.  Whole piece moderate tempo to see if there are trouble spots.  If so, stop on each spot and play it perfectly 3 times in a row at a moderate to should-sound tempo.  Whole piece moderate tempo, as well as possible 3 times.
     -Day 3 of practice: Whole piece moderate tempo 3 times.  Whole piece should-sound to see if there are trouble spots.  If so, stop on each spot and play it perfectly 3 times in a row at a moderate to should-sound tempo.  Whole piece should-sound, as well as possible, without stopping on mistakes, 3 times.
     -Day 4 of practice: Whole piece should-sound as well as possible without stopping.  If trouble spots, play whole piece again and stop on each spot, then play each spot perfectly 3 times in a row.  Whole piece slowly 1 time.  Whole piece moderately 1 time.  Whole piece should-sound 3 times.
     -Day 5 of practice.  Piece should be well-learned by today.  If not, continue with the above practice plan to work out any trouble spots.  If learned, review by playing should-sound 3 times.
-Play a review piece for fun.
Note: Don't worry if you can't finish everything in one day [which he tends to try to do]--you're not supposed to be able to!  The assignment is for a WHOLE week, not just one day.
Note about tempo: If a piece is supposed to be played at, for example, 100 BPM, slowly (see practice plan above) would be around 60 BPM; moderately would be around 80 BPM; and should-sound (the tempo it should be at--what it "should-sound" like) would be 100 BPM.
=====

Assignments usually contain music from the following: Lesson book, Technic book, Performance book, Theory book, Notespeller, Piano Explorer (a music magazine; student reads it and then we talk about it, listen to recordings of the highlighted composers and instruments, etc.), Hymn book, as well as any recital music he is working on at the moment.  I'm working on writing a practice plan for recital music but it hasn't been finished yet; for now he just uses his regular practice plan for recital pieces, but more in-depth and for a longer period of time.

Practice required is 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.  I have him write how long he practices in a designated section on the practice assignment sheet.

I only teach a 30-minute lesson, so there is just way too much to try to cover in every lesson.  I usually try to write the following week's lesson plan as soon as this week's lesson is over, so I can write it based on how things went this week.  I don't cover the same parts of the assignment every week, so I move things around depending on how much time is needed for a certain concept or piece, and how much of the previous week's assignment we went over.  Whatever we don't go over at the lesson just gets bumped to the beginning of the next lesson.

I try to expose my students (no matter the level) to good music.  I get lots of recordings at the library and then play one every few lessons and we talk about it.  For beginners I just ask them to tell me a word that describes the piece.  The discussion about the music will get more complex as I get students who are intermediate or advanced level.

I plan to incorporate sight-reading, ear training, harmony, improv, transposition, jazz, music history, and other areas of music, into my lessons as time allows.  Obviously not everything can be covered in every lesson (unless lessons happen to last all day!), but hopefully all these areas of study will be covered in some depth over the lessons.

Wow, now that (I think) was my longest post ever on ANY music forum! 

Now that I've given you all the details of what I do could someone offer suggestions (constructive criticism)?  I'm new to teaching and so I rely a lot on other people's help!

Thanks!

~Lauren~

[lostinidlewonder]

I set at the beginning of the term what peices we want to do, write that list down, then go ahead and start memorising it all. I set time restrictions to dedicated musical students and no restrictions to students who are just playing for enjoyment.

I keep a book on every student, like a diary which I get them to take in every time they see me. In that is like my presciption of what they have to do that week. Like a doctor lol. So i spoon feed the organistaion of what they have to do. For most students all i have to write is, do this to that focus on this problem area, maybe offer a few fingering and practice drills within the piece and bang they are away. Some I have to be much more specific, as in how much time to give to each part, like tommorow do this, the next day do that etc. Exhaustive, and those students I really push to try and understand how to set themselves daily goals.

Each student time is different. I have some students who learn the piano for pure enjoyment, and they have a full time job and a family to look after, so piano becomes at maximum only a 1 hour a day effort, if that. Some are retired have all the time in the world to play, some are school students who have lots of commitments and school work pressure. So the time I allocate to each student has to really be careful because it has to tie around what else they do in life.

No matter what time restrictions they have, I always ensure that they are memorising more and more every week. I will always set just a tiny bit more every time I see them. Even if it is half a bar extra than last week so be it. I don't give them less work, I keep trying to stretch them. Sometimes they will sit on a limitation, like maybe i set 15 bars a week, and they can't stretch any further than that for a while. In that case we ask why, and then target why. That why is different in everyones case, but more often than not it is the time restrictions and commitment. Not everyone can commit themselves to persistient every day study of the piano, we are by nature lazy.

[m1469]

Okay, this has been very helpful for me.  I am now working to get more organized in this way, and hey, I even have a student desperately looking forward to me giving her a schedule!  Imagine that! he he


Thanks a lot,

m1469

[outsyde yn]

one of my friends has a teacher who gives her really stricked practice schedules.  The teacher says everything for her to do sometimes even just 2 single notes.  everything is all planned out and all that.  that is Really great to me, I try to do that sometimes just on my own because my teacher doesn't do anything like that.  I don't have that same teacher.  Oh well at least I have a piano in my room.

bye
Clair

[marialice]

Something else you might want to try (it worked for my brother who was pretty stubborn and undisciplined ): let your student keep a practice diary for a week, if necessary with help from their parents. Let him (or her) write down every little bit of practice he does that week, as detailed as possible. This might not be the niced task to do, but it's only for one week...

Next lesson discuss the practice diary together. If done right, it will give a lot of information, not only about your students' practice methods but also about his motivation, which pieces he likes best and why, etc. Then work from there. Some students don't respond well to being told exactly what they should do, how they should do it and when, but will happily take advice based on their own questions.

[allthumbs]

Greetings

For my students I prepare a monthly spreadsheet of sorts on legal sized paper oriented in the landscape fashion. It contains everything that they are working on and they are able to mark off what they are doing each practice time. I can see at a glance what they have worked on and how often they have practiced since the last lesson.

I also have them bring a notebook which I outline what I would like them to work on over the next week. A satchel is suggested so they always have the materials and books they need for their lesson together and available.

m1469, if you are intersted, e-mail me and I will send you an example of the spreadsheet that I was talking about.


Cheers

[lagin]

I'm interested!

la_ginn@yahoo.ca

Would you send me an example, please?

[allthumbs]

Greetings lagin

Done!

Cheers

[robert]

How closely do you keep to/watch over your student's practice?

Very closely at the start. But the aim is to eventually not to pay any attention whatsoever to it.

I just want to add one thing that I believe is an important aspect.
I always try to get the parents involved. They do not need to be musically gifted, be able to to read scores and so on but rather be there to correct the student when he/she do not practise using the right method. I always show the parents which piece we are currently working at and also how the student is supposed to practise it, where the difficulties appear and how it should sound. They should not supervise their childrens playing all the time but listen from another room if the student is doing something wrong.

[allthumbs]

Greetings

Good point Robert, I would even encourage one of the parents to sit in on the lesson if possible, so they have some idea what was covered. Of course with the busy schedules that parents often have and depending on the time of the lesson, it may not be possible for the parents to attend.

Cheers   

[lagin]

Hey Thanks Allthumbs!  So, does your student put a check in each box they covered each day or do they put how long was spend on each piece.  Or is it how many times they played it?  This is really interesting!

[allthumbs]

Hey Thanks Allthumbs!  So, does your student put a check in each box they covered each day or do they put how long was spend on each piece.  Or is it how many times they played it?  This is really interesting!

You can use any or those methods to keep track of what they have done. The great thing about a spreadsheet is that you can see at a glance what the student has focussed on. One can't easily practice all the technical requirements for all keys every day, so this is a way to make sure nothing gets inadvertently left out or not practiced very often as the days/months go by.

Cheers

[bwv]

m1469, if you are intersted, e-mail me and I will send you an example of the spreadsheet that I was talking about.

I would love to see that too, if you could email at giroup01@videotron.ca.  Many thanks!

[robert]

Hey Thanks Allthumbs!  So, does your student put a check in each box they covered each day or do they put how long was spend on each piece.  Or is it how many times they played it?  This is really interesting!

This is what I do as well. The student has one row for each day and columns for pieces/techinque/scales/specific parts of a piece that is more difficult/etc., depending on skill level and what they are learning.
The student mark with a stroke for each time they paractised one of the tasks. This makes the student, especially when they are young, proud of his/her work and has something but for the pieces to show me next time. The backside of this method is that some students are more eager to make strokes than to concentrate on what they really are doing and get sloppy.

[pianonut]

i used a point system for each of the above categories and then at the next lesson (or if adult student-they can tally themselves) they will know if they have done excellent, good, average, or poor.  there were little boxes to write in time appropriated (with my suggestion of how much time to spend on side).  if all the time was put in, it would equal a 1/2 hour.  i used to make that excellent.  now i would say good.  and any student who puts in more, every day - excellent.

whatever amount of time the lesson takes - that is the minimum for practice each day.