The Best Way For Students To Retain What Happened During Piano Lessons When They Forget

We've all been there where the student forgets what happened during the lesson and couldn't remember how the piece went. They get home and all of sudden the notes just look like dots and lines. It can be a little frustrating (and the parents can feel the tuition fee slipping away haha) so here are a few strategies that I use to help boost retention.

To start, I write down the exact pages and pieces that the student should be working on this week. It'll be structured like:

Keep In Repertoire - (any recently finished pieces that would be great to warm up with to feel good and get the fingers flowing)

Scales, Chords, Patterns - (also used as a warm up so that students can visualize the key that they're in. If the piece that they're working on is in D, I create warm ups with 2 sharps so that they can focus on hitting F# instead of F natural and C# instead of C natural. That way they can see those shapes before putting it into context)

Etudes - (shorter pieces that help develop a particular skill)

Repertoire - (full songs that are often longer and have several sections)

I also write down detailed notes for thing that the student ought to focus on. It can be anything like isolating a few measures with a tough transition, not letting the knuckle collapse when playing, adding dynamic shape to the lines, holding notes for the full duration, or something else.

At the end of a lesson, I often have students run down all of the new bits that we did that day to double check that they understand not just the new material, but all of the steps to get there. For a new rhythm, that might mean counting it out loud, clapping the rhythm, and then playing it on the piano. That way, they're focusing on just the rhythm before adding in pitches and which finger to play it with.

Lastly, I offer a free service where I video record short tutorials of the exact steps that we went through that day so that the student can watch it at their convenience.

If the student has any questions through the week, I can be reached at ericchingdrums@gmail.com at any point.

And during the next lesson, I check what we went over in the last lesson so that we can be absolutely sure that the material has stuck. If they forgot, I either reiterate what I said the previous week or try something new so that students can view the musical problem from a different vantage.

With these devices along with regular practice, we hopefully have our best shot at retaining what happened during piano lessons!

If you're a new student and would like to enroll, head over to the LESSONS page.

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