This is a simple, practical teaching tip I learned from Daina Staggs.

Don’t run through pieces until they are ready for review.

Teach previews. Hear chunks. Hear chunks with the recordings. Stitch together certain sections. But don’t hear the whole thing.

I think this works well for a couple of reasons.

1. You don’t take up lesson time playing through new pieces when you still have detail work to do. (30 minutes go fast!)
2. Students and parents are able to easily tell what is review (whole piece) and what is new (partial piece).
3. What you do in lessons should model home practice. If you don’t want your student to waste time playing a whole piece at home, don’t allow yourself to do that in lessons.
4. Your student will more thoroughly know pieces section by section if they know they won’t be able to start from the beginning every time. This requires a deeper understanding of the map of the piece and more frequent listening so they know how chunks fit together. (I’m a big fan of raising the bar so that the only option for success is exactly what you are looking for.)

I hope you find this useful!