Getting your pupils to practice in between piano lessons can feel like an uphill struggle and pupils of all ages can find it difficult to motivate themselves if the teacher hasn’t set clear goals each week. By writing down what needs practicing each week pupils will spend more time at the piano and you and they will hear the results.
What makes a good practice goal?
To make piano practice more effective and engaging for pupils I like to keep two main guidelines in my head:
Be specific: Provide clear instructions about what you would like them to accomplish at home. Assigning a specific page or section of piece, counting or saying note names out load. Maintaining good posture, hand position, keeping a melody legato or a steady beat would also be good achievable goals.
Don’t ask too much of your pupil. If you send a pupil home to work on a piece’s dynamics, rhythm, expression, tempo changes, pedalling and tone, you are likely trying to do too much! Have them focus on one or two specific areas and progress will be much quicker and less intimidating.
Notebooks & Practice Diaries
Do your pupils have a notebook or a practice diary? I have used many different notebooks over the years. Spiral bound, perfect bound, A4, A5, even A6 which can be a bit on the small side. Sometimes pupils bring their own – which can lead to having something less than ideal – and at other times I give one that I’ve got in my stack (I have many notebooks and am a bit of a menace when it comes to hoarding stationery!) When I work in schools, my local music hub gives me free practice books which are handy to give out to children, though I find the space a bit limited and the ‘Homework Diary’ title very off-putting.
I haven’t found the perfect notebook for lessons, if such a thing exists, and so this has led me to create my Weekly Lesson Sheet which can be printed on A5, A4 or US Letter sized paper and stored in a binder or file of the pupil’s choice. I really like these A4 four-ring binders from Oxford* as they’re sturdy and pages are less likely to come loose. They also come in a variety of bright colours. If you prefer a more budget conscious binder, these two-ring binders* are great too.
Setting clear tasks in the Weekly Lesson Sheet
The Weekly Lesson sheet gives space for you to write clear instructions for scales, arpeggios, broken chords, warm-ups and other activities in the first box. The largest area is for you to give instructions about which pieces need practicing and whether the pupil needs to concentrate on a specific section, left or right hand, dynamics or other elements of the piece. Beneath is a box for you to write instructions for theory exercises, repertoire, sight reading or even listening recommendations.
There are lots of ways to help pupils track how much time they practice each week, including using the practice trackers in my Practice Challenge Bundle and awarding certificates for attainment. On the Weekly Lesson Sheet I’ve included a simple practice bar for pupils to tick, colour or fill with a sticker. You can decide how long these circles represent – five minutes, one practice session or even one minute for very new beginners.
At the bottom of the page there are two music staves or staffs for you to notate any patterns, rhythms or scales your pupil needs to learn. I also use these to create sight reading exercises and for note naming and writing activities. For older pupils you may create a theory activity such as writing out key signatures.
The Weekly Lesson sheet is designed to give you enough space to write what needs to be done while having flexibility for you and your pupil to use it as best fits your needs.
The Weekly Lesson Bundle
I hope you find the Weekly Lesson Sheet useful, but to make it even better, I have created a bundle is flexible enough for you to use however you like. Alongside the Weekly Lesson Sheet, there is a Scales & Arpeggios tracker with space for you to write the name of the key, the pattern (scale, arpeggio etc). Pupils can then tick each time they practice the scale. This has the distinct benefit of making sure pupils don’t always practice the ‘easy’ technical exercises but instead spend equal time on each.
But that’s not all you get in the bundle! I’m very keen as a piano teacher to encourage creativity in children particularly and so in this set of printables I’ve included a My Composition sheet as well as two different types of manuscript paper which you can use in lessons or at home. Click here to go to the shop and download your Weekly Lesson Bundle now!
Let me know how you get on with this bundle and whether it improves your pupils’ practice!
* I get a small amount of commission from Amazon if you click on these links and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
