Previous Winners of PRACTICEFEST

PRACTICE CHALLENGE FEEDBACK FROM DARINE, PARENT OF TWO PIANO STUDENTS

“My daughters have always loved playing the piano ever since they started having lessons with Rhiannon. But practising regularly, and for longer than 5 minutes, used to be a challenge… until Rhiannon introduced the Practice Challenge during the Covid Lockdown!

The time spent on daily practice transformed into points earned and logged into the system.

Rhiannon provided several ideas for things one can include in the practice: repeating the same system over and over again for 5 minutes, focusing on two problematic bars for two minutes, doing a couple of scales and arpeggios, doing one or two exercises from the sight-reading book, as well as watching an orchestra perform on YouTube and naming all the instruments you can see or hear!

With those ideas, a 20 or 30 minute practice session became feasible for my daughters and, even better, it was almost totally self-motivated. And on the less exciting days, the 10-minute practice still counted and earned them points!

The wonderful transformation was that after doing this over 30 days, the girls built a habit of practising regularly for a longer time and had developed the tools to do it independently!”

Putney Music School is proud to present our 6th Annual Practice Challenge…

‘PRACTICEFEST’ 2025

Monday 5th May - Monday 2nd June

We’re very excited to be holding the 6th annual practice challenge!! Every year we set aside a month to encourage students to practice as much as they possibly can. We talk about different practice techniques, learn lots of new repertoire, work on theory, aural skills and sightreading, compose, read, sing, dance and create!

WHAT ARE THE AIMS?

  1. To increase quality practice

  2. To demonstrate to students that the amount of effort they put into their practice has a direct relation to how quickly they progress in their music making

  3. To encourage families to take an active role in their children’s practice

  4. To think more creatively about music practice

  5. To have a goal outside of ABRSM exams(!)

  6. To make practice fun !

HOW WILL MEDALS BE AWARDED?

Medals will be awarded on a points based system:

BRONZE: 25 points or more

SILVER: 40 points or more

GOLD: 60 points or more

You may find it useful to use your own board at home to keep a visual track of your progress. A simple sticker chart is perfect, but don’t forget that you’ll still need to log the time on the My Music Staff system.

Points will be given out as follows: 

4yrs old = one point per 6mins/task
5yrs old = one point per 7mins/task
6yrs old = one point per 8mins/task
7yrs old = one point per 10mins/task
8yrs old = one point per 11mins/task
9yr old = one point per 12mins/task
10yr old = one point per 13mins/task
11yr old = one point per 15mins/task
12-14yrs old = one point per 17mins/task 
5-18yrs old = one point per 20mins/task

HOW TO RECORD PRACTICE?

  1. Sign in to your account on MyMusicStaff (contact admin@putneymusic.co.uk if you need to be resent your log in details)

  2. Record how much time you practiced and which elements you looked at (did you do theory, listen to a piece by Bach or did you compose a short piece about the weather.) Instructions on how to log practice can be found here.

  3. Do this for each day/practice session

  4. Students are welcome to use their own email log in for this. Any notes sent to them via the MMS system will automatically be forwarded to you for safeguarding purposes.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR RECORDING PRACTICE?

Students and parents are responsible for logging their practice on the MMS system. Teachers are not responsible for logging practice on the system.

IDEAS FOR PRACTICE

Different elements for music practice include but are not limited to:

  1. Learning your pieces

  2. Scales

  3. Sight reading

  4. Play Note rush (app)

  5. Learning a piece of music

  6. Theory book

  7. Learning facts about a composer (anyone from Bach to the Beach Boys)

  8. Actively Listening to a piece of music and writing down the instruments you can hear

  9. Improvising

  10. Composing a piece

  11. Making a performance recording of your piece

  12. Doing a mini concert for family at home

  13. Teach one of your pieces to a friend or family member

  14. Watching a documentary about music

  15. Create a piece of art in response to a piece of music

COST

There is no additional charge for entering the practice challenge. This is included in your studio membership

Watch this intro to the 2024 Practice Challenge

FIRST PRIZE

£50 voucher to Pitter Potter

MEDALS

Medals to everyone who qualifies

CERTIFICATES

For all who sign up to participate

Frequently Asked Questions…

  • No. It is not compulsory. We totally understand that it’s not always practical for people to engage with the challenge.

    We run the challenge every year, so please join in next time.

  • PRACTICEFEST is an annual challenge for students to turbo-charge their home music practice, and for parents/carers to receive additional support and ideas in order to support their children with their practice at home.

    You can find a full guide here.

  • You’l need to record your practice on the My Music Staff Portal: both time spent, and a sentence or two about what you did.)

    i.e. Oberon - 17mins

    Practised:

    1. C major scale

    2. Two pages of sight-reading

    3. Learned first four bars of new piece

    4. Listened to a Chopin nocturne

    You can find a full guide on how to log practice on the portal here.

  • Yes, absolutely. Use your parent practice guides as a starting point and feel free to ask for an additional materials or practice ideas.

    Choir members are also very welcome to participate practise with your teaching tracks, memorise the words, practise a warm up at home, learn a new song by yourself.

  • No. Lessons and rehearsals do not count towards your home practice time.

  • Yes, absolutely. Whether or not you study one instrument or ten, feel free to log all the practice.

    If you study another instrument elsewhere (such as at school or with a teacher outside of Putney Music School) you are very welcome to log this practice too. The more practice logged, the better!