When I reestablished my studio in 2018, I made the decision to follow the FCPS calendar. The kids got a suitable amount of time off from lessons built into the year, and I felt like that balance created a good amount of momentum from January to our recital on May 18th. But it also left us with a weird gap after the recital and before the last day of school. And somewhat surprisingly, the majority of my students are sticking around for summer lessons. How do we keep this momentum going, without burning out by constantly pushing forward?
As a kid, I remember getting a new book and trying to sight read through every piece from start to finish. I’d find the pieces I really liked and get to work on them (side note: I still operate like this). Across my studio, I realized that many students were only doing the bare minimum. I use a reward system which works really well with many of my kids: they must practice 10 times their age in minutes every week to be able to take something from the prize box at the end of their lesson. I warn them that they might have to practice more, because reaching their goal in weekly minutes doesn’t necessarily mean that they will finish all of their assignments.
This summer, all but 2 of my piano students are sticking around, and the ones that are going to be here are all around the same level. I wanted to emphasize learning entire pieces and move away from counting minutes so that practicing this summer doesn’t become a chore. So I went to work on compiling a binder of pieces for each of them. The challenge: to learn 30 pieces over the summer.
I roughly organized the pieces from easiest to hardest and color coordinated them. Some of the harder ones are recognizable, and the students were enthusiastic to start them, even if they are challenging. I explained to the students that they could go in any order they liked, and that their pieces from their lesson books would also count. I showed them a progress chart I had laminated, and told them they would get a sticker (also color coded just like the table of contents, with blue representing a song from their lesson books) for every piece they complete so that they could see how they were comparing to the other students. Most of them seemed unsure. Despite the uncertainty, they came back the following week….
We’re off to a great start!
The kids really took to it! This was a picture of the progress chart after the first week and a half or so of the challenge. Since taking this picture, Tate has earned a red and blue sticker, Katie has earned a blue and green sticker, Maya has earned a red sticker and is working on an orange and a yellow piece, and Ibiza has earned a new blue and red sticker. Dori and Sam are working on more pieces, though they are on vacation right now.
I am one happy teacher with all of this progress! Each kid has their own method. Some are going for the songs they recognize from their favorite movies or from hearing them played in our studio recital, while others are going in order from start to finish, just like certain titles, or are picking at random. All ways are just fine with me! The first thing they do now when they come to their lessons is check the progress chart instead of telling me how many minutes they got this week.