Concerning external motivations!!

To begin with, lets disabuse ourselves of the thought that external motivations are inherently bad.  After all, a tangible reward is something most people appreciate, your name on a poster, a certificate of achievement, a thanks you note – regardless of the manner, some manner of noticing success is an enjoyable event.  Why should lessons be different? When you work out at the gym, even thought you do it for yourself, you enjoy the comment from your friends “Gee you look great!”.
            Students, especially younger students often respond well to recognition of praise or accomplishment.  There are many simple methods, easy to create.  Start with a basic chart, with rows, or columns.   As a student learns their piece, they color in more and more of the chart.  Since the chart is in the studio, not only do they get the pleasure of coloring in their own progress, they can also know that everyone can see how well they are doing.
           Programs that students can choose to participate in, like a practice club, are also a great way to get things going. Giving the student the choice of participation, with the visible reward of their name on a wall, or on a certificate gives them the sense of choosing to do something they know they “should” do anyway, and seeing the result.

    It is not a reasonable expectation to think that kids should want to practice; after all, when we send home a piece of music, the student is not good at it at first. How many of us want to do something that we are not good at? We are teaching how to perceive a new piece as a challenge, something to be conquered, and how best to conquer it. There are students who are self-motivated, but they can be hard to come by. Even in the best cases, students often need a boost, a reason to polish up a piece.  This sort of thing is often found in evaluations, recitals, and other performances, but there is a limit to how much performance a student can handle, especially if it conflicts with basketball or another activities.  That is where the other types of motivation can kick in.
            If you are opposed to too much material motivation, consider alternatives.  Try and send each student a letter at least twice a year—their own private letter. Talk about piano, certainly, but also about their other accomplishments, their personal growth, a healthy attitude, their part in the school play, anything that they have done recently.Use the letter to reinforce that you are proud of them when they succeed, appreciate their hard work and effort, and recognize that it pays off. Often, this shows the student that their teacher has a real interest in THEM, and sparks a better dialogue about the thing we have in common, piano.
            Everyone likes to be recognized for their effort. If you take the time to design a few simple ways to show your students how to do well, and teach them the great feeling that comes with accomplishment, then over time they will come to want that feeling for themselves. It is not often an inherent thing to motivate oneself, but when we set up in the studio ways to guide students towards a certain level of accompaniment, we are teaching them to love to succeed.  In the end, the pay back is wonderful, they learn the feeling of success, and we succeed in teaching them! Everyone wins! What more motivation do you need?

-- excerpted from "Motivation-- Who needs it!" presented by Maura Hall at the NYSMTA 2008 State Conference at Binghamton