Rhythm skills are so important for piano students. I try to squeeze rhythm activities into as many piano lessons as possible. I find that it really helps students to work with rhythm outside of the context of playing music so that they have a good foundation and skills to draw from when tricky rhythms show up in music. Here are five rhythm resources that I use regularly in piano lessons. … [Read more...] about 5 Ways To Teach Rhythm To Piano Students
Conceptual Teaching
Preschool Music – Numbers and Counting Theme
This semester, my preschool music class theme is numbers and counting. There are so many wonderful counting songs and stories for children, and they nicely complement many musical concepts. I wanted to make a point to help children and their families recognize how many parallels there are between music and numbers. For example, counting beats of music is an obvious correlation, but also … [Read more...] about Preschool Music – Numbers and Counting Theme
New Music Finds This Month
I've recently had some deliveries of new music to try out in my studio and I wanted to highlight some of the recent additions to my teaching repertoire. Play Mormon Hymns I ordered all 3 books in this series. I have quite a few mormon students and they all like to work on hymns. I've come to really enjoy teaching their collection of hymns, but pedagogically, there can be some challenges … [Read more...] about New Music Finds This Month
15 Ways To Use Piano Practice Pads
Piano Practice Pads are an awesome tool to have in your studio and for your students to have access to at home. Students instantly feel comfortable using them because there is no risk of playing a wrong note. They can work with a keyboard kinesthetically without the worry of if they are right or wrong. And, they are small and light, so they are so easy to pull out and use in almost any situation … [Read more...] about 15 Ways To Use Piano Practice Pads
Free Preschool Music Lesson Guide Featuring The Very Busy Spider
This semester my preschool music class is having a blast using Eric Carle books as the theme for all of our activities. We just finished up a month of activities based on his book, The Very Busy Spider. My students loved the theme and activities associated with the book. Our recent classes have gone over so well that I wanted to share my lesson activities with other teachers. You can get a lesson … [Read more...] about Free Preschool Music Lesson Guide Featuring The Very Busy Spider
Conceptual Teaching – Notation
Have you ever noticed that many beginning students begin their piano lessons playing freely and with ease with off-staff or rote songs, and then as soon as they start learning to read music, it seems like everything falls apart? It makes sense that this happens. Reading music is hard! There are so many tiny details that are at play. Even if you use the most simple approach to reading notation, … [Read more...] about Conceptual Teaching – Notation