What Happens When a Student Doesn’t Practice? Should they Still Come to their Lesson?
The short answer is, of course! Practice is ideal as we can see both student progress and areas of need that we can address. We love to celebrate victories and see and hear progress of any size! And of course we are also always happy to correct issues or concerns and help guide students toward better music making, more fun, and more confidence in playing as it becomes more effortless. But even if a student does not practice, they should absolutely still come to their lesson as there are many things we can do!
Music study is much more than just working on material, scales, or techniques from week to week. If you had a rough week or maybe you didn’t get a chance to practice and you want to do something different on lesson day, just let us know! Most of us would be happy to do some of the following (BTW these are all fun, important, and take no prior practice to learn from on lesson day):
- Ear training
- Sight reading
- Improvisation
- Composition or songwriting
- Theory work
- Teacher directed practice: This can be very effective. Maybe you struggle with practice as a whole. Let us teach you how to practice! I know I have been helped tremendously by teachers that have worked with me in this area.