As well as lessons at my own home, I also travel to homes of some students. Parents choose this option for various reasons: some don’t have a car, some of my younger students are more comfortable in their own environment with their parents nearby.
And some just jump at the opportunity for one less activity to chauffeur their kids to!
I’m happy to provide this service, but it does require some ingenuity and careful planning on my part. I keep my piano bag packed at all times with portable versions of everything I have at my home studio: print outs of any worksheets, information sheets, calendars etc.
I teach the Wunderkeys method for 3-4 year olds. It’s a great method for this age group, and teaches these children to see patterns required to read music, reenforces mathematics skills, and engenders a sense of rhythm. All this through fun games and activities that this age group loves!
Although I love this series, it has been one of the more challenging to make portable, and is one of the most in demand for in home lessons. Parents love the chance not to pack a bunch of young kids into a car, do up child seats and attempt to entertain young kids whilst driving.
One of the elements of the Wunderkeys series involves making patterns on a magnetic blackboard with the characters from the books. My solution to this consists of:
- A metal baking tin
- A plastic A4 pocket
- Laminated magnets of the characters
- Worksheets of various different levels.
I needed to be able to pull these patterns straight out of my bag at the start of the lessons, ready to go.
I stuck the plastic pockets on to the metal baking sheet and printed out worksheets of all different levels which I keep in a folder. At the start of each lesson I simply slot an appropriate level worksheet into the pocket, spill out the magnets on a flat surface (floor, table, closed piano etc.) and the student can get to work.
The beauty of this system is that my worksheets can be used over and over again, and they don’t get dirty from sticky little fingers.
Are you a travelling piano teacher?
Let me know what you think of my little invention! If you are a traveling piano teacher, what inventions have you come up with to ensure an efficient set-up in the student’s home?
Looking for more stuff to do with Wunderkeys students? You might like this post about Wunderkeys finger twister here.
Would you be willing to share the files of the worksheets you created? I love the idea of having them prepared and ready to go!
Hi Andrea, unfortunately due to copyright restrictions I can’t share the files for these sheets. Are you a Wunderkeys teacher? I’m sure you could create similar ones using the character sheets which you can download from their website.