It has been exciting this month to see all of the students logging their practice and setting goals for themselves! I think it is really motivating them to practice more. I started logging my personal practice and it’s been motivating me, too!

I truly believe that practice is vital to success on any instrument. Sometimes I even think that the challenge is not so much playing the instrument, but rather committing the time every day (or most days) to practicing, regardless of what life throws at us.

In February, students will start a new log, with an added bonus- we will be doing a Practice Pledge Drive! This means they will collect pledges from family and friends throughout the month and get a reward at the end of the month. I think $.60-$1.00 per hour is reasonable, but pledges can be whatever you like! If there is something other than money that you would prefer to use as a reward, that’s also fine.

The idea is that when faced with that inevitable question “Should I practice right now?” students will have just a little extra push towards “Yes!” 

Finally, on the last lesson of the month, each student will give a short performance for a fellow student. Lessons will be arranged five minutes is added to the beginning or end of each lesson to play for another student. There’s nothing like a little bit of pressure to motivate practice 🙂