10 Favorite Items for Piano Student Practice Kits
One of my favorite things to do each fall when a new school year begins is assemble Student Practice Kits for all my virtual and in-person piano students. It's not only a fun way to ensure that students have the tools they need for successful practicing at home, but involves them in the process as they select the colors and we assemble the kits together! Over the years, I've included many different items, but this curated list is my (and my students') favorite things they repeatedly request, and things they/we use most often that truly work.
Benefits of Student Music Practice Kits
1- Greater success in home practicing
When I gave practice kits to my new students a few weeks ago, one of the pre-teens said (while smiling) "Oh, I never thought of needing accessories for piano. This is cool." She was immediately excited to use the sticky notes and erasable highlighters during our lesson, and I've since heard from her parents that practicing at home is going better than it ever has before! Why? Probably a combination of the new repertoire and structure, but a big part of it was the practice kit and realization of how to use these fun, colorful things in practicing!
2- Intentionality in practicing and building a routine
I'm convinced that one of the biggest hangups of students practicing at home isn't because they don't have new repertoire to work on; it's because they don't know where to start. And when you don't know where to start, it all feels immensely overwhelming. Helping students develop a sustainable practice routine alleviates the overwhelm and dread, and aids them in developing achievable goals for themselves.
3- Varied practicing= more fun
It's one thing to tell students in lessons "when you practice at home..." but it's another to give them creative tools to help them create fun, engaging practice routines on their own. You could even give your students a list of optional combinations for practicing: Day 1- use piano bingo, dice, and highlight all dynamics in music
Day 2- use spinner, write in accidentals, put a post-it where you stopped in your music
(you get the idea)
4- Ownership in the practicing process
One of the biggest goals of music lessons is to help students develop independence, autonomy and ownership in the music learning and piano playing process- to help them move beyond simply counting rhythms and figuring out note names and become artists. Even seemingly small things like practice kits can help students feel in control of their musical study, and accept some of the responsibility and ownership of the process.
Students who learn ownership and take an active role in the music learning process may be more likely to stick with it longterm!
Make it your own
If it isn't in your studio *budget to purchase practice kits for all your students, assemble a list of everything you want students to keep at their pianos in a pencil case/pouch or folder, and have them send a picture of their setup to you! Most families will have many of these items accessible and many parents would be willing to ensure students have the tools they need to be successful with home practicing. Over the years, I've used a combination of different items in practice kits, but these are the favorites I return to each year.
*side note: the funds for practice kits should come from your studio budget or from registration fees, etc. It's a great thing to write down to include next year and make sure you've budgeted for it!
Erasable Highlighters My students love these pastel-colored, erasable highlighters and we use them often for highlighting dynamics, articulations, accidentals, and the erasable feature is amazingly useful! I especially love that the pigment is not overly dark, and they don't usually bleed through the music pages. The erasing is quite smooth as well and doesn't leave a trace!
Paper Mate Triangular Pencils Mechanical pencils are not a new invention, but this specific design is brilliant for students! The larger size and triangular shape is great for small hands (but students of all ages like them), and the thicker 2.0 lead makes the point a bit more dull and less likely to break often. The erasers are also nice without shedding pencil shavings all over the piano!
Pastel Transparent Sticky Notes These are one of my students' all-time favorite tools I include in practice kits each year! I prefer the pastel colors, and many of my students like the Clear Transparent Sticky Notes (I like the varied sizes of that set), becuase they can use them in their music to write notes or reminders.
Page Tab Sticky Notes This set of 500 Sticky Page Tabs are my most-used because they're a great size, and students often use them to both mark pages in their music and write on them. I love that they're adhesive without being too 'sticky' and don't tear music pages. I also like these smaller Sticky Page Tabs for marking my own music!
When helping students establish sustainable home praciticing routines, one of the biggest struggles for students is helping them realize length of time in praciticing. These 5-minute Sand Timers are colorful and fun, and perfect for students from age 3-93 for helping with home practice habits!
I love erasable pens, and the fascination has spread to my studio! This multi-colored pack of 18 is not only affordable, but a well-used addition to our practicing kits. The pigment of the pens is accurately colorful without penetrating through the music page to show on the other pages, and the eraser works beautifully!
Dice are a terrifically fun addition to practice kits, and we use them in a variety of ways in practicing at home and in lessons together. I also include a printout of this Dice Practicing Freebie by Chrissy Ricker, and is available under the free resources on her website. It's a great tool to include in student binders each year!
Erasable Spinner These Erasable Spinners might seem like a random and somewhat pointless addition to the practice kits, but we love using erasable markers to write the students' practicing goals or pieces on the spinner to help with varied practice at home. Students can also write on it during the week to practice scales, chords,
patterns, work on memory, or use it in creative ways at the piano!
Having the right tools for practicing is wonderful, but without a centralized place to keep them...they end up lost after the first week (or first day!) I like these pouches since they fit neatly inside my students' 3-ring binders, and the affordability makes them a practical addition to practice kits.
One of the most useful, fun, and easy-to-implement activities for students to use in home practicing? Piano Practice Bingo! You may remember the well-loved Christmas Piano Bingo we shared on the blog a few years ago...well, this is the new, practice routine version we just finished this summer! The best part? It's free to download! To download, visit our Member Resource page and login (or create a free login), and go to the Member Resource Library to download this Bingo and our other freebies listed there.
Do you have a unique tradition for the first lessons of the new school year, or give something special to help students with practicing? I'd love to hear your ideas!
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