Creative Ways to "Do it again!"

Repetition is a fundamental part of piano practice, but it’s not always a favorite part of practicing. These are ways that I ask students to “do it again” with flair. Each item is designed to be musically meaningful and to keep repetition intentional.

Every variation below targets a specific skill. For example, playing a passage “oppositely” highlights its intended character, and shifting octaves helps students hear something familiar in a new way. These strategies work best after students have spent time establishing accurate notes and rhythms.

1. Play while singing the melody.

2. Play the right hand one octave higher and the left hand one octave lower.

3. Play small sections with your eyes closed.

4. Play the piece at different tempos (e.g. largo, adagio, andante, allegro, presto).

5. For primer-level pieces written for one hand, play the right and left hands together in parallel motion.

6. Make the piece sound like different animals (e.g. play it high like a bird, or low like a whale).

7. Play all dynamics oppositely (e.g. loud becomes soft, etc.).

8. Play all articulations oppositely (e.g. legato becomes staccato).*

9. Play and sing the accompaniment.

10. Play and say each downbeat (beat 1) out loud.

11. If the piece has multiple voices, play while singing or humming the soprano, alto, tenor, or bass line—alternate which voice you sing with each repetition.*

12. Transpose the piece to another key.

*These activities are best suited for more advanced students

An easy way to incorporate strategic repetition is to gamify it. I write different repetition strategies on popsicle sticks and allow students to draw one at random, selecting only those appropriate for their level and stage of learning. The mystery of which stick they’ll pull keeps students eager to build the habit of repetition. The best part is that this game is easily replicated at home. Students may even get creative and brainstorm their own ways to repeat a section!

Perfect Practice: Part 2

Five More Strategies for Successful Practicing

Positivity is Contagious

The tone of a practice session matters. There will be days when your child feels reluctant to practice—and days when you do, too. Even so, the atmosphere adults create has a significant impact on how practice unfolds. Announcing that it’s time to practice with a friendly—not demanding or nagging—tone is a good place to start.

Although part of piano practice is identifying and correcting mistakes, it’s also important to focus on what the student is doing well. Without giving excessive praise, aim for a healthy balance of constructive. comments and positive feedback: for every correction, acknowledge one or two strengths you observe during the session.

Avoid Mirroring Tension

Sometimes, tension will build in at-home practice sessions. Perhaps your child is reluctant to practice altogether, or is frustrated with challenging parts of their assignment—no matter the issue, tension will escalate when met with more tension. Young children are still developing emotional regulation skills, so adults often need to take the lead in diffusing tension. Diffusing tension may including pausing for a moment to tell joke and have a laugh, offering praise for effort if the student is working diligently on something challenging, or keeping communication open by having the student evaluate their own work. What do they feel is the hardest part of a particular practice session? In what areas do they feel like they are excelling?

Be Fair and Follow Through

Students thrive when expectations are consistent and reasonable. To feel safe, communicate openly, and be freely creative, students need to trust that their teachers will not give them more than they can handle, hold them to unrealistic standards, or be inappropriately picky.

At home, parents temporarily step into a teaching role, and fairness matters just as much there as it does in lessons. Avoid asking the student to do more than is listed on the weekly assignment, and be consistent with requests—it isn’t fair to have a student play a passage ten times if five times was the agreement. Consistency builds trust, and trust supports effort.

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Deep Dive: Give Rewards—But Know How to Use Them

Some families choose to use rewards to encourage practice. When used thoughtfully, rewards can acknowledge effort without replacing intrinsic motivation. In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink distinguishes between two types of rewards:

• If-Then rewards (“If you practice, then you earn…”), which are anticipated and tied directly to task completion.

• Now-That rewards, which are unexpected acknowledgments of effort, focus, or persistence.

Research suggests that frequent If-Then rewards can shift attention away from enjoyment and toward the reward itself. Over time, they may need to increase in size or frequency to maintain the same effect. Now-That rewards, by contrast, recognize qualities such as focus, independence, and perseverance.

If-Then rewards ultimately stifle creativity and inhibit deep thinking. This is because the focus is on the short term and the reward itself. Pink also explains how If-Then rewards can deflate motivation: “If-Then rewards require people for forfeit some of their autonomy…And that can spring a hole in the bottom of their motivation bucket, draining an activity of its enjoyment” (36). When an enjoyable task becomes a job, our motivation to perform the task out of genuine excitement interest declines.

If-Then rewards are also hard to maintain because they are anticipated by recipients, who come to then expect rewards upon completion of similar tasks. Pink notes, “…before long, the existing reward may no longer suffice. It will quickly feel less like a bonus and more like the status quo—which then forces [the use] of larger rewards to achieve the same effect” (53).

Now-That rewards, on the other hand, foster intrinsic motivation because they allow students to see the relationship between their behavior and rewards. What do Now-That rewards look like in the context of piano lessons and practice? Here are a few examples:

• When the student accomplishes their practice goals before their practice session is finished, reward their focus and effort by allowing some time for games via music apps. Explain that the surprise app time is a result of their focus.

• When the student successfully uses visual aids included in their take-home pouch (e.g., fuzzies, picture cards), reward them with some fun, affordable manipulatives like Iwako erasers or finger puppets. Mention that since they know how to use those aids so well, you got them some new, cool ones!

• When the student uses practice strategies independently, reward their ownership with a treat.

Because they are a surprise, Now-That rewards should always be followed up by explaining why the reward was given—this will get the student eager to show off their good attitude and effort in the future!

What I Don’t Use as Rewards

Creative activities—such as improvisation or musical games—are integral parts of music learning in my studio. For that reason, I do not use them as rewards or withhold them as consequences. They are part of the learning process itself.

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For more a in-depth look at rewards and motivation, I recommend reading Daniel Pink’s book or giving this episode of Dr. Ashley Danyew’s podcast, Field Notes on Music Teaching & Learning, a listen.

The Parent's Guide to Rote Pieces: Part 1

What is rote teaching?

Rote pieces are intended to be learned by imitation. Although the score (music on the page) to every rote piece can be found in the Piano Safari repertoire books, students practice rote pieces by using their ears, reminder videos, and various manipulatives that provide a visual representation of the piece.

For some adults, the word rote may bring back memories of memorizing information without much engagement. In a musical context, however, rote learning is something quite different. When guided thoughtfully, it is an intentional and highly effective way to introduce musical concepts.

Why learn music by rote?

By the time children begin piano lessons, they have been exposed to music in a multitude of genres, styles, and settings; rote learning allows students to access complex, expressive music before they are fluent readers of notation. Just as children learn to talk before they can read words, they can also learn to hear, feel, and execute musical concepts with proper technique before seeing and processing written symbols.

Some other benefits of rote learning include:

• Rote pieces often use the full range of the keyboard, which feels exciting and motivating.

• Without the cognitive load of note-reading, students can focus fully on healthy technique.

• Students become comfortable playing both with and without music in front of them, which prepares them for memorized performance later.

• Hearing and feeling patterns first supports stronger reading skills in the future. When students encounter those patterns on the page, they already recognize them physically and aurally.

For further reading on the benefits of rote teaching, check out Dr. Julie Knerr and Katherine Fisher’s essay.

The Basic Rote Learning Process

All of my students—from preschoolers to retirees—learn by rote in addition to learning to read notes on the staff. The practice process for rote pieces, while not more difficult, is different from what parents and students might consider traditional practice. To clarify the process, I’ve created a basic guide to practice.

We learn rote pieces in our lesson; a rote piece will rarely be a YOYO (You’re on Your Own) piece. Students listen to rote pieces for a week or two before they’re taught to play them. This means that students will occasionally have a listening assignment to do at home.

To practice rote pieces at home, students should use the following steps:

1. Listen multiple times. Students should sing, move, and engage with the recording. (The Piano Safari method includes downloadable recordings for each piece.)

2. Refer to the score for starting position and lyrics. There is no need to read individual notes. Students may notice broad patterns like the notes moving up or down—this kind of observation is encouraged. Keeping the score visible helps notation feel familiar over time.

3. Try to play the piece using strategies taught in the lesson before using the reminder video. These could include visual aids in the method book, printable cards, or breaking the piece into small sections.

4. Review reminder videos as needed. Even if a piece feels secure, reviewing ensures correct fingerings and technical gestures.

Longer rote pieces use picture cards to aid memory.

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Looking Ahead

Future posts in this series will explore the details of each practice step more thoroughly, including how to listen actively, how to break pieces into manageable sections, and how parents can guide their young pianist during home practice.

Perfect Practice: Part 1

Five foundational Habits for Stress-Free Practice

Most piano families understand that practice plays an essential role in progress. What is less clear is how practice should unfold at home. Like piano playing itself, practicing is a skill—one that develops gradually with guidance.

This post begins a Perfect Practice series (a nod to pedagogue Elvina Truman Pearce) and outlines several foundational habits that foster consistent, effective practice at home. The trick, ironically, is to aim for consistency over perfection. There is simply no such thing as truly perfect practice!

Practice Starts in the Lesson

Effective practice begins before the student ever leaves the lesson. In my teaching, practice strategies are introduced and modeled during lesson time. When expectations are clear, and students are confident that they can meet them, they practice more readily. For each assignment, students use specific techniques for at-home practice, and I have students replicate those techniques for me so I can be sure they will be successful at home.

For younger students, parent observation can be especially helpful. Some parents take notes; others record a short segment of the lesson for reference. Even occasional observation strengthens communication between teacher, student, and parent.

Choose a Time and Stick with It

A tried-and-true rule for productive at-home practice is following a routine. When treated as a negotiable part of the daily routine, piano practice often lands at the end of the day when both parents and students are too tired to be productive. Elvina Truman Pearce outlines this topic in The Success Factor in Music Teaching: Making Practice Perfect. She makes two great suggestions:

• “trying out” different practice times (before or after school, before or after dinner, etc.) for at least five days each to see which one clicks best with everyone.

• splitting up daily practice into two or three short sessions.

I promise this won’t be the case. ;) Source

It’s important to note that, while practicing may happen at the same time each day, practice length may vary. I encourage students to use practice time wisely to ultimately spend less time practicing. There are certainly broad practice time suggestions for different age groups that are helpful for new piano students, but these are starting points—not rigid guidelines.

Create a Supportive Environment

The ideal practice environment sets the student up for success. Things to consider include:

• Is the room quiet enough for focused listening?

• Is the piano located away from heavy foot traffic?

• Are materials organized and easily accessible?

When the environment reflects shared respect for practice time, students are more likely to value it as well.

“The point is that if practice is to become important to the student and a regular part of [their] daily routine, then a suitable environment for it must be created and respected by the entire family. This indicates to the student that all members of the family respectfully support its importance.”

— Elvina Pearce, The Success Factor in Piano Teaching: Making Practice Perfect (193)

Remember that Children are Still developing

Children are still learning to recognize and regulate their emotions and behaviors. They need patience and guidance as they learn the self-regulatory skills necessary to direct their behavior toward a goal. Self-regulation includes a complex set of abilities developed gradually from infancy through middle-childhood (up to around age 12) (Ziv et al. 2017). For piano students, self-regulating includes planning practice, changing the plan if something isn’t working, and thinking about what went well and what didn’t. That’s a lot of work for a developing brain!

It is both normal and expected for younger students to need reminders, structure, and encouragement—even when they genuinely enjoy piano. There will be strong practice days and challenging ones. Understanding this helps parents respond with patience and realistic expectations.

Deep Dive: freedom within a framework

As students mature, independent, self-motivated at-home practice is an important goal. Experts agree that autonomy plays a significant role in motivation (Gandhimathi & Anitha Devi, 2016). The meaning of autonomy is twofold. In an educational sense, it refers to students’ ability to guide their learning; in general, it can refer to independence or freedom.

We can think of both definitions of autonomy as two unique components that work together. For students to be interested in their learning process (autonomy), they need to feel in control of their goals (through freedom and choice).

Who makes most of the choices in the context of piano lessons? Parents of younger students usually decide when practice happens; the teacher decides which practice techniques to use (or how) to practice; method books, even when supplemented with outside music, can largely dictate what is practiced. While it’s essential to keep a steady and organized practice routine, it’s equally important to allow students to have a say in their learning. Some strategies for providing choice and facilitating independence include:

• allowing the student to plan the order of tasks within their practice session.

• incorporating improvisation into every practice session.

• using tools that help students keep track of meaningful repetition independently (see example below).

• encouraging the student to reflect on their progress.

• asking the student which practice assignment they feel needs the most attention.

• encouraging the student to keep track of questions that arise during practice.

Use Iwako erasers to track repetition—each time the student plays the target passage correctly, move an eraser to the other side of the music stand.

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The next Perfect Practice installment will explore practice attitudes, how to deal with difficult practice days, and thoughtful use of reward systems.

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Sources

Gandhimathi, S., & Anitha Devi, V. (2016). Learner Autonomy and Motivation - A Literature Review. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 6(3). https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234674899.pdf

Pearce, E., Sale, C., & Blickenstaff, M. (2014). The success factor in piano teaching: Making practice perfect. Kingston, NJ: The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

Ziv, Yair & Benita, Moti & Sofri, Inbar. (2017). Self-Regulation in Childhood: A Developmental Perspective

Getting the Most from Online Lessons

What to do before, during, and after online lessons

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A sudden switch to online lessons in the middle of a pandemic isn’t everyone’s ideal learning situation, but some simple measures can be taken to make virtual lessons smooth, enjoyable, and productive.

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Before Enrolling

Time Commitment

Online lessons sometimes require a slightly different rhythm than traditional lessons. Teachers may ask students to:

• Submit short video recordings ahead of time

• Send mid-week progress clips

• Watch an instructional video before the lesson (this is called flipped learning)

Younger students will need assistance completing these tasks, in addition to regular practice.

Scheduling

If possible, schedule lessons when Internet traffic is light and noise in the house is minimal. With entire families working and learning at home, I understand that this might be difficult—keep reading for tips on maximizing Internet speed.

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Before the Lesson

Materials

• Sign up for Zoom if you haven’t already.

• Have all materials ready (lesson books, sheet music, flashcards, pencil with eraser, etc.).

• Use sticky notes or flags to mark relevant pages.

• Complete any requested score markings (measure numbers, highlighted accidentals, etc.).

• Make sure all devices are fully charged or plugged in.

Camera Placement

Position the camera to show the student’s upper body, arms, hands, and keyboard. A side view—either to the left or right of the student—often works well. The student can turn slightly toward the camera when speaking.

Internet Connection

Check your internet connection using Speedtest. A download speed of 10 Mbps is ideal if multiple people are using the internet, though 2 Mbps can work for a single user.

If possible:

• Move your router closer to the piano.

• Use an ethernet cable if your device will accept one.

• Limit high-bandwidth activity during lesson time.

Lighting

If the room is very bright, close blinds or curtains to prevent wash-out. Light should come from in front of the student to avoid glare and shadows.

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During the Lesson

• Parents should be present to help take notes, handle manipulatives, solve technical issues, and help young students listen for cues. Even some of my high school students choose to have their parents nearby during their lessons!

• The teacher, student, and parent will take turns talking and playing to save time, using cues like “my turn” or “your turn” to eliminate confusion.

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After the Lesson

• Download the recorded lesson to review later, if applicable.

• If the teacher assigned any flipped learning activities, add the due dates to your calendar, or set a reminder on your smartphone. Help your student complete and submit the assignments.

• Encourage your student to practice. Younger students may require supervision and guidance as they practice.

• Be sure to give praise! For students accustomed to in-person lessons, a sudden switch to online lessons can be stressful and confusing. Compliment your student on their effort, resilience, and willingness to try new things.

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For more resources on piano lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic, see these tips published by The Frances Clark Center and Piano Magazine.