Students and parents are often resistant to the idea of extending their lessons from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. They sometimes believe (wrongly) that this is a waste of their money, and (also wrongly) that they can figure things out at home on their own, and they don’t realize how often these struggles with individual practice at home can be eliminated by spending these same extra 15 minutes with their teacher. Students can struggle with many issues while practicing at home. These include:
- Can’t remember the notes
- Hand coordination issues
- Can’t remember how exactly they were supposed to move their hands
- Can’t remember what the teacher has asked them to do at home (this is a very common one!)
- Parents struggle to make their children practice, and often a “battlefield situation” develops
- Practice time is resented, as it seems impossible to do all the teacher asked for
The very simple solution to these issues is: extend your lesson by 15 minutes. If your teacher hasn’t yet offered it, ask for a longer lesson. You will see the benefits almost instantly, because these extra minutes of study time give the teacher the opportunity to lead you in more guided practice, have you repeat some difficult places a few times, and explain a difficult to understand concept a second/third time. Your teacher may show you a new movement and will repeat it with you a few times. You, the student, will also be able to practice note recognition and sight-reading, practice chords in the music, and much more.
Students go home after these extra 15 minutes with more confidence that they are on top of their task. They remember the movements and the repeated patterns, and home practice goes along more easily.
A standard piano lesson usually contains a few sections: a warm up, working on old material, adding new material, and if time is left then sight-reading or theory/ear training are added. While most students do well with the warm up when we use more repetitive movements, when it comes to polishing the music or starting a new piece, most students feel the remaining time in the lesson is not enough for them to understand what to do and how to do it, in what order, and what result is a good result from home practice. The guided extra 15 minutes of practice with the teacher gives them this clarity, and they can do guided practice on everything that they will then repeat at home. So, no struggles, resentment, or hard times. Problems solved. Improvement and advancement guaranteed!
The long-term benefits of extending your lessons include: Faster improvement with less struggles, and a better overall understanding of the music and of how to reach a polished level. This creates a solid feeling of self-esteem, as now the students know better what they are doing and how to do it efficiently. Less time for home practice, less stress, but better results. Isn’t it magical? Isn’t it worth a try? The power of the extra 15 minutes with your teacher for guided practice. Try it and see for yourself!
Matova Music School 