5 Tips to Help Your Students Take Charge

Originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher Website on June 29, 2015, so links and resources may not be current.​

The 5 Methods I Use to Increase My Students’ Engagement and Accountability…Do you struggle to keep students longer than a year?  Do your students show up every week without making any progress?  Are you forced to teach the same lesson over and over because they can’t remember what you asked them to do in the previous week?
Maybe your students just aren’t passionate about the violin yet.  They haven’t taken responsibility for their progress and performance.


I am constantly searching for ways to get my students more engaged and involved in their lessons. I don’t want to be the only one offering ideas or suggestions, so I want my kids excited and actively participating and excited. It’s so boring to lifelessly stand there while someone tells you what to play and how to play it, so I really try to push my students to make their own decisions and lead the lesson.
Here are five super easy ways to encourage more participation from your students.1. Help the student take ownership of their instrument.
We’ve all seen the students who are clearly only here because their parents are dragging them. It may have originally been the child’s wish to start violin lessons, but now they passively walk in while their parent frantically puts music on the stand and pulls out the instrument.
I make a big deal about saying, “This is your violin lesson, can you get out your violin and come stand right here?” I also encourage them to carry their own case and music. Care and maintenance is their responsibility as well. I encourage my studio parents to have their children call the bow rehair man or violin shop.
Also, if something breaks due to recklessness I suggest to the parents that they have their child set up a payment plan with them. For example, extra chores to help cover the cost of a broken bridge.
2. Let them make some decisions about the lesson or practice.
I always have my students show me their bow exercises, scale, note reading, review and new piece at each lesson. I have cards for each of these, and I sometimes let my students decide the order for the lesson.
3. Get them involved in the tuning process.
It is so important to cultivate a listening ear. When we tune at the beginning of each lesson, I pluck my A string and they pluck theirs. Then they get to decide whether I should move their string higher or lower, and where I should stop. We call this our “tuning experiment,” and it doesn’t matter if we are right or wrong, or even just guessing! I do this from day one, and it really helps prepare them for tuning themselves.
If they already tune themselves, I ask them to verbalize whether the string was too high or too low. This prevents the mindless, haphazard tuning they do when they don’t listen to themselves first.
4. Have them report how many days they practiced.
Right as my students walk in the door, they write down how many days they practiced on a big chart with everyone’s names. When they have reached thirty days they can pick a prize from my prize box, or they can save up for a sixty day prize. (Those ones are cooler.) I encourage the child to be the one to actually write down the days, as it makes them feel more in charge and more accountable for their practices.
You can do a chart, or just have them tell you, but it is important to report to you. Yes, they may be embarrassed if they only practiced once (or not at all) but that is motivating too. Try not to be negative or shame them, but just encourage better practice for next week.
5. Ask open ended questions and let them make decisions about musicality.
I like to let my students make some of their own choices in regards to expression and dynamics. If they don’t know where to start, I offer some options. For example, “let’s try playing this part loud and then this part soft.” Afterwards, we try the opposite. Then I ask, “Which did you like better?”
It can be really fun experimenting with different dynamics, articulations, or phrasing. (Even if they aren’t really kosher!) Try to avoid yes or no questions as these don’t engage the student’s creative brain.
Increasing engagement is vital to your studio’s success. If violin is a passive activity, the student will never really develop a passion for the instrument, and will ultimately quit.
Now you have five really easy ways to get your students to take more ownership and engage in their lessons. Some of these you could even implement today!
I am always on the hunt for more ways to get my students excited about violin, how do you encourage engagement and accountability? Have you tried these methods? Please share in the comments!