Every week in the studio I encounter the same situations repeatedly. A few years ago I wrote a document called Helping Your Child Succeed at the Piano. The idea behind this paper to is to help the non-musician learn to navigate supervising practice at home. I hope these ideas will assist you in supervising the daily practice required in piano lessons.
The Notebook:
Each student is given a three-ring binder assignment book. Every week the new lesson is written in, usually with comments regarding what the student needs to pay attention to in terms of corrections that need to be made in the pieces. The student should be looking at this assignment book every day!
Many times students come to a lesson and say they forgot to practice a piece. If they are checking their practice regularly against the assignment book, it helps cut down on this occurrence. Also, practice time should be recorded on the day that it occurs. This is another chance to look at the assignment to make sure all material is being covered.
Please visit again on Tuesday for Part 2 of Helping Your Child Succeed at the Piano