A few weeks ago, my sister asked me, “How do you work with careless piano students?”
She said, “They know the notes if you ask them, but just ask them to play a piece and they stumble on even easy notes and play random finger numbers. He’s good … he’s just getting careless.”
Does that sound like some of your students?
Careless piano students are definitely part of the process – I myself was once a careless piano student.
And while some of the attention to detail hinges on maturity, we can help careless piano students at any point.
Here are our Top 15 Tips for Helping Careless Piano Students
These tips are in no particular order.
Some ideas work well with some students and flop with others.
These ideas should also work with students of various instruments: piano, guitar, violin, cello, flute, oboe, etc.
So give them all a try!
(note: we use Amazon affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission if you purchase from our links, but you are not charged anything extra)
1. Practice with Them
Sometimes a piano student plays sloppily just because they haven’t really learned their music.
I find this usually happens when a student reaches the point of mentally understanding more than their hands can keep up with.
I have found that when I practice with my students, it helps them actually learn their music and they become less careless.
For tips on helping students practice, read our blog post, How to Teach Piano Students to Practice Effectively.
2. Play the “Line Game”
Okay, so my students have complained that this really isn’t a “game,” but they DO like the challenge.
The general rule is if the student misses a note, they must start that line (system) over again.
Trust me when I say they start to pay CLOSE attention to their music!
3. Have them Earn Candy
Start with 10 candies. Every time they miss a note (or fingering or rhythm–you decide), you take away a candy.
You can also play this with stickers or points (if you have a prize bin).
4. Have Careless Piano Students Record and Listen
One of the best ways to help careless piano students is for them to hear how they’re playing.
Record your student and play it back for them.
Sometimes, this is enough to help them realize just how sloppy they’re playing!
If not, I encourage them with a few words, “Let’s listen to it again, and this time, let’s count how many times you pause. What do we need to do to fix that?”
5. Help Careless Piano Students with the “Rule of 5”
I was taught this “rule” by a college professor and absolutely love it!
The rule? Slow – medium – fast – medium – slow
Use this rule on just a short section of music and encourage your student to exaggerate the tempo (REALLY slow, then about normal tempo, then REALLY fast!).
Playing in different tempos helps the student focus better.
6. Play Duets or Find Backing Tracks
If the student is careless with their rhythm, then this tip will help them a lot!
When they have to keep up with someone or something else, it encourages them to really focus on what they’re playing.
7. Drill Good Finger Numbers
Good fingering is so important.
Students can actually play faster with correct fingering.
But getting them to understand that – that’s the tricky part!
Refer back to tips 2 and 3 for challenges to help here.
8. Freeze on a Tricky Note
This will help with both finger numbers and playing the correct note.
Before your student plays the piece, tell them to freeze on a specific note and hold it down.
Then, you can check what finger they’re using or they can check if the note they’re playing is what’s written.
Often, the student believes they are correct so we have to show them in a fun way where the mistakes are.
9. Alternate Measures
You can do this in a group or with 1 teacher and 1 student.
Each player plays 1 measure, but they if a wrong note or finger is used, they must start their measure over!
See who can play more measures accurately.
You can also do this idea with a whole line or 2 measures at a time.
10. Demonstrate the Wrong & Correct Way
Sometimes, the student is careless because they haven’t slowed down enough to analyze if what they’re playing is correct or not.
Demonstrate the section by playing it wrong and then correct.
Have the student guess which one is correct and also WHY it is correct (which means they’ll need to know if you got the other one wrong with finger numbers, notes, or rhythm).
11. Help your Careless Piano Student Practice Backwards
This is one of my personal favorite ways to practice to learn a piece.
Start on the last measure or last line and, when it’s played correctly, move to the next last measure or line and play to the end.
Keep adding lines or measures until you’re at the beginning of the piece.
I find this helps because the ear can’t take over and students are forced to think through the notes.
12. Have Careless Piano Students Work to Remove the Marker
Mark the spots where mistakes are with removable highlighter tape or sticky notes.
When student can successfully play it three times through that section with no mistake, remove the marker.
13. Practice Slowly
This is usually the reason my students play sloppily: they’re going too quickly (it was the reason I was a careless piano student as a teen!).
Of course, I have told my students to practice slowly hundreds of times to no avail!
Which is why I revert to using the metronome, a backing track, or duet – it forces them to slow down.
14. Ask Careless Piano Students to Play With Their Eyes Closed
The first time a teacher asked me to do this, I went into full panic mode!
But, it helped me realize pretty quickly that I knew my piece better than I thought I did.
Not only does playing with their eyes closed encourage students to really think about their music, it also ends up being a pretty fun way to practice!
15. Give the Student a Real Challenge
This almost sounds the opposite of what they need–if they’re playing carelessly, shouldn’t they master easier pieces before getting something hard?
It could be that your student is bored and needs a challenge to engage their mind.
It’s not always the case, so use discernment here.
Do you have any tips to add that will help careless piano students?
What has worked for you in the past? We’d love to hear your best tips! Comment and share!
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