Motivating Students - Just Whose Job Is It?

by Nancy L. Ostromencki and John M. Zeigler
Rio Rancho, NM USA

eachers, parents and even students often write us wanting to know how best to motivate students in their studies of the piano. As you might suspect, motivation is such a personal and internal part of the individual psyche that there is no one answer for a given student or a given group of students. Nonetheless, there are some things that parents and teachers can do, working together, to build a sense of self-motivation and accomplishment into younger students. Similarly, older students can learn to motivate themselves to practice, to learn, and to succeed. In this article, we'll discuss some examples and principles that can be used to help students maintain their interest and drive to succeed in lessons. We can't give prescriptions, but we hope these examples will help you, your child, or your students to find out what kinds of goals and rewards will aid in bringing them to their full potential as pianists.

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