Cadenza - a new way to motivate students to practise between lessons

How do we solve the age old problem of practising between lessons?  I'm sure many of you reading this will either have children who learn an instrument or remember your own instrumental lessons and one of the major problems is practice. 

A while ago I wrote a blog post about the parent's role in the piano learning journey; a major part of which is helping with piano practice at home.  Today's post is about a free online tool called Cadenza developed by Professor Rena Uptis of Queens University in Canada that teachers can use to help motivate students to practice at home. 

Given that students see their teacher for only 30 minutes a week the progress they make is quite remarkable

Given that most students see their teacher for only 30 minutes a week the progress they make is quite remarkable.  Compared to the hours children spend each day with their teachers at school, instrumental students, their parents and teachers do a job that is nothing short of amazing!

Imagine what would happen to progress if there were more support available to children outside of lessons.  Where children would have clearly set tasks they could tick off, access reminder videos, upload their own videos and most importantly of all receive teacher feedback between lessons.

Cadenza is a free online tool that increases the support available for children outside of lessons.  It allows:

• teachers to set practice activities for between lessons; 
• students to access the activities and check them when done; 
• students to choose an emoji to rate their practice and write comments or notes for themselves or their teacher;
• the teacher to upload videos during the lesson to help the student during the week; 
  
• perhaps most exciting of all, Cadenza allows the student to upload videos of progress during the week on which the teacher can provide feedback.  No longer is the child alone for the six days between lessons, but he or she can upload videos and ask for help / feedback. 
  

perhaps most exciting of all, Cadenza allows the student to upload videos of progress during the week on which the teacher can provide feedback

Children will need access to a tablet during their piano practice time.  They can work through the activities set by the teacher, monitor their progress during the week, see how much time they have spent working on activities and write notes for themselves or their teacher.  The tool can help develop the skill of reflection as children can note what went well and what they need to focus on during the next practice session. 

The creators of Cadenza report that students 'love' using it and that it's fun.  Teachers and students report learning more quickly with Cadenza and experiencing more satisfaction as musicians.  And why not, the goal is to make music and the sooner we can all do that the happier we will all be!

If you'd like to learn more about Cadenza then visit The Curious Piano Teachers blog where the creator, Rena Uptis has written a great introduction.  Alternatively watch this short video.

From January 2019 Surrey Music School will be using Cadenza with all students.  If you have lessons with us please sign up and let us know when you've done so.  We can then connect  and the fun can begin!