Prizes, incentives, and rewards aren't a long-term cure to the practice problem. They might give your students a gentle push but ultimately the desire to practice has to come from the child.
So how do you build this desire?
It takes time. How much time depends on the child, The first step is to educate the parents in your studio on your approach to practice.
My approach was a little unorthodox but I was able to get complete buy-in from parents. I was able to achieve this through internal marketing.
I applied a simple formula.
Empathy Expertise EducationBy displaying empathy and expertise you can establish trust. With trust, you can then educate parents on your approach or philosophy about practice.
If your approach to practice provides parents with new insights on practice and progress; they'll rethink the role of practice, loosen up and let you work your magic.
Parents don't really care about music lessons. They don't care about practice. What they care about are results. If you can successfully show parents how you can achieve these results with a different approach to practice, they'll be that much more excited to be a part of your music school.
