Self-directed practice: a key to both student success and motivation

If pupils are to become successful at productively self-directing their practice

* They ne to have specific musical and pianistic goals.

* They ne to acquire an ever-expanding "tool kit" containing practice strategies that will enable them to fulfill these goals--procedures that bring out successful performances with minimal time and effort. of that kind strategies are things that pupils should be utilizing when they practice instead of just "doing time" at the piano, like as playing through pieces and passages above and over again in a mindless, goal-less vacuum.

* They ne to be active participants in the lesson

Necessary Practice Strategies

To experience succes scholars need specific strategies

1) for working on the outside a new piece

a) analysis of the one and the other form and structural elements

b) planning fingering; deliberate practice (choosing a "thinking" tempo); hands-separate practice (when and in what way much?); counting

2) for dealing with technical issues

3) for achieving a tempo

4) for producing musicality in performance

5) for securing, checking and maintaining memorization

Ways to Encourage Active pupil Participation at the Lesson

To aid active student involvement at the exercise teachers need to

1) Involve scholars with choke making. To facilitate this, the teacher might say

a) "Today we're going to start with technique warm-ups. Do you want to begin with scales, arpeggios or the Hanon study?"

b) "Let's begin today's exercise with a piece. Which single would you like to start with? pitch upon the metronome tempo you'll be using when you play it."

c) "What would you like to start with today--technique, theory or a piece?"

d) "This week you'll be starting a of recent origin piece. I'll play samples of three possibilities and then ask you to make choice of the one you'd most like to work on"

e) "Our nearest piano program is six weeks away. At abiding-place this week, make a list of six or seven favorites you'd like to consider as possible performance pieces for this fact Then, each week we'll narrow down the list until we extreme point up with the two pieces you actually will play upon the program."

2) Encourage pupils to make use of the pencil at the lesson

a) "What note did you miss in tire third measure? Circle it with the r pencil and write its name above it."

b) "What would be the best fingering for the right hand in this passage? Write this fingering in your music." "Write in the counting for meter seven and eight and in the way that on."

c) "Mark the main sections and label the form in this of recent origin piece (ABA and so on)"

d) "Mark in the pedaling you wish to use in this section."

3) Involve scholars with the setting of pre-performance goals.

a) "Before you play this piece, name three specific things you're going to listen for."

b) "Suggest sum of two units things you'd like for me to listen for as you play."

4) Involve scholars with post-performance evaluation (before teacher evaluation).

a) "What did you like about your performance?"

b) "Did you hear the three special things you said you were going to listen for?"

c) "What would you like to improve? present to view me (show, not tell me) in what manner you'll practice to accomplish this."

5) Involve learners with demonstrations of practice strategies.

a) "Play just the last section of this piece. If yon have a question stop and then show me (show not compute me) how you'll work upon this spot."

b) "With this novel piece, demonstrate the practice paces you'll use with the first section when you work it our at domicile this week."

Coda

For practice to be rewarding and productive, it must be effectively self-directed, and to the stage that this occurs, the issue for the student usually is the pair success and motivation. Surely, succes is individual of the most powerful motivators of all--fat more significant than receiving a star, medal or evidence of victory Ongoing success is probably the single greatest in quantity influential factor in motivating scholars to enjoy music study--students who want to continue upon with their lessons and with their journey into the portentous world of music--both as listeners and as music makers themselves!

Elvina Truman Pearce is editor of Keyboard Companion magazine and a planter of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. She has at handed recitals and workshops in more than forty states, Canada, the Republic of China and Australia and is a nationally recognized composer

COPYRIGHT 2004 Music Teachers National Association, Inc.

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