Piano Planners: The Tool That Actually Gets Students Practising
It’s 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon and 8-year-old Benjamin has just arrived for his lesson. After getting his books out and sitting at the piano you ask. ‘So, how has practice gone this week?’. Ben looks at you with that all too familiar expression, somewhere between sheepishness and creative concentration as he starts to answer, ‘Well, I did do some practice but, you see, I was really busy, because on Thursday I had swimming and then at the weekend we had a barbecue in the garden and…’
Sound familiar?
Encouraging our students to commit to regular piano practice can sometimes feel like a losing battle, that nothing will ever change no matter how much we explain the value of practice, make suggestions about scheduling practice and do our best to make practice part of their routine.
But there are ways to help our students move from that desperate place of no practice to a realistic achievable practice routine.
The Challenge We All Face
Piano practice is probably the most discussed topic amongst piano teachers, and it’s no surprise why: we all know how much dedication regular practice requires and how most students struggle to establish a reliable practice routine at home (except for those few magical ones, you know who they are!).
The challenge of student practice is impacted by a lot of factors, piano parent role, home environment, student intrinsic motivation, extracurricular activities, amongst many others.
Developing a Solution
A few years ago (at the time of writing) I created some weekly practice sheets after a parent asked if I had any worksheets to encourage her daughter to practise. After seeing the direct improvement in this student’s practice habits, I decided to roll out these practice sheets to the rest of my young students.
The results were very encouraging and the impact on their practice, and therefore progress, was clear to me, to their parents and most importantly to the students themselves.
Seeing them come to their lessons eager to show me their progress really demonstrated the value of this simple change. These previously unmotivated students had now experienced for themselves the benefits of practice and how great they felt being able to play that piece or even that section of a piece.
For those who already practised regularly, it gave them the opportunity to have a tangible representation of their efforts, further boosting their confidence.
Having these practice sheets also provided opportunities to set termly goals of e.g. practising at least 4 days per week for the autumn term. These were some of the most successful goals for my students!
It wasn’t a perfect fix however, the practicality of practice sheets was a little challenging: they were easily lost (either forgotten at home or scrunched up in their music bag) and so the practice reminder could easily be overlooked.
In addition, it required some hefty printing (17 child students x 13 weeks per term) and I would end up with enormous stacks of practice worksheets that I wanted to keep for records but then realised it wasn’t sustainable (in any sense of the word!).
This is what started me thinking about creating something much more substantial that still created that accountability for students to practise, but also encouraged them in working towards goals, being able to see their achievements and to celebrate their successes along the way.
Introducing The Piano Planner
In the 2024 summer holidays, I set to designing a piano planner that would suit my young students. I had a lot of fun designing these planners and loved the fact that I could include all the things I wanted my students to have at their fingertips, such as reference pages for important theory concepts.
I thought through the things I normally do in lessons, the supplements I refer to in this book or that and incorporated all those elements into the planners. Not only did this make the teaching more streamlined, but the students then had these pages to reference in their planners at home, providing even more support for practice between lessons.
At the start of the autumn term, I presented all my young students with their very own brightly coloured Academic Year Piano Planner and explained how we would be using them. These planners replaced the little A6 notebooks that I had been using since I started teaching all those years ago, which incidentally were frequently misplaced or lost by some students, being so small.
The following weeks saw these planners being opened regularly by nearly all students (we can never expect 100% success of course!), ticking off which pieces/ scales/ theory pages had been practised/ completed on which days of the week. Some really enjoyed adding their feedback on practice in the Reflections box, and others took to making the planner their own by colouring in the little images. The frequency of lost or forgotten practice notebooks dropped dramatically too.
Seeing for myself that these planners really did improve practice habits in my young students, (and seeing the interest expressed by some of my adult students) I decided to create planners suitable for adults. I created a short Google Form to collect ideas and preferences for different layouts and styles from my adults and ended up with two versions: one with daily tick boxes (Weekly Detail Edition) and the other with open space to make notes and tally practice sessions if desired (Weekly Overview Edition).
The broad structure is the same, except weekly practice pages aren’t divided into terms but are kept as 52 individual weekly practice pages.
The basic function of these planners is still to encourage regular practice amongst my adults, but it serves as more of an accountability/ reminder for these students, which has helped keep piano practice higher up the priority list for many of them. I use the Weekly Detail Edition to track my own practice, which has helped me stay more consistent (not easy when you’re a teacher!).
“The planner enables focus on what one is practicing on that particular week, for baby steps review of success, and a useful look back on how well one has progressed over the course of a term. This is important for feeling good about how learning the piano is going. Remembering what one was unable to accomplish back at the start of each term compared to today can prove a positive reinforcer of progress and a boon for well being and self confidence.”
The Result?
We’re now almost at the end of the academic year and I can honestly say these piano planners have improved many aspects of my teaching processes as well as student motivation and progress.
Practice pages are easier for students to read with the clear layout, making practice more accessible.
Many students have maintained improved practice habits throughout the year, gaining additional motivation when working towards a termly goal.
As a teacher, it’s much quicker to write practice notes, making lessons flow more freely.
Students are comfortable writing feedback in the Reflections box - it’s an easier way for them to express their true opinions on pieces and what they’d love to learn.
“This has benefited my daughter a lot. She can clearly see what tasks/tunes she needs to practice on where notes about each piece are included. The practice calendar helps her to keep track on her weekly progress and there is a chance to reflect on her practice each week which provides an excellent point of discussion between my daughter and her teacher at lessons.”
“My daughters both use the piano planner and it has really helped support them in their daily practice. The layout makes it clear to see what pieces they need to practice each week.”
Involving my students in deciding and setting goals each term has given them the motivation to commit to these tasks.
This has been far more effective than verbally discussing goals as they can see them written down in their own planner and regularly referring back to them during lessons keeps them focussed on their goals.
For me, the most useful section, aside from the practice pages (of course!), is the Handy Reminders section which includes important theory concepts we use every lesson.
Things like landmark notes and the Skips Alphabet are regularly used, and I place a sticky tab on those pages so the student can quickly reference them at home during practice time.
“The reference pages at the back really helped my husband and I when we didn’t understand the correct notes they needed to play.”
I have recently updated the Skips Alphabet pages to include a modified version of The Skips Alphabet Help Sheet, which is going to be so useful in future lessons!
The Skips Alphabet Help Sheet is a free resource I created last month that has been extremely popular with other teachers. Grab your free download here:
When we encounter a new term or sign, I refer to the page in their planner or we add it in on the dedicated page for additional terms and signs. It’s been a very effective way of allowing students to internalise this new information.
Basic concepts like dynamics have been much easier for students to remember as I tag the Dynamics page showing loudest to quietest Italian terms as an infographic
The Repertoire pages at the back have been particularly popular, with students able to see at a glance how many pieces they have accomplished during the year.
It can be difficult to keep in mind how many pieces have been learned by the end of the year, so provides a great boost for students seeing just how much they have achieved in the year.
For the Academic Year Piano Planner, at the end of the year we fill in the End Of Year Reflections page, drawing information from the termly goals pages and repertoire pages, as well as any recitals, festivals, exams or other achievements that have been gained.
It provides a wonderful summary of the student’s achievements to end the year on a high, giving them that self confidence to continue developing their skills in piano after the summer break.
To learn more about what’s included in each planner the button below provides more detailed descriptions and screen shots:
I’m really pleased with how these Piano Planners have improved the flow of my lessons and my students’ engagement with practice. If you’re struggling with students not practising, or not engaging and communicating with you regarding their pieces and practice assignments, give these planners a try.
I run giveaways on my Instagram and Facebook pages, so follow me to be notified of the next giveaway, so you can try these planners for free 😄
