Mel Bay's Creative Keyboard® Webzine | Misha Stefanuk - Reward System

Reward System

It is very common among piano teachers and also teachers of other subject to develop and use a system of rewards. The rewards vary from colorful stickers and candy to a variety of items. Every music store I have been to has music related stickers, award forms, gold stars, certificates of completion and so on. Also many piano books have the last page certificate of achievement as well.

I personally consider giving children candy a wrong thing to do for health reasons. America is going through a massive campaign to make children healthier by correct diet and exercise, and candy does not fit in at all. Practically, candy only makes a child happy for a short time until their body produces enough insulin to fight the sugar, and then after a short time of happiness, the child's mood goes down.

Stickers are not as bad, since they obviously do not have a health issues attached to them. However the biggest reward in playing piano should always be the ability to play and to enjoy it. It is very difficult to fins apiece of music that fits a child perfectly, but when that happens- you see their eyes that light up! And all of the sudden music becomes their own!

Another very important aspect of rewarding a student to me is recognition of their successes, no matter how small. If I can make a student proud of what they can do, they will go a long way to achieve that again or even more!

Overall, rewards should come from playing and from the teacher's recognition of students' successes. Believe it or not, I have never given a single student of mine a single sticker or a piece of candy as a reward. We make Christmas presents with stickers and candy once a year, but those are given to all of our students and often their brothers and sisters, regardless of how well they play at all.

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