If you are a music instructor or the parent of a music student, you will inevitably face the challenge of working with an unmotivated student. After the novelty of lessons wears off, even the most enthusiastic students are prone to lose the excitement they once had. Although this problem may leave you at a loss to know what to do, with patience and a little creativity, you and your student can learn to work through motivational problems together.
Encouragement
A student’s lack of motivation can arise from many different sources, but one surprising cause is insufficient encouragement. As music instructors, we help students improve by spotting problems and helping students correct them. Although this constructive criticism is essential to students’ musical growth, as teachers, we can get so caught up in fixing mistakes that we forget to celebrate our students’ victories. You may have a wonderful, warm relationship with your student, but if the only words she ever hears from you are comments about her mistakes, she will become discouraged and lose motivation. Make a point to praise your students verbally. Give them specific, meaningful compliments like, “I love the expressiveness you demonstrated in this passage” or “your articulation was really crisp there.” Giving these specific compliments not only shows him that you are pleased with his work, but it also allows you to teach him more by using musical vocabulary to describe his success.
Engagement
Another factor contributing to a student’s motivation is her level of engagement with her repertoire. Even the most dedicated musicians will admit that traditional pedagogical repertoire can be boring. Although music lessons shouldn’t be completely focused on having fun (learning music is hard work, after all), your students should still have fun in their lessons. Music is both a discipline and an art that is meant to be enjoyed, and we music teachers need to occasionally lower our high brows and let our students play something they enjoy. No, Ariana Grande doesn’t hold a candle to Mozart, but we can still use her music to teach students many musical principles. By letting students choose some of their repertoire pieces, you not only increase their engagement, but you also earn their respect. When your students know you value their wishes, their willingness to work hard on the “less fun” traditional pieces increases dramatically.
Variety
Another key to stirring up your students’ motivation is to add variety to their practice routines. Do you ask your students to practice 30 minutes a day? Ask them to play everything 10 times instead. You can also try using a 5-star rating system to give feedback on individual lessons. Whether or not you choose to reward students for accumulating enough stars is up to you, but even without bribery, the “grade” may be enough to jumpstart a student’s practicing. If you teach multiple students, another trick you can try is implementing a practice competition. Kids are competitive. I once attended a recital where one of my students began to warm up, and another immediately started warming up without being asked. Utilize your students’ competitive nature to drive them all to the practice rooms.
Taking music lessons is both a joy and a lot of hard work. When your students inevitably develop problems with motivation, you have the perfect opportunity to teach them an important lesson about perseverance. Have a conversation with your students, acknowledging that learning music can be hard. Practicing isn’t always fun, and hard work doesn’t always produce immediate results. Praise your students for the growth they’ve had and recall their wins, encouraging them that their hard work will pay off if they stick with it. Assure them that you are proud of them, that you understand their struggles, and that you want to work through this problem together. Teaching students to persevere through a motivational crisis is a daunting task, but your guidance will help them develop a valuable skill that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
- Jordan Koehlinger, Administrative Assistant/Music Instructor at Vibe Music Academy.
