Practice Trick

Students get bored quickly when they have to repeat a passage over and over.  Making a game out of repeating patterns helps students become engaged and motivated to repeat with purpose.

One thing I like to do is have a object that climbs up the piano as the student repeats the pattern correctly. The item then climbs down the piano for more repeats.

The item can be a eraser, a little toy or anything fun!  I like to use things that relate to the season or song we are studying.  So the "Easter Bunny" may hop up the piano, or for the "The Bear"by Rebikoff you could have a bear climb the piano.  

Some kids love certain sports team, so I could use a little token that represents the sport team.  It could be a magnet, or something you printed out and adhered it to a block or piece of foam.  Imagine the mascot moving up the piano.  It starts on the bench, then on the keys, then moves up to the music rack, then finally is on the the top of the piano.  If more repeats are needed, the item can move down again.  It really helps make practice fun!  See pictures below for how I used this to pracitce for our Christmas Recital.