As I mentioned last week, we focus on musical form at piano lessons right from the beginning. This week we had to get creative with the song, Ferris Wheel, from Piano Safari Level 1. The first line, which we labeled “A” is repeated in inverted form for the third line, and the second line is […]
Scale Blocks
Using Scale Blocks to Teach Common Tone Voicing in Chord Progressions
Having a functional understanding of music theory is extremely important to me as a piano teacher, so my students are continually learning scales, intervals, chords, etc. Our state Music Progressions curriculum has been invaluable to me in helping me establish an appropriate and systematic approach to teaching theory. And my indispensable teaching tool is a […]
I see the pattern!
One of my favorite aspects of teaching is leading students to a discovery of knowledge. Renowned pedagogue Frances Clark reminded us, “Teaching is not telling.” As easy, and seemingly efficient, as it is to fall into the rut of telling students what I want them to know, the reality is that they will almost assuredly […]
The Speedy Scale Game for Piano Students!
As I mentioned last week, I love to incorporate a variety of games to reinforce and evaluate music theory concepts with my students. This week we tried a Speedy Scale game to help students develop visual-spatial skills (they weren’t allowed to look at the piano keyboard, but had to visualize it in their mind) and […]
These are a few of my favorite [teaching] things…
We are officially two weeks into piano lessons for this fall, and everyone is off to a great start with our Vanishing Voices practice incentive theme! It’s fun to watch the students study the gallery of composers on the studio wall and learn how to pronounce their names. I attended a training seminar this weekend […]
Free Piano Scale Discovery Worksheet
It’s amazing how much more fun it is to learn about chords and scales on the piano when you’re using a magnetic board, some cool thumbtack-looking magnets, a set of scale blocks, and a piano scale worksheet! After learning how to count the half steps to construct major chords, I called out the name of […]
