CKQC008: Employing a Cuddly Piano Technique Assistant

In this teaching clip, you’re going to meet Steve the Stickler.

Steve is a miniature lobster beanie baby (I believe I got him in a McDonald’s happy meal way back in the day!) and he helps out in my studio with all things piano technique and posture.

I was inspired by Tim Topham’s ladybug Linda (in his No Book Beginners course) and started using Steve last year to check up on piano technique at random during the lesson.

This year he has become a regular part  of our warm up routine.

Notice how much fun these girls are having with this exercise. It’s so much easier to correct posture and piano technique when it’s done through a cuddly character.

Try it out yourself by creating your own character and let me know how it goes!

What are quick clips?

Colourful Keys Quick Clips are all about giving you a taste of what my lessons are actually like – in action.

I certainly don’t claim to be an expert, and I don’t have all the answers. I just know how much seeing real teaching with real students has helped me to grow and improve as a teacher.

Let me know what you think!

I hope you got some inspiration from this Colourful Keys Quick Clip. If you have any thoughts or questions, be sure to ask them in the Vibrant Music Studio Teachers group on Facebook or in the comments here, and do make sure to subscribe to my emails and YouTube channel to get notified when a new quick clip is published.

If you want more and extended clips of my teaching, be sure to check out the Vibrant Music Teaching library. There’s tons more like this as well as a whole library of teaching games to boot.

Find out more about how you can become a VMT member here.