Piano play-along duets for families at home: Heart and Soul [Teacher intro]
Here’s how piano teachers can organize a complete unit in eight sections on Heart and Soul! Students can learn: all three parts by rote (with supporting guide sheets); 2) how to teach it to a family member; 3) to play the duet with online videos; 4) how to improvise; 5) primary chords; 6) relative minors; 7) how to transpose. Keep your students engaged with this amazing project! ...continue reading →
Piano student care packages: deliver lesson essentials plus a little cheer
With online lessons several things are missing: adding stickers, placing sticky-notes on pages to make them easy to find and a myriad of other little special touches. You can recreate some of this by delivering care packages to your students that contain useful and fun things they can do at home, like adding their own stickers! Special delivery! ...continue reading →
5 ways piano teachers break students' hearts
Whether you’re a current piano student (or former one), there’s a chance you’ve had a broken heart at one time or another over piano lessons. Teachers are only human, and sometimes don’t realize the impact of their actions, approaches or attitudes. This post is an attempt to mend that broken heart. ...continue reading →
Have fun teaching piano key letters, intervals and much more! [Leapin' Lemurs teaching aid]
Children learn through play! To incorporate a spirit of playfulness into our piano lessons is to help our students learn more effectively! Find out how you can get these sweet, fun Leapin' Lemurs to use in your own piano teaching! They're versatile, useful and will have your students leaping to learn key letters and intervals! ...continue reading →
'Ditto Drops' glass melts keep piano practice repeats focused and fun [Printables]
What are 'Ditto Drops'? They are glass melts of every colour under the rainbow, from the size of your thumbnail to slightly bigger. Each piece of glass is unique, kiln-fired at a glass studio. 'Ditto' comes from a Latin word that means 'the same thing again.' Find out how to use them in piano lessons and in practice to help count repeats. ...continue reading →
Piano Pen Pals - beat the 'solitary-piano-lesson blues' socially [Printables]
Ever want to beat the “solitary-piano-lesson” blues? Here’s a social activity for your studio that’s off the beaten path — pen pal letters! If it's possible, writing and receiving letters is more fun today than ever. It’s motivating for a student to hear from someone their age, writing about practicing the piano and their favourite piece of music. Here’s everything you need to get started. ...continue reading →
'Quitting' piano: 10 options for teachers, students and parents
Someday each and every student is going to discontinue. It is natural and inevitable. No one takes piano lessons forever. Yet, the emotion of stopping is usually wrapped up in disappointment or regret. Here are some ideas for piano teachers to help all involved navigate the end of a student's piano lesson chapter with compassion and professionalism. ...continue reading →
Egg hunt motivates your piano students to sight-clap rhythms 7 Steps [Printables]
Let's be honest, whose piano students normally jump at the chance to sight read? Or clap a rhythm? Engaged students learn more. Students who want to participate advance further. Our biggest job as piano teachers is to grab our students' attention and hook them long enough so they will want to learn more and improve...continue reading →