Self-Directed Practice: A Key to Both Student Success and Motivation

Pearce, Elvina Truman, American Music Teacher

If students are to become successful at productively self-directing their practice

* They need to have specific musical and pianistic goals.

* They need to acquire an ever-expanding "tool kit" containing practice strategies that will enable them to fulfill these goals--procedures that produce successful performances with minimal time and effort. Such strategies are things that students should be utilizing when they practice instead of just "doing time" at the piano, such as playing through pieces and passages over and over again in a mindless, goal-less vacuum.

* They need to be active participants in the lesson.

Necessary Practice Strategies

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Self-Directed Practice: A Key to Both Student Success and Motivation. Contributors: Pearce, Elvina Truman - Author. Magazine title: American Music Teacher. Volume: 54. Issue: 2 Publication date: October-November 2004. Page number: 29+. © 2009 Music Teachers National Association, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group.

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