Helping Students
Learn How to Practice
The CALM Practice System is a structured pathway for setting up practice, guiding the process, and gradually transferring greater practice ownership to the student.
Knowing What to Practice
Isn’t the Same as Knowing How
Students are often told what to practice.
Far less attention is given to helping them learn how to practice.
CALM starts with a simple idea:
Practice is a skill.
And like any other skill, it can be developed.
How the CALM Practice System Works
CALM develops practice through three connected stages.
1. Set Up Practice
Create an environment and routine that make practice easier to begin.
2. Guide the Process
Use the Music Practice Workbook to give students a clear weekly process for carrying lesson direction into practice.
3. Transfer Ownership
Gradually shift more responsibility for practice to the student as independence grows.
The CALM Learning Loop
Behind the CALM Practice System is a simple model for how students can learn through practice:
The CALM Learning Loop represents the learning cycle that runs through the system.
The Music Practice Workbook gives that cycle a practical weekly structure.
Different Roles. Shared Direction.
CALM gives each person a clear role in the practice process.
Parents
Help create the conditions for practice, make it easier to get started, and step back as the student becomes more independent.
Students
Follow the practice plan, do the work, and gradually take more responsibility for what happens between lessons.
Instructors
Set the musical direction, define what the student should work on, and use what happened during the week to guide the next lesson.
Additional CALM resources for parents and instructors are in development.
The Music Practice Workbook
The Music Practice Workbook is the current practical implementation of CALM’s guided practice process.
Designed to be used alongside regular music lessons, it turns lesson direction into a structured 20-week process and gradually shifts more responsibility to the student.
Music Practice Workbook — Coming Soon
20 Weeks to Build Better Practice Habits and Learn to Practice Independently
Notify Me When It Launches