Accountability

One of the major things I want my students to learn is to take personal responsibility for their music. Basically, I want them to realize that they get out what they put in and it's up to them how well they do. A key word for this is accountability. I used to think that if I asked students what they did in their practice time, if they didn't practice or wasted a lot of time that I somehow had to punish them. Now, I realize that it's about accountability. It's letting them experience the natural consequences of their choices. It's my job to ASK. When they know that someone will ask them what they did, so they need to have a good answer. I know in my own life, it makes a huge difference if someone is going to ask me if I took action on something we talked about previously. If I know the issue will be dropped, I may not do anything, but if I know I will have to give an answer about it, I will at least take a step in the direction we talked about.

When I ask a student "How did your practice go this week?" Not only do they have to give an answer that will show if they actually put in the work or not, it also gives them the opportunity to tell me if there was something they were struggling with in the assignment or if they were sick or gone part of the week and couldn't practice. This allows me to know how to help them...whether we need to review something or to expect that they are not going to be as strong as usual with the assignment. Accountability lets the student feel whatever they are going to feel about what they did. Embarrassed to admit that they didn't practice. Proud to say they practiced everyday. Whatever it is, it's the natural consequence of the choices they made during the week.