Get Your Kids to Practice Piano with the Practice Raffle!

Parents often complain to me that their children won’t listen to them when they ask them to practice.  It is a very common complaint among most parents whose children are taking music lessons, such as piano.  It is especially true with youngsters who are not yet aware of the need for regular practice in order to reach their musical goals. 

Parents feel that they don’t have the outside authority factor like the piano teacher and therefore their kids don’t listen to them because the request to practice is lumped in with all the other requests to do homework, chores, etc. and the kids don’t really take them seriously. It may sound funny, but some parents have actually asked me if I would mind calling the student a few times a week to remind them to practice because they would actually do it if I asked them.  However, this is definitely not a practical suggestion for any family or piano teacher.

Many modern parents also want their children to enjoy piano lessons and only practice because they want to.  Indeed, it is ideal that the children have a positive experience with piano lessons (or any music lessons) and not suffer the guilt trips that put such a negative light on any lessons they take. However, we all know that when given the choice, kids more often choose to play their new Wii rather than practice, no matter how much they say they love to play piano.

Therefore, in order to find an answer to this problem, we have to think like the kids and think of fun incentives that will reward them as well as get them to practice.  Here is just one idea that has worked with many young students and may work with yours:

The Practice Raffle

 Materials Needed:

-Shoe box

-Construction paper and other decorative materials

 Instructions:

 Make a slit on the top of the shoe box so you can put pieces of papers inside.  Have the student decorate the box so that it’s special for them. You must also cut out pieces of paper of the same shape, like tickets.

Now, every time that the student practices a certain amount of time (5, 10, 15 minutes depending on the child’s age and ability to focus at the piano) they get a ticket and they write their name on it and put it in the box. 

Every time you, the parent, asks them to practice and they don’t, you put your name on a ticket and put it in the box. I think you know where this is leading….

At the end of a specified time agreed by all (maybe once a week or once a month), the family gets together and holds a raffle for a prize (such as candy or something else that you know will motivate your child).  Obviously, the more the students practice, the better chance they have of winning. But the more times they refuse to practice, they have a great chance of losing. This works even better when there are multiple students in one family because it is more fun for more people to compete. Also, because one student’s refusal to practice can negatively impact their brother and sister’s chances of winning since the parents put “parent” tickets into the same box, the brothers and sisters will have an incentive to encourage each other to practice when a parent requests it.

I recommend smaller prizes such as candy and weekly raffles for smaller children because they are a little less patient than older students. This game may even work with teens if everyone agrees to bigger prizes such as movie tickets, etc. and less frequently raffles (monthly). The key is to give the kids incentives to practice, rather than just waiting to reward them once they finally learn a song because it takes some longer than others and practicing actually increases other useful skills such as patience, self-discipline, hard work, etc. Why reward a student when they learn a song with barely any effort?  This method can also be used for a wide range of activities that parents must nag their kids about, whether it’s homework, exercise, chores, etc.