Imagine you walk into a music shop with oodles of beautiful refurbished grand pianos: Faziolis, Steinways, Kawais, Yamahas…you name it, they have it. You sit down at your chosen instrument to test it out – what do you play? Chances are, you have a go-to piece that you like to play to settle in. It…
Practice
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.
VMT001: How to Get Ready (Really Ready!) for a New Teaching Term
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…
A Simple Piano Student Goal Setting Sheet to Increase Student Retention
I asked Colourful Keys, readers and community members, how they measure success in their studios. One of the top answers was student retention, and I believe piano student goal setting exercises are a great way to increase retention. Student retention is a fantastic measure of success for a piano teacher to have. I hadn’t thought…
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…
Encourage a Piano Practice Habit With the 100 Day Challenge
Habits are one of the most powerful ways we get stuff done. It is usually habit, not willpower, that keeps us eating healthily, exercising regularly, or learning new things. But how do we harness this power and encourage piano practice in a way that helps our students form a real and lasting habit? The 100…
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…