Five Creative Incentive Programs for Your Studio

Have you ever used an incentive program in your music studio?

This might be a month-long practicing challenge, an annual assessment period, or a summer music camp (or other break-week).

I’ve been doing this in my piano studio since 2014.

Each spring, I choose a theme, look for repertoire, games, and other musical activities that tie in, create challenges, and plan a few surprise rewards.

This is a great way to keep momentum in the studio, encourage good practicing habits leading up to our end-of-year recital, and assess where my students are in all facets of their musicianship.

Looking for a fun, creative theme for your next studio incentive program? Here are five to consider.

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Musical Superheroes

In this 6-week incentive program, each musicianship skill is considered a “musical superpower.” Focus on a different one each week with challenges, games, and activities that tie in.

Here are a few resource links to get you started:

Introduction

Superpower: Sight-reading

Superpower: Performance

Superpower: Aural Skills

Superpower: Creativity

Superpower: Technique

  • Superhero training (scales and technic review)

P.S. Looking for more ideas?

Here's an inside look at the superhero incentive program I put together for my studio in 2019.

Pirate Treasure Hunt

In this 8-week incentive program, students follow a pirate map hunting for buried treasure. Each stop on the map includes a musical activity and a few gold coins, plus an opportunity to earn extra gold coins with an at-home practicing challenge.

Here’s a great piano-inspired treasure map from The Playful Piano.

1st stop: Musical scoring

  • Read a short pirate story and have students improvise sound effects. For older students, have them create a storyboard and plan their sound effects in advance.

2nd stop: Composition

3rd stop: Performance

4th stop: Reading & Transposing

  • Pirate-themed folk songs (special pieces for younger students, sight-reading for elementary students, harmonizing/transposing for intermediate students)

    • Sailing On the Ocean

    • Three Pirates

    • The Big Ships Sail (Alley-Alley-O)

    • We're Floating Down the River

    • Bound for South Australia

  • Pirate Treasure Hunt (My Fun Piano Studio)

5th stop: Rhythm

6th stop: Sight-Reading

7th stop: Aural Skills

  • "Parrot Patterns" (aural skills)

8th stop: Technique

  • "Treasure Island Technique Challenge" (scale and technic review)

P.S. Looking for a shorter version? Here's a 3-week pirate-themed practice incentive, ready to print and use in your studio.

P.P.S. Looking for a longer version? Here’s a year-long pirate-themed challenge rooted in rhythm.

Outer-Space Adventure

This incentive program features 8 weeks of musical challenges, one for each planet. Students can earn extra “gold-star bonuses” for extra at-home challenges.

Mercury (Rhythm)

Venus (Sight-Reading)

Earth (creativity)

  • transposing (think of each key as a different planet in the solar system)

  • transforming (major to minor or vice versa)

  • compose a piece about your favorite planet

  • improvising using the whole-tone scale

Mars (Score-Study)

Jupiter (aural Skills)

  • “Messages from space” (clapbacks/playbacks)

Saturn (performance)

Uranus (Technique)

  • “Stellar scales”

  • “Astronaut arpeggios”

  • “Rocketship rotation”

  • “Cosmic chords”

Neptune (Summary)

Winter Piano Olympics

This Winter-Olympics-themed incentive program features five challenges, one for each color of the Olympic rings. Each ring includes an Olympic training challenge (warm-ups, preparatory activities) and three or more "events" (students choose 2-3).

Blue (sight-reading)

Gold (memorization/performance)

Black (aural skills)

  • Curling: perform two contrasting rhythmic-reading exercises

  • Free Skating: create your own rhythmic series for practice

  • Qualifying: sing and play a new song by ear

Green (creativity)

Red (technique)

  • Ski Jumping: play five continuous 5-finger or one-octave scales in a steady tempo

  • Cross-Country Skiing: play three major/minor triads, HS

  • Biathlon: play one 5-finger or one-octave scale – one hand legato, one hand staccato, HS

  • Snowboarding: play two 5-finger or one-octave scales, descending first, then ascending, HS

  • Ice Dancing: play two 5-finger or one-octave scales in contrary motion, HT

P.S. Looking for more details?

Download my free Piano Olympics Festival Planning Guide with ready-to-use Olympic challenges and resources.

Around the World

This is a fun multicultural incentive program for your studio. Choose 4-8 different countries and create curriculum units for each one.

Here are a few helpful resources to get you started:

Rhythm

Reading & Transposing

  • Folk songs from different countries (special pieces for younger students, sight-reading for elementary students, harmonizing/transposing for intermediate students)

    • Alouette

    • Al Citron

    • Au Clair de la Lune/Pierrot

    • Greensleeves

    • Los Pollitos

    • Mexican Hand-Clapping Song

    • Dulce, Dulce

    • The Big Ships Sail (Alley Alley-O)

    • Bells of Great Britain

    • Lightly Row

    • Go Tell Aunt Rhody

    • Russian Folk Song

    • Russian Sailor Dance

Listening & Movement

Performance

  • Consider hosting a special recital with music from around the world (and perhaps accompanied by student artwork!)

  • Piano Piece Passport (Teach Piano Today)

Aural Skills

  • Use patterns from multicultural folk songs for clapbacks and playbacks. If possible, have students perform rhythm clapbacks on different instruments (djembe or conga, claves, etc.)

P.S. Here are a few more ideas for an Around the World theme that might work for your studio.

Conclusion

I hope this gives you some inspiration for incentive programs you can use with your students this year or sometime in the future.

Which incentive program will you use next in your studio?

P.S. Looking for more incentive program ideas and resources? Take a look at my Piano Incentive Programs Pinterest board.

Follow along with my creative work and daily adventures: @ashleydanyew

Sending you love and warm wishes this season! Here’s to another year of teaching, writing, creating beautiful music, and building community wherever we are. 💛🎵🥂 Love, Ashley, Steve, and Rory