Piano at Play
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 →
Online piano lessons: Pointers for families setting up at home
Piano teachers can share this blog post with piano families to help them prepare for online lessons through the Zoom platform. This is the post I’m sharing with my own students and if you find it helpful, feel free to share it with yours, too! ...continue reading →
Why you need a piano studio Child Protection Policy and Plan [Printables]
Several years ago a piano teacher friend called me in distress, looking for support and advice. During lessons with a male student, she was getting strange vibes. What if you were this teacher? Find out how to design your studio space for both transparency surrounding child safety and your own protection, and print an editable Child Protection Policy and Plan. A must-read for every serious piano teacher. ...continue reading →
Piano Student Attendance policies that avoid teacher burnout
To avoid misunderstandings with your studio parents, have a clear policy on student misses. Otherwise a policy grey area might become a policy headache -- which may lead to your own burnout. Be proactive with your schedule: print, define, set up a switch list, offer fill-in lessons and decide if, when and how you will offer make-ups. You’ll require less energy for administration and have more for making music. ...continue reading →
Piano Teacher Attendance policies that work for parents, students and you
There are two people who must attend every piano lesson: the student and the teacher. Piano lessons can be expensive for young families. Step one for having a professional piano studio is having a well-defined attendance policy -- your own -- and letting your clients know how you manage your time so they know they'll get value for their investment. ...continue reading →
DIY Piano Dictation Book: your professional communication tool [Printables]
Want to save phone calls, misunderstandings with piano parents regarding policies, and streamline how you operate your studio business? Consider printing your own studio dictation books. Put everything into one book: policies, practicing hints, phone numbers, performance hall addresses, finger exercises, staff paper and lesson sheets, bound with Yearbook-style covers. ...continue reading →
Understanding piano parents: What Minor League Baseball taught me
As I sat through ball practices and games, barely catching the innings and outs, I finally understood how it felt to be a piano parent who didn't know the ins and outs of piano. What I learned from being a ball mom who felt almost completely in the dark, was a brand-new sense of compassion for the well-meaning yet uninformed piano parent. ...continue reading →
'Quitting' piano: 7 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 →
How Motherhood changed the way I teach piano (Piano Teacher Confessions)
In my piano teaching journey, everything has changed since motherhood helped me understand children from a more personal viewpoint. Piano students are children, not just piano students. Children. Not future piano teachers, not future performers, not future professional musicians. Children. Today. ...continue reading →
