Ask More Questions

If practice is always a student playing something, an adult telling them what needs to be fixed and then student playing again and looking to the adult to tell them if it is good enough something is lacking.

Progress might be made but the student is not learning how to practice, how to self-analyze, or how to think critically.

Especially as students get older it is much more effective to ask questions than give the answers.

“How did that sound to you?”

“What do you think we should try to do better/improve?”

“Did you remember _______ (insert the teacher’s assignment/focus point here) for the whole song/section?”

“Did you think about what you were playing the whole time?”

“How do you think we should practice that?”

This takes longer than just telling students what to do, but it’s worth it. These are the things we want students to ask themselves when they start to practice independently. These are the things I ask myself if I am playing . . . what do I want to do better? what can I try to make that happen?

Ask more questions. Develop thinking skills. Eventually we want to work ourselves out of a job as practice parents so our children can practice well on their own.