Minute club

I loved this idea and can't remember where I saw it. I started flashcards of the notes for my students. If they were able to name and play the notes before a minute on the stopwatch, they made the minute club. I gave them 4 months to achieve this for the party. It comprised different minute to win it games.  It was really fun and the kids all improved their times each week. I did modify the difficulty levels. Beginners just had 5 notes down and up from middle c, then the staff for everyone, and the advanced students added ledger lines. I think I will continue the club adding key signatures, signs, timings, and other musical terms. I just used the Alfred flashcards that are different colors. It's a fun motivating idea!

Summer Specials

Summer time is bittersweet.  It is hard to schedule with so many things up in the air.  But the idea of more free time makes practicing a better possibility.  My sister (who is also a piano teacher) told me a great way to make it easier on everyone.  She had her students pay for 6 weeks of piano lessons during the summer.  Then she was able to choose which weeks to schedule for their vacations and hers.  This summer I taught each week because our schedule wasn't that busy.  I also ran an ad for summer specials at a discounted rate.  I have enjoyed picking up some new students this summer.

Another fun idea that may have to be implemented next summer is piano camps.  I loved this idea from Joy Morin at Color in my piano, and my brain is buzzing!  Summer is when I like doing some music history research papers.  One year I researched composers and would introduce the kids to a picture, bio and snippet of music at the end of their lesson.  Another year I did American music research and we did a genre per month (jazz, blues, ragtime, etc.)  I would like to research some piano games for next year.  If you have any great ideas, I'd love to hear them!

September is busy!

It seems that September is the month to start piano lessons!  I think with the start of school, it just happens naturally.  I have been telling people around my area that I teach, and I am getting more students than I ever have before.  While it is exciting for me, it is good for me to establish standards too.  One is to only teach on certain days for the sake of my family (and myself).  So I chose Wed and Thurs.  I got a paper planner so I can chart the times when people ask what is available.
I also read this great post about things to do to shake up your studio.  Since I'm starting fresh AGAIN - we moved this past month...making 5 moves in 2 years - it's a great time to freshen up.  I'm going to have my teacher view my studio policy.  What are you doing that's new and fresh this year?  I'd love to hear

Playing vs Practicing

I have decided it is finally time to start taking piano lessons again.  It has been 15 years since my last lesson.  I had my first lesson 2 weeks ago, and it has opened my eyes to how much I have lost and what is missing in my level of confidence.  My teacher (who is fabulous!)  told me that I am rusty, and the thing I have to work on the most is going from PLAYING a piece to PRACTICING.  When you go through and play a piece straight through, it takes a long time for you to get better.  When you practice: with a metronome and really focus, it will suprise you at how much better you can get.  So the past 2 weeks, I have sat down and really focused on the pieces I was assigned.  I had one from each period: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary.  I also had to work on scales, and 3 Hymns.  I have been amazed that Baroque - Bach Invention No. 8 wasn't as bad as I have always thought.  It does take an amazing amount of concentration though!!  There were days that I would practice for 1 1/2 hours too, and it didn't seem long enough, but that hour time limit put a stopping point on me which is also good.  I have been awakened at how far I have come and how far I have yet to go.  But I am so grateful for the opportunity to take lessons again and continue to progress for the future students that will come to me.

New starts

We have moved yet again, but hopefully this is the last time.  As I begin to think about setting up my studio, one of the things that comes to mind is visiting the local music store.  I've put my name on their list of teachers and found out about the local chapters of music teacher groups.  I have wondered where to start and one of the things I need is to start taking lessons again myself.  I have set a goal to talk to a local teacher who has been here for a long time to find out some tips and pointers.  Those have helped out so much in the past.  And something I'm really excited about is that through my husband's work, I can audit classes at our local college!  I'm going to find some pedagogy classes to take!!  So there are a few more ideas to getting started!
My sister is going to teach my daughter lessons, and I liked her "1st lesson" idea of an assessment.  She has my daughter play what she knows, do some sightreading, and figures out where to go from there.  I think that is a great idea for a first lesson, to get a handle on where the student is before getting them books...That would have saved me in the past!!

Christmas is coming!

I love this time of year. I love the music. I do christmas mystery songs for my students to try and guess which song it is. I also start them working on a song for a December recital. I like doing them at nursing homes to bring cheer to the older folks, and it's a free piano spot. It seems to be pretty informal so the nerves don't creep up too much. I team up with another teacher so there is a variety of music. Then after the program we give the students candy canes to congratulate their great job.
My mom would have a "Christmas party" with no parents. She would do games, have treats and the kids would play their songs for the other students. My favorite game was the newspaper game. You roll up a newspaper and everyone has a different Christmas name. Then you call out the names before the "it" person hits you on the head with the newspaper. We loved the game, and the party. It was always a blast.
As far as gifts go, I've made piano bags, classical music CDs, let them pick an extra prize, and treats of course. What do you do for Christmas?

Composers

I find the life of composers fascinating! I have been listening to an audio lecture called, "How to listen to and understand great music" by Professor Robert Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. It has been very enlightening to do dishes to:) I've learned that Tchaivosky was afraid that his head would fall off while conducting, so he would hold on to his head with one hand and lead with another. I learned that Debussy preferred the company of cats to people, and Mozart was not as crazy as the movie Amadeus made him out to be.
I loved this series for also explaining the different styles of German, Italian, and French music. They correlate with their language. German is sharp with lots of consonants and so is their music. Italians have a perfect blend of consonants and vowels, and their music focuses on relationships. French language is full of vowels. You often cannot tell where one word ends and the other begins and the same is true of their music...there isn't a defined beat. It's very flowy. This is generalizing and paraphrasing, but it helped me to recognize the differences and appreciate the beauty of each style of music.