This may be a no-brainer, but for some reason it just occurred to me this week that key signature flashcards (I love this set of Student Flashcards from TCW Resources!) would provide a great hands-on opportunity to create and understand the Circle of 5ths! Mercy has been working hard on memorizing all of her key […]
Teaching
The Best Way to Motivate Students
My husband shared this quote with me the other day and I thought it was very relevant to teaching students and learning to play an instrument: “Action never follows motivation…It’s the other way around. When you act, motivation inevitably follows.” I’ve seen over and over again that when students (or I!) make practicing a discipline […]
The Perfect Assignment Sheet for Piano Students
Somehow I just came across this fabulous compilation of free downloadable assignment sheets that Amy Chaplin, of the Piano Pantry blog, has either created or adapted! Even though I always create custom assignment books that correlate with our practice incentive theme for the year, I absolutely love the variety of ideas that Amy incorporates into […]
Review and Giveaway of the Flexi Symphony Clip
Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a far cry from a fashionista. My hairstyle and accessory choices are driven by whatever takes me the least time in the morning (because there are so many things I would rather do than spend time fixing my hair!). So when Jackie Adams, a Lilla Rose […]
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 […]
Fun Music Note Identification Review Game
In addition to providing a source of fun during lessons, incorporating hands-on games or activities are a great way to evaluate the student’s understanding of a particular musical concept. The 5 for Fun: games and activities for the private piano lesson booklet has a bunch of tried-and-true ideas that I’ve used with my students. But […]
