Tag Archives: motivating

My Thoughts on Practice Requirements

By joy (admin) | Published: 11 June 2010

Many of you may remember being required by your piano teachers growing up to practice a certain amount of minutes each day/week.  Perhaps your requirement looked something like this: 15 minutes a day, 140 minutes each week, or 45 minutes, 5 days a week. One of my previous teachers built her incentive program around how [...]

Posted in improving as a teacher, incentive programs, motivation, practicing, private lessons, settings: | Also tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

A Peek into the Incentive Program Prize Box

By joy (admin) | Published: 3 June 2010

Here’s a peek into the prize box I use for my incentive program.  In case you haven’t read about my incentive program before, here’s the lowdown:  I create an index card for each student, and when they pass a song, they are given a point/sticker for every page of the song learned.  They can also [...]

Posted in incentive programs, motivation, my students, piano camps, settings:, studio class / group lessons, what I'm up to | Also tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Piano transcription from the Pixar movie “Up” soundtrack

By joy (admin) | Published: 3 May 2010

I recently had a student ask if she could learn to play some of the music from Pixar movie “Up” soundtrack.  (Have you seen this movie?  It’s a super cute family movie!  Keep a box of tissues nearby.)  I get pretty excited when I have student who requests to learn a piece of music, and [...]

Posted in by student's level, intermediate level, my students, repertoire/methods, resources / links, technology | Also tagged , , | 2 Comments

Listening and Communicating in 4-Handed Piano Music

By joy (admin) | Published: 27 April 2010

A colleague of mine and I are planning to learn some four-handed piano music this summer, and perhaps do a whole recital together of just four-handed music in the fall semester.  So I’ve been digging around on YouTube, looking for repertoire ideas.  And I have couple of cool videos to share with you today: What [...]

Posted in advanced level, beginners / elementary Level, by student's level, improving as a teacher, intermediate level, motivation, recitals / performances, repertoire/methods, settings:, studio class / group lessons, what I'm up to | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Motivates Musicians and Music Students? – Part 2

By joy (admin) | Published: 12 November 2009

This post is Part 2 of the two-part series: What Motivates Musicians and Music Students?  Here’s a quick recap and then the conclusion of the series: This goal [creating students who can convey musical meaning] in itself is an intrinsic motivator, for even the youngest of students can appreciate the value of musical meaning and [...]

Posted in improving as a teacher, incentive programs, inspiration, motivation, practicing, settings: | Also tagged , , | Leave a comment

What Motivates Musicians and Music Students? – Part 1

By joy (admin) | Published: 10 November 2009

I found an interesting post over at the Third-Stream Music Education blog.  It includes a link to a fascinating video of Dan Pink’s presentation about motivation in the business world (be sure to watch the whole thing!).  The post at the Third-Stream Music Ed blog makes some interesting connections between ways of motivating employees and ways of [...]

Posted in improving as a teacher, incentive programs, inspiration, motivation, practicing, resources / links, settings: | Also tagged , , | Leave a comment

3 Ways to Motivate Busy Students

By joy (admin) | Published: 4 September 2009

I believe students today are busier than ever before.  They are involved in everything you can imagine — art, karate, gymnastics, swimming, sports teams, church activities, 4-H, and more.  And this is all on top of their regular homework assignments from school.  Sometimes the student gets stretched too thin, and something needs to go.  Other [...]

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Music + Imagination

By joy (admin) | Published: 29 May 2009

I often have students’ parents and grandparents tell me that they wish they had kept taking piano lessons.  I use this to encourage my current students, and tell them that it’s a gift to be able to sit down at an instrument and create music — a gift that can provide great pleasure to oneself [...]

Posted in interpretation, motivation, practicing, recitals / performances | Also tagged | Leave a comment

An Inspiring Reminder…

By joy (admin) | Published: 13 April 2009

The following is a something that has been recently circulating via email forwarding (thanks Dr. Le!).  I thought it make some excellent points, reminding us of our ultimate goal as musicians.  Hope you find it as inspiring as I did!  (Sorry for its length — but let me tell you, it’s definitely worth taking the [...]

Posted in by student's level, inspiration, motivation, resources / links, settings: | Also tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Incentive Programs

By joy (admin) | Published: 7 March 2009

Do you use an incentive program in your piano studio?  Incentive programs can be a useful way to motivate and encourage students to be diligent and productive with their practicing.  Let’s face it – most students really can be bribed into doing well!  :] Have you discovered a program that works well?  I recall my [...]

Posted in by student's level, incentive programs, motivation, my students, practicing, settings:, what I'm up to | Also tagged , , | 4 Comments
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