Here are my favorite five piano pedagogy books to help you keep your piano studio professional and to keep your students engaged.
These are 3 fun ways students in beginning piano lessons can practice curving their fingers. Most of the time, with practice, these skills will come.
Check out these 6 first piano lesson ideas for kids ages 3-9 and get access to your FREE piano key group printables!
When you are browsing through music, it becomes important to be able to know what level you are at before you purchase the music. Check the following list to see what skills and knowledge you have to figure out your piano level. Primer (Level pre-1): Knows finger numbers Knows musical alphabet Basic staff awareness Basic […]
Here is a roundup of free printables for piano teaching. These are all guides that I've made for my own piano students.
With the correct curriculum, your students can be excited about piano practice. All you need is these colorful and interactive piano practice workbooks!
Piano success depends on great piano posture. Sound and feel your best by following these ten tips for good piano posture, plus download a piano posture chart.
When you are learning how to play the piano, consistent practice is super important. But what should that daily practice time consist of? Here are 7 Elements of Effective Piano Practice. These are things that should be a part of your daily practice routine to help you become a well-rounded
A career in church music and ministry requires a variety of skills:Performance skills: playing for worship and accompanying choirs, instrumentalists, and congregational singing. It sometimes includes harmonizing melodies, improvising, transposing, and even composing some of your own service music from time to time.Leadership skills: choosing music that ties in with the rest of the service, perhaps selecting hymns each week, and leading the congregation in song.Educational skills: introducing a variety of musical styles into worship, teaching new hymns or songs to the congregation, and if you’re directing an ensemble, teaching music-reading, rhythm, technique, musical expression, and aural skills.
Without the right piano posture, we can strain our bodies to the point of pain. Being mindful of posture can alleviate and prevent years of discomfort.
Keeping young piano students focused and inspired can be a challenge, even more so in group scenarios. Today's blog post explores the issue.
All piano students should know these basic music theory concepts: Staff Awareness bass clef treble clef Note Names and Placement on the keyboard on the staff Basic Music Vocab measure bar lines, double bar lines repeat symbols slurs fermatas, etc. Basic Music Notes quarter eighth whole half Dotted Notes and Triplets timing Rests quarter […]
I’ve spent the past few months trying to teach myself the piano, pretty much from scratch. It’s been tough, and sometimes disheartening, but also hugely rewarding. You might be wondering by now what…
Have you always wondered what exactly piano pedals do? Find the answer here: We explain the different piano pedals and give you examples.
Where should we begin? It's the age-old question we ask ourselves when we sit down with a new (beginning) student for the first time. What should we talk about first? Hand position? Finger numbers? Letter names? Where's Middle C? I like to get the student playing as quickly as possible. We explor
Keeping an organized piano studio is a big job. Every musician is familiar with the stacks of sheet music that seem to multiply. And the papers that get scattered and mixed in with the sheet music. I seem to walk a fine line between organization and chaos, so when I find something that helps me ... Read More about Piano Studio Organization Tricks
Whether you are a new or a seasoned teacher, this list gives you the tips and tricks that you wish you had thought of earlier! With years of teaching piano lessons and with talking with other teachers, this list compiles all those things I wish I had known when I first started teaching. Charge upfront […]
Establishing good posture is essential for any piano player. Learn how to establish proper piano posture.
Level: Beginner to Intermediate Objective: To help build sight reading skills by reviewing notes on the staff and learning to quickly correlate notes with each other (steps, skips, etc.). A player wins when he/she has consecutive notes that either ascend or descend. Materials: Music note flashcards (Subscribe to our emails for a […]
As a child I became a master at the learn-regurgitate-forget method of acing tests and earning perfect grades in public school. But unfor...
In this article, we will discuss some very basic care for acoustic and digital pianos. You will find out how to clean piano keys!
Tired of the usual spring or fall recital? Try a few recital themes to get interest in the recital up with your students and parents.
Have you discovered Iwako erasers in piano lessons yet? My piano students and I use them for practically everything in piano lessons, except erasing! Iwako erasers are cute, little erasers that come in all sorts of fun shapes. They come in almost any shape imaginable. You can’t go wrong with a set of animal erasers. The food shapes are always ... Read More about My Favorite Piano Teaching Aid: Iwako Erasers
As a child I became a master at the learn-regurgitate-forget method of acing tests and earning perfect grades in public school. But unfor...
How many students does it take to make you a full-time piano teacher? Knowing the answer can help you make changes that affect your health and income.
Go, Chord, Go! Is a game that I love to play with my students because it causes them to review and know the basic major and minor chords by sight without them even realizing it! This game is a variation of Go, Fish! Level: Beginner to Intermediate Objective: To review the basic major and minor chords […]
I've decided to drop my piano teacher and continue teaching my kids piano by myself. Crazy? Maybe, but I know I can do what she does and all for FREE. I just have to be consistent!! So I put together a few materials to place in a 3-ring binder to help both my kids and I stay organized! I treated it all as if I were a formal piano teacher so in the future I could potentially teach other kids who are not my own. Here's the binder cover so they can write in their name on the front page and slip it in the front cover: This is to be cut out to go in the spine of the binder: This is my note to parents (if ever needed): The lesson schedule for me to write down the date of our lesson and the pages in each book she should be practicing for that week: Just a page for me to leave notes as needed: A practice chart: Honestly, I'm not a fan of making a child sit for a certain amount of time. Rather, I like assigning them a specific amount of work, and once it's completed, they can be finished! My preference is to have the child play each song assigned for that week 5 times. 2 times they should sing the notes they are playing, 2 times they should do the counting, and 1 time silently or do the duet with me if applicable. Then a reward sticker page as they will be receiving stickers for completing their practicing for the week and when we finish up our lesson (so 2 stickers per week at our lesson): Find all these documents HERE. The books I like to start with are: Alfred's Basic Piano Library, Prep Course for the Young Beginner... (it's that top row of books that says "Young Beginner Prep Course") The books in each level that I prefer are the Lesson Book, Technic Book, Solo Book and Theory Book. There are several other books in each level that I don't buy (Notespeller is one). Then we just start at Level A and work our way up! If you notice in Alfred's map above, once we complete Level F in the "Young Beginner" level, we'll move to Level 3 in the "Beginner" until we complete Level 6. Once that's reached (fingers crossed we get there!), I'll most likely be paying for a piano teacher :). There is also a downloadable Alfred's Teacher's Guide that I'll be using to help me teach Level A. The link for that is HERE. If you want to see my other posts on teaching kids piano lessons, find everything HERE and scroll through.
Here are my favorite five piano pedagogy books to help you keep your piano studio professional and to keep your students engaged.
Supplemental collections for your elementary piano students are a great way to 1) incorporate a variety of musical styles into their repertoire plan, 2) expose them to new voices (especially those who are underrepresented), and 3) foster motivation. Here are 15 of my favorite collections for element
This piano teaching idea share is full of fresh recital ideas, interesting games to play online, and great ways of injecting energy in lessons!
This active game really helps to get the steady beat and rhythm in the students head as they walk to the beat of the tempo. This is a game of lots of fun and laughter! Level: Beginner to Intermediate Objective: To review tempo meanings & gain an internal rhythm Materials: Chairs, one […]
Being able to identify intervals immediately is an essential skill for sight reading. That’s why I like to do all I can to get my students to identify an interval by sight as quickly as possible. This game helps do just that! This game is also a helpful assessment tool for me to see just […]
I have been fairly disappointed with just how much “fluff” I have found on the internet when it comes to motivating kids to practice. I want a list of ideas that really work. I read through dozens and dozens of articles, and I have ready about six books on the subject of motivation and these […]
online, interactively.
What do piano pedals do? Learn more about piano pedals and how to use them from the piano experts at Hoffman Academy.
One of the best ways to introduce new teaching in your piano studio, is with a plan. Download my piano lesson plan templates here for free.
I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love learning and never tire of finding a new topic or area to explore, whether it’s piano-related or in another area. I also consider continuing my education as a pianist and teacher a crucial part of my job. Attending piano teaching conferences in the past like MTNA ... Read More about How To Up Your Piano Teacher Game (Without Leaving Home)
You’ve signed your kids up for music lessons, excited to give them all the benefits of music lessons you’ve heard so much about! They love playing their new
A lot of people teach posture as a strict way to sit and do this and that ‘correctly’. The result is that it sounds more like a military exercise than playing music but the whole point of these guidelines is to help you play comfortably.
