The Right Start

I discovered today that one of my piano students, though her songs were memorized, was still having trouble finding her starting hand position.  Usually, we practice the song from the music, then I take it away, so she already knows where to be.  When I started on a song without playing from the music first, she just couldn't remember.  Thankfully we still have another month before the song are played at her syllabus exam, and we talked about some strategies to get them down.  And it taught me to watch out with my other students to make sure they don't have the same trouble!