My student never practices enough?

Question

I am a piano teacher and my student never practices enough, no matter how many times I tell her. I told her that she won't get anywhere without practicing and practicing will make playing the piano much easier, but she still won't. What should I say or do to convince her or make her practice?

She is very sensitive so I need to be very gentle with her, especially when I'm criticizing her because she is very sensitive to criticism.

She lives in Brooklyn and I live very far away so she can't come to play....you need to play EVERYDAY to make progress in piano......skipping days won't make any progress

She is 27 years old and she likes playing the piano she just gives up when something is not right....she is not persistent at all

Giving her candy or a prize would just be a bribe for hard work....she is an adult and I try to show her how much better she has gotten when she practices

soplaw2001, your answer was excellent and I'm sure you're a great teacher, but I do that and she STILL won't practice enough. I tried everything imaginable!!!

EricaPianist, read my additional details and you will see that my student is 27 years old, not a child. It's a good idea for children but my student won't give in. And anyway, that's called bribery! Students have to do what they do to get the results, not get money or candy!

Your students don't like piano Erica, they like the candy that comes along with it

Answer 1

Your student needs to develop her own intrinsic motivation~
You can help by making sure that she knows what she is suppose to do, how to proceed, and how to determine when she has achieved her goals; do everything possible to satisfy deficiency needs -- physiological, safety, belongingness, and esteem (at reason); accommodate the instructional program to the physiological needs of your students; show your students that you take an interest in them and that they belong in your classroom; arrange learning experiences so that she can gain at least a degree of esteem (easy goals to meet to avoid frustration~remember students DO NOT learn when they are at frustration level.) Thus, direct learning experiences toward feelings of success in an effort to encourage an orientation toward achievement, a positive self-concept, and a strong sense of self-efficacy; make use of objectives that are challenging but attainable and, when appropriate, that involve student input (let her help with chosing the music, etc). You must also provide knowledge of results by emphasizing the positive and try to encourage the development of need achievement, self-confidence, and self-direction in students who need these qualities. (baby steps). Most of all, try to make learning interesting by emphasizing activity, investigation, adventure, social interaction, and usefulness.
If you can do these things, you students will be motivated~
I don't "bribe" my students~I want them to want to learn not have me award them for doing what they should be doing anyway~
You have to find some thing that is important to your student through learning~that is the only way I know to develop the intrinsic motivation without knowing your student personally it is difficult to be more specific. Not to mention, at an adult age, the motivation is even more difficult. Tell her she will have to perform for a small audience on a certain date?

Answer 2

I am also a piano teacher. I have a mother with 3 kids, all of them take lessons, and all of them are doing wonderful.
I asked her what she was doing at home and she told me this:::
She has 3 LARGE GERBER BABY FOOD JARS.
She cut holes in the lids
She taped their names on the jars
and they get a nickel and 5 pennies for every 10 minutes they practice [not a dime, not 2 nickels, but a nickel and 5 pennies!]!
She says every child practices 20 minutes a day
so each child gets 2 nickels and 10 pennies a day.
They watch their jars fill up.
When the jars fill up, they start a 2nd jar.
At a certain point [every month or so], they go to DQ or Baskin-Robbins [inside, not drive-through] and they get kid-size Blizzards/Floats, etc.
They are the best students I have for practicing.
They are ages 8, 6, and 5.

Answer 3

How old is the student? Is she interested in playing piano? Is her lesson interferring with something she'd rather be doing? It sounds like you're running a bit of a piano boot camp. If it isn't fun, most students will get discouraged. Are you perhaps asking too much of her? Are the steps small, appropriate AND rewarding?? Is there some sort of sense of accomplishment...and perhaps an enticement (IE: choosing something from a prize box) for each step learned?

Answer 4

Do you have a piano she could practice on it maybe distracting to play at home being a teacher also means searching and digging for the problems and not just relying on captain obvious to appear and show you the situation

Answer 5

Beat her