Are you ready for a new year of teaching? Follow along with my step-by-step process for putting everything in place and making sure that you don’t feel overwhelmed or stressed with everything we need to do at this time of year in our music teaching studios. Relevant Resources My Music Staff Calendly Leave Make-up…
Practice & Performance
Effective piano practice is one of my passions as a piano teacher. Make the most out of your students' practice time with these freebies, ideas and insights.
VMT070: Carina Busch on Involving Parents in Preschool Lessons
My guest on the show today, Carina Busch, is a piano teacher in Germany. She got into teaching preschoolers a few years ago and I’m so grateful she came on the show to share her experiences. This interview was done as part of my research for my new book Playful Preschool Piano Teaching. Pick…
VMT069: Kris Skaletski on Teaching Preschoolers in Groups
In this episode, you’ll hear from Kris Skaletski about teaching preschoolers in groups and how to create the perfect class environment. This interview was done as part of my research for my new book Playful Preschool Piano Teaching. Pick up your copy at: playfulpreschoolpiano.com Relevant Resources Playful Preschool Piano Teaching Preschoolers in Groups with Kris…
VMT068: Starting to Teach Preschool Piano
In this podcast, I’m sharing an excerpt from my new book Playful Preschool Piano Teaching, all about getting started with teaching piano to preschoolers. You can pick up a copy of the book at playfulpreschoolpiano.com Relevant Resources Playful Preschool Piano Teaching Five Foundations of Successful Preschool Piano Teaching Webinar Download the Transcript Are you a…
VMT062: The Five Foundations of Successful Preschool Piano Teaching
This is the podcast version of a talk that I gave at NCKP in July 2019 titled ‘The Five Foundations of Successful Preschool Piano Teaching’. Listen to learn about the building blocks of teaching 3-5 year olds and how to do it effectively. Relevant Resources Why every preschool lesson should include improvisation First year goals…
How to Use Improvisation to Teach Rhythm Patterns
Some students will always find rhythm to be the most challenging part of piano lessons. It’s also the most important part of music so it’s vital that we find lots of ways to teach rhythm patterns to our students. By having lots of tricks up your sleeve (like those found in my book Rhythm in…
What piano students can learn from scat singing
One of the activities in my Meet the Blues workshop (which is coming out tomorrow for Vibrant Music Teaching members!) is a quick lesson in scat singing. I love this part of the workshop because it’s silly and fun; and because it teaches my students some valuable skills. If you’re not familiar with the term…
How to handle summer in your music studio business
Summer can be a bit of a sticky wicket for music studio businesses. Families are travelling and kids are out of their normal routine – so what’s the best way to run a music school during the summer months? There are a few options that work for music studios in the summer. The best fit…
How to Teach Music Composition to Piano Students
Do you teach music composition in your piano studio? This is a great way to work on your students’ notation skills, without them even realising they’re doing “theory” and it’s super fun and motivating too. 🙂 If you haven’t dived in yet to teaching composing yet, I can highly recommend it. I do a project like…
Why You Should Use Improvisation to Teach Duet Skills
Playing duets and ensemble pieces is something I believe should be included in every piano students’ education. Duets build camaraderie in your studio and also help students practice listening and interacting with another musician. Piano playing shouldn’t be a purely solo activity but it can often end up that way. Other musicians tend to join…