Fall is here!
For most people that means the beginning of a new school year,
but for me it means starting up Piano Lessons again!
After taking the summer off, I am excited to get back into it!
For most people that means the beginning of a new school year,
but for me it means starting up Piano Lessons again!
After taking the summer off, I am excited to get back into it!
Have you ever thought of teaching piano lessons?
Or are you already a teacher, and looking for some ideas?
Here are some of the things I do.
I teach my beginning students to play using the Piano Adventures books, by Nancy and Randall Faber.
(Thank you Holly for recommending them!)
Piano Adventures are great for students – and easy to teach out of.
This is what I use to write down their assignments each week:
(A special thank you to the piano teachers of my nieces and nephews for this idea!)
For the cover, I just got online and found Fall coloring pages (these came from www.crayola.com)
Then I printed the page on cardstock and cut it in half.
Then I printed the page on cardstock and cut it in half.
I created this page so that I could write down the assignments in the large boxes of the left,
and then the student can check off each day they practice it.
(There are six boxes – so they can have one day off a week.)
This page would also work well as a job chart, or a check off list for homework or reading.
Just print of the page, and cut it in half.
Just print of the page, and cut it in half.
Other ideas for Piano Teachers:
Worksheets: I love to throw in worksheets every once in a while to give them something different to do. You can find a lot online or you can buy books at music stores. Here are a few links of websites that have free worksheets that I use for my students: Susan Paradis.com and musictechteacher.com
Rewards: I don’t do a ton of these, but a few here and there are helpful. When a student finishes a level book, they get a candy bar from me. Occasionally I’ll have a bowl of chocolate kisses (or some other small treat), and they can have one for each checkmark on their assignment sheet.
Group Lessons: I got this idea from a coworker of mine who also teaches piano lessons. It’s perfect for me because I don’t have enough students to do a big recital, so once every few months I’ll schedule an hour and invite all of my students to come for a group lesson. (It counts as their lesson that week.) At the Group Lesson I have each student perform one or two songs from memory in front of the other students. I also try to make it fun with group conversation, a game or two, and of course – each student gets to take home a prize or treat.
Happy Piano Teaching!
Great ideas Ash. I like the suggestion of a group lesson.
Thanks for the download. My youngest student is nearly finished with her assignment book. My older students are pretty good at practicing without micromanagin. 🙂 I like the idea of a group lesson taking the place of a regular lesson but unfortunately my students all have crazy busy schedules. I also like your candy bar idea as a reward for finishing a book (those books are my favorite!). My friend, who also teaches, did a one time incentive where she gave her students a candy bar after a certain amount of practicing (I think it was ten hours). I’m thinking about doing something similar. . . .