Let’s be honest, the word practice usually isn’t a huge hit with most kids. Many children dread practicing and often fight it. That isn’t because music is a poor fit, it usually has something to do with the perception of practicing as sitting still in the same room for longer than they would like, playing the same notes over and over. Practice sounds and awful lot like another dreaded word… homework.
Now, the above is not my definition of practice. I consider practice as any time spent bettering your grasp of what we have worked on in lessons. That could mean doing flash cards, writing a song, watching a video on youtube about playing piano, reading about a composer, sitting at the piano for 5 minutes, playing a new strum pattern on guitar, talking about lessons, etc.
So, with the Olympics starting TOMORROW I wanted to come up with a fun and engaging way to get my students practicing more! I found my inspiration for this activity on http://averyranchmusic.com/winter-piano-olympics and adapted it to suite the needs of my students.
Starting today, my students will be participating in THE PRACTICE OLYMPICS! There are 8 musical events involved. To reach a bronze medal students must successfully complete 2 events, silver is 3 events, and gold 4 events. This allows students the ability to push themselves without competing with peers and gives them the choice of what events to participate in! Each student will have 2 weeks from the date they receive the event details to complete their desired events. Musical prizes will be awarded at the end of the 2 weeks!
Get you FREE Practice Olympics printable HERE!!!!!