Practice & Motivation Archives

by Nick Ambrosino

What is the end goal? How do we know if we've arrived?

by Sarah Buckley

5 Surprising Ways to Grow Practice Motivation Have you ever felt like a lone wolf in the practice room? Or like the repertoire you’re playing didn’t really connect with the rest of your daily life? If we have felt it, no doubt our students have too. I think these feelings are 2 big reasons students ... 5 Surprising Ways to Grow Practice Motivation

by Nick Ambrosino

Is Chariots of Fire running through your mind as you contemplate work that is never finished?

by Nancy Tanaka

Let us motivate piano students once and for all.

by Tim Topham

Welcome back to the first post of 2017! I hope you had a great break and are looking forward to the teaching year ahead. There have been lots of reports recently about a sudden awareness that our children have lost the opportunity to experience boredom. While most adults will fondly remember their childhoods spent roaming the streets on their ... Unstructured Practice: Giving Students Time to Doodle

by Tim Topham

Hello, Practising the Piano readers! A warm welcome to topmusic.co, a place dedicated to teaching piano differently and supporting creativity and innovation in music education. I hope you enjoyed reading my article: Making Practice Stick on Graham’s blog today. I had a lot of fun putting it together and hope it’s been valuable in your thinking about effective practice. I’ve ... Making Practice Stick

Plans & Pricing

by Tim Topham

I’ve learnt a few things about piano practice and motivation in my time as a musician and music teacher. Here are some of them: The most important thing we can teach our students is how to practice effectively Students need to be taught about practice methods including spaced practice, chunking, interleaved practice, etc. We all need to ... What The Research Says About Piano Practice and Motivation [Book Review]

by Roberta Wolff

Have you ever wondered how a student’s practice diary or assignment book can best support their development as a musician or if there’s even any point in writing things down each week? Have you ever wondered if there are better ways that you can guide your students to practise effectively during the week? Many of us ... Piano Practice Guides for Motivating Students [Free Resources]

by Tim Topham

Do you have trouble getting your students to practise? Do you struggle to help your students make progress because they seem so over-scheduled? If this sounds like you, then Practice & Motivation month is going to be a huge help in your studio. "Getting kids to practice" was the single biggest frustration that teachers mentioned in my recent survey so stay tuned for podcasts and articles from industry leaders, teachers and authors that will give you ideas and strategies to that you can immediately implement in your studio.

by Paul Myatt

You’ve probably all heard about the “Flipped Classroom” and “Flipped Learning”. But what about about “Flipped Practice”? Just last week one of my students who is in year 6 at school (11 years old) and about to complete his Grade 4 piano was given a chord chart for the Jazz band at school. Even though I’m ... Flipped Practice: Can YouTube encourage effective practice?

by Tim Topham

I was watching a TV program last week called “Test your brain“, a series developed by National Geographic Channel which explores how the mind works. The first episode was all about memory (interesting enough for musicians), but the second episode entitled, “You won’t believe your eyes”, really got me thinking about the effect of visual ... Voyeuristic Practice?! How watching other performers can make you a better player.