The weekly practice assignment sheet you can fill in tonight

Top of the page

• Write the week dates and the next lesson timePut the exact range, such as Tuesday the 14th through Monday the 20th, and the day and time of the next lesson. A dated sheet gets kept in the binder and an undated one becomes last week's.
• State one goal for the week in a single lineOne sentence a child can repeat, such as play the whole sonatina at 80 without stopping. If you cannot fit it on one line the week has too many goals in it.
• List what has to be on the music standMetronome, pencil, the method book, the recital piece, a tuner for strings and winds. Half of failed practice weeks are a student who could not find the book.
• Note the level or book pages in playWrite the method book and page range, or the exam level and list. This is what makes the sheet readable months later when you are planning the next term.

Technique block

• Name the exact scale, key and patternWrite G major, two octaves, hands together, rather than scales. Ambiguity here is the fastest way to get a week of the same scale the student already plays well.
• Give the metronome marking, not a feelingQuarter equals 72 this week, moving to 80 when it is clean. A number is checkable by a parent who cannot hear whether it is even.
• Set a repetition count with a pass standardFive clean repetitions in a row, and start over if one breaks. Counting repetitions beats counting minutes because it rewards attention rather than sitting there.
• Add the etude or exercise with bar numbersName the study and the bars, such as Czerny number 4, bars 1 to 16. Assign a section, never a whole study, unless the student is polishing it.
• Write the one physical thing to fixCurved fingers on the thumb crossing, a straight bow at the tip, breath before the phrase. One correction per week, written in the words you used in the lesson.

Repertoire block

• Break each piece into named sections with bar numbersWrite bars 17 to 24, the B section, or the second page. A student told to practice the piece plays it from the start until it falls apart, then plays it again.
• Assign the hardest four bars on their own linePull the worst passage out and give it its own task, tempo and repetition count. This is the single change that most reliably moves a piece forward in a week.
• Write both the target tempo and this week tempoPerformance tempo 108, practice this week at 76. Showing both tells the student the slow tempo is the plan rather than a failure.
• Say what to do when it breaks down mid pieceStop, back up four bars, play it three times slowly, then continue. Without this instruction students restart from bar one and practice the opening forty times.
• Add one listening or theory taskName a recording to listen to twice, or four bars to write out. Keep it small enough that it never competes with playing time.

Home and parent block

• Leave a grid for practice days and minutesSix boxes, one per day, with room for minutes and a tick. The grid is what turns practice into something the family can see rather than argue about.
• Write one sentence to the parent in plain languageNo musical terms. Something like please make sure the metronome is on for the scale, and stop the session after 25 minutes even if it is going well.
• Put the next performance or exam date at the bottomThe recital date, the exam window or the studio class. A date on every sheet keeps the reason for the week visible to everyone.
• Leave two blank lines for the student questionSpace for the student to write anything that confused them during the week. It takes ten seconds to read at the next lesson and it changes what you teach first.
• Sign it and photograph it before the student leavesYour initials make it feel like a commitment rather than a suggestion. The photo means you still have the assignment when the sheet is left on the kitchen table.