It’s that time of year! I have a recurring event in my calendar that reminds me at the end of September each year to get out my Trick-or-Treat Rhythm Game for my piano students. I use this game at the start of almost every lesson I teach throughout the month of October.

This game has been a classic in my studio since I created it back in 2018. I made it available for purchase in my shop a year later in 2019.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on making some revisions to the game and am pleased to announce the new version now available. I’ve smoothed out the progression of difficulty a bit and created 5 levels of cards instead of 4, but the game is essentially the same. In this post, I’ll tell you a bit more about it plus share some insights into how rhythm is taught from a Music Learning Theory perspective.

(PS: If you purchased the game in the past, you are eligible to receive an updated PDF at no cost. In fact, past purchasers of the game will receive an email from me later today containing a download link to the revised version. If you don’t see it, please contact me here and let me know!)

Gameplay

How does the game work? 

Show students your candy bowl or prize box and let them know they can pick out a treat — but they need to EARN it first. Then, grab a deck of Trick-or-Treat rhythm cards (there are 5 levels included — more on that later).

Explain to your student: There are TRICK cards and there are TREAT cards. When a TRICK card is drawn, the student performs the rhythm on the card and then draws again. When a TREAT card is eventually drawn, the game is over and it’s time to choose a treat. That’s all there is to it!

To begin playing, fan out the cards for the student and ask them to randomly choose a card.

If students draw a TRICK card, look at the rhythm together and determine if it is in duple meter or triple meter. Then, we establish meter and perform the rhythm aloud. (I like to have students use their voice on a neutral syllable like BAH or TA, but you can instead have them tap, clap, or play the rhythm on a piano key.) Then, we draw another card.

When students draw a TREAT card, the game is over and they may choose their candy or prize. Students will draw an average 4 or 5 rhythm cards before drawing a TREAT card. That means sometimes the game involves just one or two rhythms (or even zero!), while sometimes it might be nine or ten. You never know, and that’s part of the fun!

A Variation for Beginner Students and Beyond

Your students who are already reading music notation well can read the rhythm cards independently and perform them for you. However, for beginners I suggest performing the rhythm for them and asking them to echo it back, rather than asking them to try to read the rhythm. This is actually super valuable. You are modeling reading, plus allowing them to see how the rhythm looks in notation. It’s similar to reading children’s books aloud to kids. And it’s a step not to be missed in the reading learning process, and you can’t provide too much of it! In my opinion, piano teachers as a whole tend not to do enough aural work and modeling of the reading process in their piano lessons.

I’ve been playing the Trick-or-Treat rhythm game the echo way with my 3.5-year-old daughter, Aria, every day for the past couple of weeks. It’s really fun hearing her echo the patterns and observe her starting to form associations between how rhythm patterns sound and how they look in notation. It’s also interesting to observe which rhythms patterns are easy and which ones are more difficult for her to echo. If she echos a pattern back incorrectly, sometimes I’ll ask her if her pattern was the same or different (a core MLT teaching strategy) and ask her to try again — but sometimes I’ll just accept her answers and go on. I know she’ll get it over time! It’s age-appropriate to simply encourage responses from young children and give them many opportunities to learn. They will naturally self-improve with appropriate guidance in time. This is true for basic life skills as well as music skills.

(I’ll try to share a video of Aria playing the game sometime soon!)

The echo version of the game isn’t just for beginners. Try it with ANY of your students who are struggling with music reading, and you’ll watch them enjoy success while building important aural skills and pre-reading skills. Actually, I revert back to the echo version of the game ANY time a student is moving on to the next level of rhythm cards. I want to make sure my students have a good aural foundation and familiarity with each type of rhythm before I ask them to start reading them.

Two other variations to share: If you teach in groups, you can play the game normally, except ask the entire group to help perform the rhythm cards drawn by each individual. And once somebody draw a TREAT card, everyone gets their treat.

If you have students at two different levels, have the older student(s) read and perform the rhythm while the younger student(s) echo it back.

The Rhythm Patterns

The rhythm skills used in my Trick-or-Treat game are based on Edwin E. Gordon’s work in Music Learning Theory.

The rhythms presented are in either duple meter or triple meter (although there are no time signatures provided — students must see or hear it based on the context!). And the basic rhythms are notated using quarter notes and eighth notes (rather than half notes and quarter notes, as we often see in early piano study materials). Students are generally used to seeing eighth notes in school music class, so I don’t see a benefit in avoiding them. Besides, in my opinion quarter notes and eighth notes are a useful way to notate basic rhythms because students can easily see the groupings of the little beats into either 2s or 3s. This makes it easy for them to tell whether they should be feeling duple meter or triple meter.

There are five decks of rhythm cards included when you purchase my Trick-or-Treat game. The leveling information is detailed for the teacher on a cheat sheet (pictured below).

The easiest rhythms contain only two layers of rhythm (or, macrobeats and microbeats, to use MLT-based terminology), notated using quarter notes and eighth notes. The next level has rhythms with three layers of rhythm (macrobeats, microbeats, and divisions), notated using quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. The other three levels of cards offer division-elongations (meaning, various sixteenth note variations), rests, ties, and upbeats. I know this is a little bit different from the rhythm progression you might be used to in a typical piano method book, but this approach really works! I think you’ll be impressed with how your students do with it.

I mostly use the Level 1 and Level 2 decks (you can never have too much reinforcement of basic rhythms, IMO!), but I dip into the Level 3-5 decks with students once they’ve proven successful with the first two levels.

The first week you present the game to your students, I recommend starting with Level 1 (even if they can handle more advanced rhythms). Over following weeks, you can bump up to the next levels or stick with the same level if more practice is needed. 

This is a such FUN way to start out your lessons during the 4-6 weeks around Halloween time. It’s so easy: just pull out the cards you’ve assembled, and put some candy or treats in a bowl. Your students will be thrilled to see you present this game every year. They’ll have a blast — and you’ll see their rhythm skills improve! 

In Sum

Buy the 44-page Trick-or-Treat! PDF download now, and here’s what you’ll get: 

• Introductory letter to the teacher
• Leveling cheatsheet and tips for gameplay
• Instructions for assembly (this is a digital product; meaning, you must print and assemble the game yourself)
• Card holders for each of the five levels
• Five levels of rhythm cards (160 cards total)

Price: $9.00 

CLICK HERE to visit my shop and purchase the Trick-or-Treat rhythm game. 

Happy Halloween!

Do you like to have your piano students analyze and label the chords in their pieces? I do!

I recently had the idea to create this pair of worksheets specifically for a couple of my students to assist with process of analyzing a piece. The worksheet is to be completed in the same key as their piece, before commencing their analyzation. The idea is to help students think ahead of time about what chords they can expect to see/hear in their piece — which can help make the analysis process easier.

This is a two-page set of worksheets: one for working in major keys and one for minor keys. The worksheets are basically identical other than the fact that the minor page reminds students they need to raise the leading tone.

The steps on the worksheet lead the student through thinking about the key signature, the notes of the scale, the primary chords (I, IV, and V) in that key, and then finally all the diatonic chords in that key.

I remember as a young student having trouble wrapping my mind around the diatonic chords and understanding the significance of going through the process of drawing them all out in order. My hope with this theory worksheet is that the “why” is provided upfront — specifically, the fact that the primary chords are those that tend to occur most frequently in Western music — and that the worksheet steps are clear and logical. This worksheet is perhaps best completed at the piano — where students can play and hear the notes and chords they are writing.

So far so good — the students I’ve used this worksheet with have enjoyed using it as a tool alongside the pieces they are studying!

If you’d like to give this worksheet a try with your own students, download the free PDF below or on the Printables > Worksheets page.

Enjoy!

I just updated one of the studio business forms from my Printables page for the 2023-24 school year.  It is called the Lesson Attendance & Payment Sheet PDF.  Even though I don’t personally use this sheet myself anymore (I now charge a monthly flat tuition rate), every year I receive requests from teachers asking if I would please update it for the upcoming school year. And I’m happy to do so! 

In case you haven’t seen this from before, here is how it works: Write your students’ names in the first column.  Each week, write the lesson date (in a month / date format) in the column for that week.  This is how you can track attendance.  The small circles in each cell are where you can write checkmarks indicating tuition payments.  Whether you charge by-the-week or by-the-month, you can place a checkmark by each paid lesson date.

Download it below or on the Printables > Studio Business page.

The last two weekends, I hosted a piano teacher retreat at my home in southeast Michigan with two groups of teachers. I’m still reeling from all the fun we had and memories made! It’s been a full and rewarding couple of weeks to be sure.

In this post, I’ll share some photos and highlights from this year’s retreat, along with a quick bit of backstory behind these events.

Note: This article may contain Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting my blog and my work!

How It Began

The first time I offered a piano teacher retreat was back in 2017. The idea came thanks to feeling inspired by the large, historic house we were renting at the time, plus some remarks at a conference from Robert Duke (author of one of my favorite books, Intelligent Music Teaching) about creating ideal learning environments.

My idea was to create a professional development event where small groups of teachers could learn from and alongside each other in a relaxing, friendly environment. I picked a weekend in August, announced my idea here on my blog, and held my breath. Lo and behold, a group of teachers signed up. And that’s how “Retreat at Piano Manor” was born!

I hosted retreats again in the summers following in 2018 and 2019. Each year, I’ve chosen a different theme for us to explore, such as piano method books (recap here), piano technique for beginners, and rhythm through the lens of Music Learning Theory (recap here).

2020 brought the Covid-19 pandemic, so of course I did not host a retreat that year. In addition to the pandemic playing out over the next couple of years, my husband and I had started having kids (we now have a 3.5-year-old and a nearly 1-year-old). And so, this year’s 2023 retreat comes after a three-year hiatus. I’m thrilled my retreats are back, and hope to continue them in upcoming summers!

Our 2023 Retreat

This year’s theme was Exploring Rote + Note Learning in Piano Teaching. During our time together, we explored the age-old concept of “rote learning” and how we can use it effectively in our piano teaching today.

When the August 10-12 dates sold out within days, I decided to open up an additional weekend, August 3-5. It’s the first time I’ve offered the same retreat twice, and I have to say it was nice being able to accommodate more teachers and also have a chance to tweak our schedule for the second time around.

Teachers traveled from within the Midwest and beyond: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Virginia, and South Carolina. Some teachers stayed with family/friends nearby, but most teachers shared an Airbnb or a scrapbooking house (yes, that’s a “thing!”).

We spent quite a bit of time discussing how we can get beyond both “rote + note” into audiation — comprehending the music we are hearing/reading. For this, I drew upon my training as a certified teacher through the Gordon Institute for Music Learning to present ways we can help our students audiate music. As one attendee in a burst of inspiration put it, rote learning is a doorway for audiation. (Well said, Mary!)

In small groups, we examined resources for rote teaching and taught each other at least one rote piece. Some teachers said the peer teaching was their favorite part.

My pal Amy Chaplin of PianoPantry.com was kind enough to agree to cater the event for me once again! She made amazing food for us for the August 10-12 weekend, while my husband (also a foodie) covered August 3-5. I couldn’t have done it without them. We were spoiled with delicious, healthy food both weekends.

For dinners in the evening, we went to a couple of restaurants. First, we enjoyed Detroit-style pizza.

The next night, we ate at one of my favorite local restaurants in a beautiful old church building.

Takeaways

I feel privileged to be able to offer my retreats again, especially after a three-year hiatus. I love hosting teachers in my home, and I enjoy facilitating learning around a specific topic. Hosting a retreat is no small thing — it requires a great deal of planning, thought, and preparation — but I’ve found it so worthwhile and rewarding.

When I kick off a retreat, I always like to share a list of goals for our time together. Among other things, I hope attendees leave with fresh, new teaching ideas to take home to their students — in this case, tools for teaching by rote + note + audiation.

I hope teachers leave with new friendships…

And I hope teachers feel rejuvenated, refreshed, and inspired.

Here’s a group photo from the August 3-5, 2023 retreat…

…and here’s our group photo from August 10-12, 2023.

A big thank-you to the special teachers who attended this year! It was so great having you!!

If you’d like to consider attending a future retreat, please join my retreat email list here. FYI, this is a separate list from my usual blog updates. I use it just for sending out a few retreat updates, such as when registration opens.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’re enjoying a summer full of fun, rest, and maybe an adventure or two!

Last week, I attended the 2023 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP) held July 26-29, 2023. I have to say it felt so great to be there face-to-face with fellow piano teacher friends old and new, especially because this was the first in-person I’ve attended since the pandemic!

This morning as I was completing NCKP’s after-conference survey, I realized that I have been attending every NCKP since 2011. That’s a total of seven NCKPs so far!

If you’ve never attended the NCKP, I highly recommend adding it to your bucket list. It’s similar to the MTNA National Conferences in many ways, but it’s a slightly smaller conference and they certain things a little bit differently. It’s organized and sponsored by the Frances Clark Center — a non-profit association dedicated to honoring and furthering the legacy of piano pedagogy Frances Clark (1905-1998). NCKP meets biennially, always in the same location (Lombard, IL — outside Chicago), which for me is convenient because I can drive there in about four hours.

Anyway, in this lengthy post, I’d like to share a variety of highlights and bits of news from NCKP 2023. Read on!

My husband and I decided to make my conference attendance a family endeavor, so we had all four of us packed up for this trip. Our girls (now ages 3.5 and almost a year) tolerated the car ride well, thankfully! We lodged in the conference hotel, which was convenient for facilitating nap time, snacks, etc. Most of the time, my husband enjoyed having daddy-daughter time with both girls, but I did take just Aria or just Brenna to a few of my conference sessions or meals with colleagues.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Unfortunately due to traffic delays and a little snafu with ordering take-out lunch, I missed Karen Zorn’s opening keynote address of the conference. But nevertheless, we made pretty good time and I was able to attend sessions starting at 1pm on Wednesday.

Because I am currently serving on a committee — the Young Musicians Committee — for the Frances Clark Center, I made sure to attend the sessions we had selected for the conference’s Young Musicians track. Our track kicked off with Krista Jadro and Hannah Mayo’s session titled, “Off-Bench: How Activities Away from the Keyboard Facilitate Music Understanding at the Piano.” (You might happen know Krista and Hannah from their podcast, Keys to Music Learning, or from Krista’s Music Learning Academy providing online training for teachers interested in Marilyn Lowe’s Music Moves for Piano curriculum — both excellent resources for teachers interesting in Music Learning Theory.) Their presentation provided an interactive, practical example of how we can teach students to hear and audiate piano pieces before learning to play them on the piano.

At 2:30pm, I gave my own presentation titled, “Don’t Miss a Beat! Strategies for Rhythm Success with Transfer Students.” For this session, I offered strategies and practical activities based on Edwin E. Gordon’s Music Learning Theory (MLT) for addressing common rhythm issues in transfer students. In the session, I discuss how typical tools such as counting, the metronome, and symbol review aren’t always effective; and how we can use the perhaps atypical tools of movement and audiation to remediate rhythm skills.

I really enjoyed putting this new session together recently and adding it to my list of topics (see my entire list here). And I was especially happy to hear from a few teachers afterwards who said they gained some helpful ideas from my talk.

At 4pm, I was involved in a session called, “Cultivating Creative Composers: A Panel Discussion.” Christopher Goldston facilitated this discussion with panelists Katherine Fisher, Julie Kerr Hague, Clinton Pratt, and me. We each gave a short 15-minute presentation (my segment was a condensed version of my talk, “Striking a Chord with Your Students: Nurturing Young Composers in Your Music Studio), and then allowed plenty of time for discussion and questions at the end.

At 5:30pm, I attended a session given by my pal Christina Whitlock (of the Beyond Measure podcast) titled, “The Teacher as The Method: Learn to Depend Less on Books and More on Individual Expertise.” In her talk, she encouraged teachers to rely less on the method book page by page, and instead know and prepare upcoming concepts through sound and experience. An important reminder for all of us!

For dinner, my little family and I went to a nearby Italian restaurant with Amy Chaplin (of the Piano Pantry blog/podcast), Christina Whitlock, Janna Williamson (see her YouTube channel), and Kate Boyd (The Piano Prof on YouTube). My daughter Brenna was so tired by this point that she fell asleep during the 3-minute drive back to the conference hotel! I went to bed early that night, too.

Thursday, July 27, 2023

The next morning began with an hour of showcases — special sessions given by exhibitors such as piano companies, publishers, and more. I popped into a couple of sessions: first, I wanted to hear what was new from the folks at Faber Piano Adventures. Among other things, I learned about their new sight-reading books (affiliate link; thanks for supporting my blog!) designed to align with their Piano Literature series (which now has more teacher duets in it, by the way).

Then, I popped into a showcase give by My-Melodies Publishing, and I was absolutely blown away by the music they offer for elementary and intermediate students. The owner, Brock Chart, is a down-to-earth and talented pianist-composer of jazz and pop educational piano literature among other genres. Run, don’t walk, over to his website to check out his series of jazz, pop, and rock books for students with play-along tracks. While you’re there, also be sure to take a peek at the books by his friend and colleague, Kai Ono, called “For the Little Birds” and “For the Birds.” Physical books as well as digital books and studio licenses are available. I can’t wait to try this music out with my students soon!

Here’s a photo of me from later on at the My-Melodies Publishing booth in the exhibit hall.

At 9am, I attended “Moving Music: Inspiring our Newest Learners with Creative Teaching” given by Janna Olson — a teacher I’ve learned much from when it comes to MLT. Her session explored how purposeful activities involving listening, moving, singing, breathing, and more can inspire our beginning piano students to discover the wonderful aural world of music.

For lunch, baby Brenna and I enjoyed eating with a good-sized group of teacher friends at the hotel restaurant, Harry Carey’s. We had some delicious food and even better conversations.

At 2pm, our Young Musicians Committee chair Janet Tschida presented “Developing Musicianship through Movement,” a fun and interactive session sharing whole-body movement activities to building rhythmic flow and musical imagination in elementary level students.

At 2:30pm, we enjoyed a plenary session featuring four PEDx sessions given by Brendan Jacklin, Artina McCain, Vanessa Cornett, and Igor Lipinski. PEDx sessions are intended to be similar to TED talks in that they are short, inspiring talks about 20-minutes in length. I unfortunately missed a couple of these talks due to checking in with my kids, but I caught Artina’s and Vanessa’s sessions…which were both excellent and inspiring!

That evening, I enjoyed dinner at Harry Carey’s once again with my fellow committee members before we hosted a Young Musicians track meet-up. Our meet-up involved unwinding by learning fun folk dances together — which my daughter Aria absolutely loved.

Friday, July 28, 2023

At 8am, I began the day once again by attending a couple of showcase sessions. The first was given by the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), who presented highlights from the new Sixth Edition of the Celebration Series — a repertoire series I really enjoy with my students (especially the Preparatory A and Preparatory B books).

Then, I popped into the Tom Gerou Music session, presenting “What Every Teacher Should Know: From the Latest Releases to Autism & Piano Study.” I was pleased to learn more about the new music offerings from tomgeroumusic.com, including a new book by Dr. Scott Price entitled “Autism & Piano Study: A Basic Teaching Vocabulary” and his beautiful Evocations, Set 1 and 2 (I later purchased Set 1 in the exhibit hall). Be sure to visit Tom Gerou’s website to learn more about the many new classical editions and original compositions available there (and join his email list while you’re at it).

At 10:30am, I heard an incredibly inspiring session called “A Session About Nothing” by Vanessa Cornett. In her presentation, she encouraged us to consider rethinking, for example, the notions that we should always be doing something productive, that rest is only to allow us to then be more productive, and that self-care is solely the responsibility of the individual (as opposed to the institutions we work for, society/culture as a whole, etc.). She suggested we resist these ideas and instead reclaim time, attention, mindfulness, and rest for ourselves. As someone who loves being busy and productive, this was a relevant and important message for me! Vanessa received a standing ovation after her talk.

Aria and I grabbed a quick lunch at this point with Amy Chaplin and new teacher friend at the food court in the nearby mall.

Then, at 1:30pm I attended “Marilyn Lowe’s Music Moves for Piano: A Tribute to a True Pioneer in Audiation-based Piano Teaching,” given by Jennifer Fisher. Jenny is a local colleague and friend of mine, and I really appreciated the way her session honored Marilyn Lowe (who passed away in 2022) and the legacy she leaves behind. I am confident that Marilyn’s work and ground-breaking curriculum Music Moves for Piano will impact generations of piano pedagogues and students for years to come.

At 2:30pm, more PEDx sessions were given, this time by Sara Davis Buechner, Ann DuHamel, Leah Claiborne, and Connor Chee. I can’t even begin to tell you how inspiring these short sessions were! I can’t do them justice in just a few words, but I’ll just say that they were inspiring reminders of the power of music and why we do what we do as musicians, teachers, and humans.

At 4pm, I attended a showcase session presented by Heather Smith, the CEO and founder behind the non-profit called Silent Film Celebration — an organization providing resources for piano teachers to organize their own silent film events with live piano accompaniment provided by their students. This has been on my radar for a few months now, and I’m actually planning a silent film recital project for my students later this year. Stay tuned here on the blog for more on that eventually. For now, check out Heather’s website here to learn more about it.

Saturday, July 29, 2023

The final day of the conference was “T-shirt day,” when we were encouraged to wear our NCKP T-shirts if we had them. Aria accompanied me to my morning sessions and had a great time.

At the Piano Safari showcase session, I learned more about their new Composition Book 1 and new releases from Chee-Hwa Tan (my daughter enjoyed listening and dancing to the pieces from Once Upon a Journey, Book 1) and Charles Stier (check out his Kitchen Suite — it looks amazing!).

(During this showcase, we sat with my pal, Amy Chaplin, and snapped this selfie together.)

I popped into a few different sessions through the morning, although Aria’s attention span was more suited for browsing and wandering through the exhibit hall — so we also spent a good amount of time there. I always enjoy seeing what’s new, meeting teachers in-person I’ve previously only known online (such as Dorla Pryce Aparicio from Piano Pyramid, pictured below), and bringing home new music to explore with my students!

Aria loved collecting free pens and other swag from each booth, and the venders seemed to enjoy her, too. Here’s our photo taken together on the red carpet at the Silent Film Celebration booth:

The final session of the conference was a plenary session featuring teaching videos from five individual teachers: Christopher Madden, Leah Claiborne, Linda Fields, Andy Villemez, and Lesley Mcallister. Barbara Fast skillfully led the conversation before and after the lesson clip from each teacher. I always find it inspiring to watch other teachers in action and get new ideas for how I can work with my own students!

That concludes this giant blog post covering my experience attending NCKP 2023. The were many more wonderful sessions that went on during the conference that I wish I could have attended, but one has to make many tough decisions at each point in the schedule about what to hear. It’s a good kind of problem to have!

You may have noticed a giant hole in my coverage of the conference: namely, the evening concerts, which I regrettably did not attend this year. While I would have loved to hear the performances by Sarah Davis Buechner and Olga Kern, which were by all accounts were astounding, I was at the same time content to practice “the resistance” (to quote Vanessa Cornett’s session mentioned earlier) and enjoy rest and quality time with my little family in our hotel room upstairs.

Thanks for reading this far. Now I’m off to prepare for the piano teacher retreats I’m hosting at my home later this week and next week. I can’t wait! Stay tuned for some photo highlights from that later on.

Cheers to a restful and rejuvenating summer, with perhaps a few exciting adventures in-between!

As promised, today I am sharing a NEW free recital program template. I created this recital program for my 2023 student recitals and I’m happy to pass it along as template for use for YOUR student recitals!

Side note: Did you know this is now the SIXTH free recital program template available on my blog? The other five can be found on the Printables > Other Resources page by scrolling down to the Ps for “Piano Recital Program Template.” Of the templates I’ve shared so far, this is the first one that is in a foldable booklet format.

The artwork featured in this recital program template was drawn by yours truly using my iPad and Apple Pencil. I designed the rest of the program in Microsoft Word.

This template is print-friendly, requiring only black ink. It can be printed on paper/cardstock in the color of your choice or plain white. In the photos above/below, I used brown Kraft paper.

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting my work!

As is, there is space for 18 performers each performing two pieces, or 24 performers each performing one piece. Of course, you can fit more or fewer performers as needed by adjusting or removing the artwork elements, sizing the font differently, etc. Feel free to alter the template to your liking.

At the end of the template, there is an optional section for “Recognitions” — where if you wish you can recognize students who have earned certain awards, goals, or challenges throughout the year.

To download, visit Printables > Other Resources and scroll down to the Ps for “Piano Recital Program Template #5.”

I hope you’ll enjoy using this template for your own studio recitals!

Yes, you read that title correctly! Recitals, plural. My piano studio is currently comprised of about half-and-half Michigan and Ohio students — the former being longtime students I began teaching online since relocating to Ann Arbor at the end of 2019. So, I held two Spring Recitals this month — one in my backyard, and one at a park in Ohio (an hour’s drive away for me).

Until last year, I had never held a studio recital outdoors. Now that I’ve done it, I want to keep doing more!

Our Program

I called our recital “Keys in the Breeze.” Most of the piece titles on the program were centered around a nature theme. It’s the first time I’ve attempted a themed recital, so I wanted to choose an easy theme. My students and I discovered that most method books or repertoire collections tend to have at least one piece that fits a nature theme, whether it be a piece related to weather, an animal, a flower, the seasons, or the outdoors.

I designed just one printed program with information for both recitals. I drew the artwork pictured above/below with my iPad and Apple Pencil, and then designed the rest of the program in Microsoft Word. [Stay tuned — I plan to share a free downloadable template for this recital program booklet soon!]

Below are a few photo highlights from each recital.

Recital #1 in the Park

For my park recital in Ohio, I rented a hall with an attached outdoor stage. I chose this venue because in the event of rain, we could move inside the hall. Fortunately, the sky was clear. And despite the heat, we were able to stay comfortable thanks to the shade from the large trees.

I set up my digital piano on the stage and borrowed an amp from a friend. I used a microphone to announce each student and their piece.

In case you are interested in the tech specs, the microphone I have is the Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB. What I like about this mic is the fact that it can output both to USB (for use with your computer) or XLR (to go straight into an amp or sound system). Very versatile for different sorts of projects!

My digital piano is a Kawai ES920 — a high-end portable model with top-notch sound samples and a decent action (as far as digitals go). When my previous portable digital — a super-heavy Korg from the 80s — started petering out, I did quite a bit of online research and selected this model. Then, I waited and kept watching Facebook Marketplace until someone listed a used one for sale at a great price.

My keyboard stand is a bit unique, so maybe it’s worth a mention. It’s designed for holding keyboards or heavy equipment such as sound mixers. I prefer this style over X-style keyboard stands, because the straight legs look minimalist and you won’t find yourself knocking your knees or shins against any crossbars. The legs swing out to any angle, and the whole thing folds up into a compact “L” shape. I’ve had this stand for years, and still love it.

Each student played two pieces, and then I closed out with an arrangement of “Autumn Leaves.”

Inspired by my pals Christina Whitlock and Amy Chaplin, I instituted a new Legacy Award in my studio this year. When a students reaches eight years of lessons with me, their name is added to the new plaque pictured below, which hangs on my wall. I have four students on the plaque so far! My husband and I have relocated a number of times, which means I’ve had to restart my studio each time…so it’s super exciting to me to have some students who have been with me for this long.

Read more about the Legacy Award on Amy’s blog HERE, where you’ll find an entire guest post by Christina Whitlock full of ideas for building community and teamwork in your studio.

I don’t always do this, but this year I also put together a simple goodie bag for each student containing stickers, flower seed packet, music pencil, and bubbles. It was fun to surprise my students with this.

After the recital we enjoyed a reception with some goodies. It was nice catching up with my students and their families in-person.

A few students volunteered to bring goodies for the reception, and I also brought a couple of easy nature-themed food items inspired by Pinterest. The pretzels are meant to be “twigs” and the Babybel cheese wheels are drawn on with paint pen to look like ladybugs.

The little signs pictured above, by the way, are made of black acrylic and written on with liquid chalk pens. I ordered these from Amazon for times such as this (my husband loves to cook, and we love to host people at our home). They wash off easily with water, and are so handy to have around!

Recital #2 in My Backyard

A couple of days later, I hosted my Michigan students in my backyard for recital #2. Our back patio functioned well as a “stage.” Families were asked to bring their own lawn chairs and blankets.

Again, students played at least two pieces — with at least one of them being related to our “nature” theme.

A local piano teacher friend helped me do some decorating with balloons. I wish I had better pictures of what we did, but I can tell you it looked great. And my daughter Aria loved helping.

As students walked up the stairs to the patio, they were greeted by the chalk message “Happy Recital Day!” as pictured below.

Everyone played well. I was pleased!

We enjoyed a reception afterwards. I made a batch of my usual recital punch (my super easy recipe: just lemon-lime pop with lime frozen sherbet), while 3-4 volunteer families brought things like cookies or cupcakes.

Families seemed to really enjoy the outdoor venue. I received great feedback, with one family even suggesting we make this an annual event. I just might do that! I still also want to provide a formal recital opportunity at some point in the year, but I do like the thought of continuing these informal mini-recitals, too.

Thanks for tuning in to read about my June recitals!

Your turn: Did you hold a year-end studio recital with your students? How did it go? Would love to hear all about yours in the comment section below!

PS: My 2023 summer Piano Teacher Retreat is coming up soon! The August 10-12 dates are full, but I have a few openings left for my August 3-5 retreat. Interested? Visit pianoteacherretreat.com to learn more. I’m so excited for our theme this year: Exploring Note + Rote in Piano Teaching!

Interview lesson, meet-and-greet, intro lesson, trial lesson, consultation—whatever you choose to call them, introductory sessions are a great way to jumpstart your potentials students’ success in music lessons. This article presents five steps to help you make the most of your interview lessons with new music students.

Step 1: Define Your Goals for the Interview Lesson

Before conducting an interview lesson, it is important to determine your goals for an interview lesson. For many music teachers, these sessions are useful for setting expectations for their music studio and determining if a student-teacher fit is possible. They allow you to build rapport, communicate your expectations for practice, behavior, payments and other studio policies and procedures, and assess the student’s goals, needs and level of interest.

Additionally, an interview lesson can also be an opportunity to:

• Determine if you are the right teacher to meet the student’s goals and needs
• Evaluate if the student is a good fit for your teaching philosophy, approach, and personality
• Begin determining an appropriate approach and curriculum
• Give the student a taste of your teaching style
• “Sell” the student on your services and offerings
• Check the student’s internet connection, device camera/microphone, and camera angle (if offering online lessons) 

Some music teachers charge for interview lessons, while others offer them for free. There are valid justifications for both approaches. If your time is in great demand, for example, you might decide you wish to charge a fee for your interview lessons. Alternatively, if time is not an issue and you are hoping to add many more students to your schedule, you might wish to offer interview lessons as a complimentary part of your services.

Step 2: Prepare Your Teaching Space and Materials

Once you’ve determined your goals, it’s time to prepare your teaching space and materials. Ensure that your music studio is welcoming and tidy, and pull out any method books, sight-reading books or other teaching materials. Have copies of your Studio Policies document and Student Information form ready to go.

The Student Information form—which could take the form of either a printed sheet or an online form—can be used to collect basic contact information and answers to important questions, such as:

• “What kind of music instrument do you have at home?”—a necessary question for being able to advise students towards an appropriate instrument if needed.
• “How did you hear about me?”—a useful question for learning which marketing channels are performing best.
• “What else would you like the teacher to know?”—a non-threatening, open-ended question inviting students/parents to share any kind of information that may help you teach them. For example, you might receive information regarding the student’s personality, motivations, challenges, goals, learning differences and more.

When students arrive, give them a warm welcome and consider offering a brief tour of your studio space. Explain that the interview lesson creates no obligation; rather, it is an opportunity to get to know each other and determine if there is a good teacher-student fit. Ask parents to fill out the Student Information form and read the Studio Policies (which can be discussed together later in the session). Adult students can be asked to fill out the form in advance or during the session.

Step 3: Give a Mini Lesson (10–15 minutes)

The most important part of the interview session is to teach a short lesson. This allows you to informally assess the student’s musical potential and abilities—no matter their age or past experience with music—and begin planning an appropriate approach and curriculum for the student. It also gives the student a sense of your teaching style and what music lessons are like.

Begin by inviting the student to play a piece if they have one ready. For beginners, this may be a short tune they’ve figured out by ear or learned from someone else. A next step for beginners is to conduct a few simple music activities such as:

• Ask the student to join you in moving expressively or in sync with the beat of a song or recording.
• Echo rhythm patterns and tonal patterns.
• Give an explorative introduction to the musical instrument you teach.
• Improvise a short duet together.

Finally, teach the beginner student to play a simple piece or two—whether learned by ear/rote, introductory reading or a combination—which they can enjoy playing at home.

Transfer students (those who have taken lessons with previous teachers) can be asked to play a piece they’ve completed recently and/or a piece still in progress. After hearing them play, give the student a specific and genuine compliment on their performance. Then, ask the student if they would be comfortable hearing a suggestion or two. How the student responds to your instruction will be a helpful indicator of how well you and the student may work together.

In the case of transfer students, ask them to sightread and demonstrate technical exercises they’ve mastered (scales, arpeggios, chords, etc.). You may also wish to include aural activities such as echoing rhythm and tonal patterns or playing a familiar tune by ear. Other questions could address their past experience with theory, home practice habits, repertoire preferences, memorization, performing, and future goals. Seek to form a comprehensive picture of the student’s abilities and any gaps that may need to be addressed. Effective interview lessons involve asking lots of questions!

If you offer online lessons, this is also the time to check that the internet connection, video conferencing platform, device, microphone, camera angle, and music instrument are all acceptable.

Step 4: Discuss Expectations and Studio Policies and Procedures

After the mini lesson, take time to have a conversation with the student and their parent/guardian. Review what you observed, and explain what curriculum you would use with the student should you decide to commence lessons together.

It’s also important to talk about expectations and responsibilities. Go over the Studio Policies together, especially highlighting tuition due dates, payment methods, missed lessons, and home practice expectations. Make sure the student and their family understand what is expected of them and what they can expect from you as their teacher.

Step 5: Outline the Next Steps

At the end of the interview lesson, answer any remaining questions and thank the student for meeting with you. Encourage them to take a few days to consider lessons with you and reach out if they are still interested in starting lessons. If they ask about available lesson times in your schedule but you aren’t ready to commit, give them only a general idea of possible availability or tell them you can get back to them regarding this by email.

By encouraging students to take time, you also allow yourself time to consider the fit. Immediately after the interview lesson, take 5 or 10 minutes to read through the completed Student Information form and write down your thoughts and observations of the student. This process can help you decide whether the student/parent seems to be compatible with your approach, studio policies, and the services you offer. Your notes might also prove helpful later as a reference when planning the student’s curriculum.

If for any reason you feel the student and/or parent is not a suitable fit, write a short but friendly email reply thanking them for their interest and stating that you feel they would be a better match with another teacher. Alternatively, if you are confident you’d like to teach the student, you can initiate with a follow-up email informing them of your eagerness to discuss scheduling further.

Conclusion

The interview lesson is an important first step in your musical journey with a new student. Ideally, it serves as a learning opportunity for both parties and aids in the process of finding the right fit. It also allows you to get to know the student and their parent, assess their abilities and goals, and set expectations for future lessons. A successful interview lesson is one that is a positive experience for all involved and beneficial for both the student and teacher. By following these five steps, you’ll be able to conduct successful interview lessons that lead to productive and long-lasting student-teacher relationships.

Note: I wrote this article originally for publication for the Music Teachers National Association’s (MTNA) Business Digest, Volume 2, Issue 3 in April 2023. MTNA is a fantastic organization dedicated to supporting and furthering our work as independent music teachers. Browse the MTNA Business Digest archives here, and learn more about joining MTNA here. I can’t imagine not being a member of MTNA and my state/local chapters!

Related: View a variety of sample studio business documents here.

Your turn: Do YOU conduct an interview lesson with your potential students? What activities do you like to include in the session? What benefits do you see in conducting some kind of intro session before commencing lessons? Please share in the comments below.

Hello, piano teacher friends!

After a three-year hiatus (due to the pandemic and having babies!), my piano teacher retreats are back! I’m excited to invite you to attend a retreat for piano teachers taking place at my home this summer.

Piano Teacher Retreat is a three-day getaway for piano teachers to connect, recharge, share, and learn from each another. During this unique experience, you will have opportunity to contribute and benefit from collective wisdom during group discussions, interactive activities, as well as relaxing downtime. You’ll leave you feeling inspired and connected, with newly formed friendships and fresh ideas for your teaching.

My retreats held in 2017, 2018, and 2019 each centered around a theme. This year has its own theme as well:

EXPLORING ROTE + NOTE LEARNING IN PIANO TEACHING
We all want our students to be able to perform at the piano with freedom, expression, and musical understanding (audiation). Join us as we discuss the age-old concept of “note + rote” and explore how the two can overlap in effective piano teaching of today. During our retreat, you will experience firsthand the benefits of integrating rote pieces, engage in important conversations regarding sequencing and MLT (Music Learning Theory), and collaborate to hunt for new “pattern pieces” your students will love.

I think this topic has something for everyone: 

• If you are a teacher who already does some teaching “by rote”… This retreat will challenge you to choose pieces according to a sequence of learning informed by Music Learning Theory (MLT), opening more doors for musical understanding (or audiation) on the part of our students.
   
• If you are a teacher who has not yet tried teaching pieces “by rote” (i.e., through ear/eye rather than strictly reading the notes on the page), this retreat will equip you with the tools and confidence to begin doing so and start reaping the benefits with your students.

One thing I’m particularly excited about this year is our break-out sessions, where we will team up into small groups to search for effective “pattern pieces” and compile our findings in a shared spreadsheet organized by level. We will also spend time together teaching and learning pieces by rote, to experience it firsthand from both directions. 

Piano Teacher Retreat will take place August 10-12, 2023 at my home in southwest Michigan in a town called Saline, just outside Ann Arbor (30 minutes west of the Detroit airport). I hope you’ll consider joining me!

If you’re interested in hearing the details about my retreat, please join my separate retreat email list. You can sign up at pianoteacherretreat.com.

Thanks for reading!

In recent months, I’ve conversed with a few readers seeking thoughts or advice relating to navigating roles as both parents and piano teachers. As I talked to these fellow piano-teacher-parents and started drafting this article, I realized I have a lot to say on this topic. Becoming “Mom” to two sweet little girls in 2020 and 2022 has given me a perspective I’d love to share.

Without further ado, here’s my article offering advice on issues related to being parents and piano teachers. Read on for thoughts regarding purpose, work-life “blend,” childcare, maternity/paternity leave, managing your time, and designing a life you love. Whatever your current family situation, I hope this article has something for you.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting my work!

Know Your “Why”

As the book by Simon Sinek says, “Start with why!” Keeping your personal “why” in focus will give you purpose and energy as you go about your work and family life.

So, consider: why do you teach piano? More specifically, why do you wish to continue teaching piano during a season of raising young children? Here are some examples that might be true for you:

• I teach piano to support myself and my family financially.
• I teach piano because I love being around music and sharing music.
• I teach piano because I love teaching and mentoring young musicians.
• I teach piano because I find it to be a stimulating, fulfilling outlet for myself.
• I teach piano because I want my children to grow up in the musical environment my music studio provides.
• I teach piano because I want my children to see me working and loving my work.

Did many of those “whys” resonate with you, as they do with me?

What’s interesting to consider is that while we’d probably agree that our families and ourselves come first, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an “either-or” when it comes to raising as family (more on this later) and teaching piano. In fact, some of the reasons I teach piano are FOR myself and my family. I love raising my children, AND I also love teaching and am thankful for the way it rejuvenates me. My teaching has informed my parenting, and my parenting has informed my teaching. Both roles make me a better person.

Embracing Work-Life Blend

There’s no doubt about it — parenting brings new challenges. At times, it might feel as if work life and home life are in opposition with each other, conflicting and each tugging for attention. Popular advice recommends seeking work-life balance, but I’d like to suggest an alternative mindset.

Instead of trying to achieve a perfect work-life balance (does such a thing even exist?!), consider thinking of a work-life blend. Work and home life invariably DO overlap, but that isn’t necessary a negative thing. I love the many ways my work as a piano teacher impacts me personally as well as my family, and vice versa. It’s not always going to look perfect, but that’s okay; adjustments can always be made to the blend.

Life is messy. Embrace the blend rather than fight it, and look for the silver linings in the intersection of YOUR work life and personal life.

Stay Flexible as Seasons Change

As I like to say: the only thing that stays the same when it comes to raising kids is things are always changing! This is one of the challenges of parenting, but also part of what makes parenting fun. Every stage of development brings new joys and hurdles that will pass as you transition to the next chapter. Keep this in mind as you savor each happy moment and navigate any frustrating challenges. As everyone says, children grow up quickly! I’m determined to enjoy every chapter of parenthood as I can.

One massive benefit of being self-employed is that you can set your own hours! As your own boss, you can increase or decrease your teaching hours according to the season of parenting you might be in. And you can choose to teach only certain days each week, or take summers off if desired.

When I became pregnant with my oldest, I stopped adding new students (for the most part) to allow my schedule to naturally decrease over the next couple of years. In this season of life raising young children, I’m content to have a smaller studio than I enjoyed pre-kids. I expect that as my kids grow older, at some point I will enjoy increasing my teaching hours once again.

While my daughters are as young as they are (a baby and a toddler) and I am their primary caretaker, the majority of my teaching hours are the evenings when my husband is free to watch the girls. When my daughters become school-aged, it’s possible I might adjust my schedule again to be able to enjoy a bit of time with them when they first get home from school and before I start my teaching day. There are also after-school activities to consider, which my husband and I will need to share facilitating. We will cross these bridges as we get there, but it’s nice knowing now that my work gives me flexibility to do what works for our family.

Creative Solutions for Childcare

When you have a child in your care, there are new considerations to factor into the way you spend your day. Here’s a few ideas for creative childcare arrangements that might compliment your desired teaching schedule as a music teacher.

• If your baby tends to be content most of the time, you might be able to teach lessons while baby is close by in a baby carrier or pack-and-play. I know teachers for whom this worked well and did not work well. So, it may work well for you, or it might not. But it’s an option to try, if desired!
• Trade-off with your partner. If you and your partner agree it’s a priority for you to be able to teach music lessons, arrange your teaching schedule in accordance to the hours when your partner is available to watch the kids. As I mentioned earlier, this is what my husband and I do. It helps that he is allowed to work a 7am-4pm workday instead of 8am-5pm — which means I can start my teaching day an hour earlier than otherwise. In addition, his job currently allows him to work from his home office, which means I can occasionally sneak in a lesson or two during daytime hours. You might also consider teaching on the weekends, especially if there seems to be a market for lessons offered at that time in your locale.
• Consider checking with your family, friends, or students/their parents to find someone willing to help entertain your kids while you teach. You never know — you might find the perfect childcare solution by tapping into your social network! This may require paying a babysitter’s fee, an expense you will want to factor into your decision-making and tuition rates.

Taking a Maternity or Paternity Leave

Here in the United States, piano teachers generally do not receive paid maternity/paternity leave and must decide for themselves how much time to take off from work postpartum. Here’s some advice and considerations for planning your leave.

• If you’d like to keep your income consistent, consider saving up for your leave in advance. If possible, set aside a portion of your income during the months preceding baby’s due date to help cover your planned time off work. I was fortunate to be able to set aside enough income to allow me to continue contributing normally to our family budget during my maternity leave, which provided a great deal of peace-of-mind.
• Consider putting together an optional packet of activities to sell to your students to keep them busy during the break from lessons. The income generated can help cover the lack of income during your leave. (I haven’t tried this idea myself, but I’ve heard of other teachers having success with this!)
• Consider hiring a substitute teacher to fill in for you during your leave or passing along names of other local teachers your students can take lessons from for a time. Some of your studio families may wish to enjoy a break at the same time you do, but others may wish to continue lessons. Recognize that there’s a chance some of those students may end up switching to another teacher, but if you are actually hoping to downsize your teaching schedule this might be a win-win.
• In the months preceding baby’s arrival, notify your studio families about the time you plan to take off from teaching lessons. When deciding how much time to take, keep in mind the income you might need to support yourself financially and the time you’ll need to recover physically and mentally — plus to learn the rhythms of caring for a baby. All these factors play into the well-being of you and your family, and there’s no “right answer” here. You might decide to take 6 weeks, 10 weeks, a semester, a year, or more. It’s up to you! And, of course, no one will be holding you hostage to your plans. If you later decide you want to return to teaching earlier or later than planned, you can always change your mind.
• Do what you can to prepare yourself and your family before baby’s arrival. There’s no way to be completely ready for early life with baby, but consider reading a parenting book or two so you have at least a general idea and some strategies ready. Ask other parents about their favorite books and baby gear. (Check out my favorites here!) Prepare your home with the items you’ll need when baby arrives. Consider making some freezer meals. I tend to be a planner when it comes to most things in life, and I’m always grateful for whatever preparation work I’ve been able to accomplish when it comes to entering each new stage as a parent.
• Make it a priority to take care of yourself as well as your family during your leave. The early weeks with a newborn can be particularly challenging, especially when you are sleep deprived. Take naps when you can (even if you are “not a napper,” like me!). And don’t hesitate to accept — and request — help from friends and family. Receiving a meal, help with errands, or the gift of a couple of hours to take a nap or shower is helpful and meaningful. In the future, you can always return the favor or pass it forward to other new parents. We aren’t designed to live in isolation and, as they say, it takes a village to raise a child. It really does get easier as you learn the ropes and as baby gets older. You’ve got this!

Simplify and Streamline

When you are a busy parent and professional, you might find no longer have the luxury of spending time the same way you did pre-kids. As some point, it might be time to “think like a CEO” and find ways to simplify, streamline, or automate certain work and home tasks — especially administrative elements. Below are a few ideas to get you started.

• Consider charging tuition as a flat monthly rate. This was hands-down the best piece of advice I received after graduating from college and relocating my studio. Unless you have a health condition or some other reason you need extreme flexibility on your end, I generally recommend this to any independent music teacher. It’s easier than you think, and offers so many benefits to both you and your studio families. It helps your families value their time slots with you, reduces missed lessons, makes budgeting easier for both them and you, simplifies billing and bookkeeping, and can help make piano teaching a financially viable career. Check out this article by Chad Twedt for discussion on how to determine your flat monthly tuition.
• Set up auto-billing for your studio families. Doing so means no more creating invoices manually, and no chasing down tardy payments! The two platforms I use for this are Coinhop and PayPal. Stripe is another trusted option.
• Related to the previous point… Look for more tasks you can outsource, especially for work you don’t particularly enjoy. This might mean investing in platform subscriptions to help automate or streamline admin work, or paying someone to handle things like data entry, bookkeeping, scheduling, or emails. Or, it could mean hiring help for household tasks such as cleaning, meal planning, grocery delivery, lawn care, etc.. For certain tasks, you could even consider hiring your own kids when they are old enough! You know how much your own time is worth hourly, and you might find that adding just one or two additional students to your teaching schedule gives you enough extra income to take your least enjoyable tasks off your plate. That, in turn, could give you more time to spend with your family — which is invaluable.

Love What You Do, Do What You Love

We have but one life on this earth, and there’s much within your control to design your life the way you wish. If you are like me, you love both parenting and piano teaching. There’s no reason the two can’t weave together beautifully. And I know I’m giving a gift to my children by giving them a rich musical environment to grow up in and modeling a happy home-work blend in my life.

Here’s to creating a enjoyable blend of family life and work as parents and independent music teachers! Let’s strive to do what we love, and love what we do.

Your turn: What resonated with you? Or what would you add? What advice would you offer fellow music teachers who are new parents or parents-to-be? Please share your reactions, experience, or memories in the comments below.

Related:

• Early Childhood Music with my 17mo Daughter, by yours truly
• How Motherhood Changed the Way I Teach Piano (Piano Teacher Confessions), by Rebekah Maxner
• Teaching My Own Children to Play Piano, by Chad Twedt

Just a short note today: I’d be remiss not to tell you about my annual blogiversary sale celebrating ColorInMyPiano.com having just turned 14!

Use the promo code 14YEARS now during checkout between now to receive 20% off all teaching resources in my shop (good through March 22, 2023). There’s a variety of games, sheet music, and camp curriculum resources to explore. Click here. 

When it comes to piano technique, many pianists often think of exercises involving scales, arpeggios, chords, and more. However, at its core, technique is actually about sound – that is, being able to achieve a desired expressive effect on the instrument.

In piano teaching, technique exercises can provide young pianists with opportunities to explore different sounds and ways of using their bodies in an effective, efficient, healthy and comfortable manner. Unfortunately, pianist injuries are quite common, but by prioritizing student wellness, we can help turn this trend around.

Today, I want to share about a book I have been finding useful with my piano students over the past couple of years and now consider a go-to resource in my teaching. It’s called Technique Builders: Fundamental Study Patterns to Improve Piano Proficiency, by Hazel Cobb. In this review, you’ll learn why I recommend Technique Builders and how you can use it effectively in your piano teaching.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means my blog earns a small percentage should you decide to make a purchase using those links. Thanks for supporting my work!

An Introduction to Hazel Cobb’s Technique Builders

Hazel Cobb’s Technique Builders: Fundamental Study Patterns to Improve Piano Proficiency is a book of short exercises for pianists that was first published in 1985 and is still available today through Alfred Publishing. In the forward, Cobb states her book is intended for any student who would benefit from special focus on technique, whether they are a beginner or more experienced performer. Further, she explains: “The ultimate objective is to train the student through repeated patterns and precise exercises, to acquire a conscious control in these techniques: the use of the whole arm for lateral freedom and arm weight, the forearm for rotation (Alberti bass and similar patterns), the wrist for flexibility in phrasing and the fingers for dexterity in passage work.”

I first heard about Cobb’s Technique Builders while attending a workshop in 2015 with Irina Gorin — master teacher and author of the Tales of a Musical Journey method. She recommended Technique Builders as a resource she finds worthwhile for her students, with the caveat that she likes to skip certain exercises.

I heard the book recommended again during a session I attended during the MTNA Virtual Conference in 2020. The session was given by Nancy O’Neill Breth, a respected veteran teacher and author of The Piano Student’s Guide to Effective Practicing guide and the accompanying Practicing the Piano book. She described having her students track their metronome tempos as they practice getting them up-to-speed (according to tempo goals she has noted for each exercise in her copy of the book.) She also mentioned teaching the exercises mostly by rote.

After being introduced to Technique Builders from these two master teachers, I knew I needed to check it out!

What Makes Technique Builders Unique

Technique Builders addresses a variety of skills throughout the book, as you can see from the Table of Contents page.

At the top of each page, there is a title (and sometimes also a subtitle) describing the exercises and/or the technical skill to be explored.

Most of the exercises in Technique Builders consist of sequenced patterns — meaning, they feature a one- or two-measure pattern that moves stepwise upwards or downwards across the keyboard. Typically, only the first few measures of each exercise are notated. The pianist is expected to continue the sequence in a similar manner until the next octave is reached.

Because the exercises are generally not written out in their entirety, the pianist must analyze, understand, and mentally engage with the pattern in order to successfully perform it. This process builds the pianist’s aural and memory skills at the same time as their technique and artistry skills. It’s an interesting challenge, and the exercises sound appealing, too.

Many figures commonly encountered in classical music — including scale passages, arpeggios, waltz bass, and Alberti bass — are featured throughout the book. In addition, the pianist will encounter a variety and articulations (slurs, staccato) which should be carefully observed. Building familiarity with these elements will no doubt bleed over into the student’s classical repertoire and beyond.

How to Use Technique Builders in Your Piano Teaching

To trial Technique Builders, I suggest initially ordering copies for only a couple of intermediate students and observe the results after a few months before ordering more books for other students. I started small and now, after a couple of years of incorporating Technique Builders into my teaching, I’ve put about a dozen students through the book.

The exercises from Technique Builders can be used as a warm-up activity at the beginning of the lesson and can be demonstrated by the teacher before asking students to try them. It’s also important to discuss challenges and technique concepts with the exercises to bring them into the awareness of the student. Specifically, it is beneficial to explore ways to avoid excess tension — particularly in the hands and wrists — and to find comfortable movements that will facilitate execution of each exercises.

At the following lesson, you and your student can evaluate the assigned page to decide if the exercises can be considered mastered or if it needs another week or two of practice. Listen for the exercise to be accurate (in terms of pitches, rhythms, and markings such as slurs and staccatos), fluid (without stops and starts), artistic (aurally pleasing and expressive), physically comfortable, and at an acceptable tempo.

There are 49 pages in the book, which means there is material enough to last a year or two. Most students can handle an assignment of one page at a time, but some may happier focusing on only a half-page at a time.

Why I Recommend Technique Builders

Simply put, I recommend Technique Builders because my students and I love it. The exercises are interesting and fun to play. When students reach the end of the book, they want more!

As a teacher, I appreciate the focus on building familiarity with figurations and technique skills found in the repertoire they are learning. And I really like that the exercises are NOT fully notated, so that students must use comprehension skills, musical memory, and active thinking to successfully play the exercises (rather than mindlessly read them). Interestingly enough, however, for a couple of my students I’ve noticed that the rapid turnover of exercises has also helped improve their sight-reading.

Overall, Technique Builders is a valuable resource for piano teachers and students looking to improve piano proficiency. The sequence-based exercises and the variety of technical skills addressed make it unique and effective in building technique and artistry skills. I’m finding a plethora of benefits using Technique Builders, and I’m not aware of another resource quite like it!

An Important Caveat

The only caveat I have to recommending Technique Builders is the fact that there are quite a number of editing mistakes. There are so many, in fact, that I compiled them and created an errata sheet I can give to students along with the book. I am providing the printable to you as a freebie below, in case you’d also like to use it with your students.

The nature of the errors vary. Some are inaccurate pitches and fingerings. There are also two pages with titles that say “Second and Third Inversions” rather than “First and Second Inversions.” You can view the full list of errors I’ve discovered by downloading the PDF. Although it is inconvenient to have to correct these errors in the book, it is not enough to deter me from using this book with my students.

Download on the Errata Sheet on Printables > Other Resources page.

Where to get Technique Builders

Hazel Cobb’s Technique Builders book can likely be purchased/ordered through your local music stop (if you are lucky enough to have one nearby to support!) and online from Amazon or SheetMusicPlus.com.

Your turn: What technique exercises or etudes do you use in your teaching? I’d love to hear!

Do you have a collection of games, flashcards, and props to use during piano lessons with your students? Are they organized so you can find things when you need them?

As you probably know, your teaching resources are only as helpful as your organizational system. When things are out-of-place or impossible to find (we’ve all been there!), those items unfortunately cannot do you — or your student — any good.

The key is to have a system in place where you always know where to find and put things. As the saying goes: “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” Your system needs to make sense to you, and it may be as unique as you are.

In this post, I’ll describe my method for organizing my teaching games/materials and share how you can set up a similar system if you desire. I hope you’ll gain some tips or ideas for how you can organize your favorite piano teaching resources to be readily at your fingertips!

1. Organize Small Items in Drawers by Category

The first thing I recommend is dedicating a set of drawers for smaller items such as flashcards, props, and small games. Pictured below is a drawer unit I purchased from IKEA a number of years ago. (This style is no longer available, but I’m sure you could find something similar at IKEA or elsewhere.)

This system works great for me. In a moment of inspiration when a student needs reinforcement with something related to rhythm, piano key names, or whatever, I know exactly where to go. And I can easily create simple games on-the-spot using the basic resources in my drawers.

Here’s how to set it up. Looking at all the items you have, try to come up with a handful of categories by theme or topic. These categories ideally will make your items easily findable. Ask yourself what category would come to mind if you were looking for each particular item.

Below is a list of categories I use, as well as examples of items from each drawer. But any categories will do. Figure out what will work for you!

1. Props/Improv — Japanese puzzle erasers, various props for teaching hand shape, Rory’s Story Cubes, Flashcards for Composition/Improvisation, etc.
2. Rhythm — leveled rhythm cards, Rhythm Train Game, Rhythmic Value Cards, Trick-or-Treat Rhythm Game, Othello chips, etc.
3. Alphabet — this includes piano key flashcards, Scrabble tiles (A-G only), alphabet spinners, alphabet dice, etc.
4. Notes — musical alphabet word cards, note-naming flashcards, etc.
5. Intervals — Ice Cream Intervals game, interval cards, etc.
6. Keys — key signature flashcards/dice, key props and printables, and anything related to chords.

2. Store Larger Games in Plastic Envelopes

The second thing I recommend is purchasing a set of clear plastic envelopes for larger games that won’t fit in your drawer unit or have many loose parts. I first blogged about these envelopes back in 2012, and I still love them! They keep everything contained in one place, and it’s easy to see what’s inside.

These plastic envelopes come in many sizes (US letter, legal, 5×10, 5×7, 4×6, 3×5 inch sizes, etc) and with various style fasteners (snaps, plastic zippers, string-tie closures, or hook-and-loop “Velcro” fasteners). While you can find them at office supply stores or dollar stores, the best pricing I’ve seen is on Amazon (view an assortment of options here).

Although my favorite fastener style is the zipper, I am disappointed by the fact that they do tend to break after awhile (as do the string-tie closures). Snaps work well, but they do make the envelope thicker. I haven’t tried the hook-and-loop “Velcro” style yet, but plan to try those next. Fortunately, the envelopes aren’t terribly expensive, so they can easily be replaced once they are worn out or broken.

More importantly, you need to know that these plastic envelopes come in either a flat style or expandable style (with a “gusset”). The flat style is more affordable, but expandable sides are nice for games that have dice, plastic game pieces, or a thick stack of flashcards. If you want the expandable style, check carefully before you order and be prepared to pay a little more. You may want a few of each style in order to accommodate your assortment of games and teaching materials.

(If you’d like to try some zipper envelopes that are expandable, here’s a nice set that includes two sizes: five 10×14 inch and five 5×10 inch.)

Once filled with games, these plastic envelopes can be stored upright on a shelf or inside a drawer. If you have enough to warrant it, you can label them by title or sort them into categories.

[Pictured above, from top left going clockwise: Rainy Rhythm Game, Piano Finger Twister, Jumbo Note-Naming Flashcards, Heartbeat Charts, Large Grand Staff Sheet, Paper Keyboard, and Adventures in Music game.]

Another storage item I’ve invested in are these vinyl zipper bags. I wanted something extra sturdy and just the right size to hold my Rhythm Value Cards (one of the best freebies on my blog, in my opinion!). I have two complete sets of Rhythm Value Cards printed and laminated (as pictured), because I like to use these for competitive team games.

3. Follow a Plan for Keeping Your Teaching Materials Organized

Once you have your games neatly stored and organized, you need a plan for maintaining your system. Here’s my tips for beating clutter and keeping your teaching space tidy and organized.

1. Keep only what you really value. Before buying or downloading a new resource, always ask yourself if it is something that works well with your teaching approach and is likely be used with many students for years to come. If you’ve been teaching piano for awhile, you might know how easy it can be to end up with a large collection of games and resources. I try to be selective and minimalist, and investing my time and space only into resources that will contribute something especially fun, helpful, and/or valuable to my students. Even so, it’s necessary to occasionally purge any items you are no longer using. Things change — including our teaching approaches — and that’s okay!
2. Everything needs a place. If an item doesn’t yet have a home, make one. Ask yourself: Where would “future me” look for this item? Where could I put this so I would be able to easily find this item during future piano lessons? Consider using labels to make it clear where certain types of items should go.
3. When finished, put things back where they belong. I don’t know about you, but I’m happier when my space is tidy and clean as opposed to not! And I think students learn better in a space that is free of an abundance of clutter and distractions. So when possible, put things away immediately after using them. When that isn’t possible, do a quick clean-up at the end of your teaching day or during any breaks you might have between piano lessons. Further, plan for an occasional deep clean, purge, and overhaul of your organizational system — perhaps once every year or two. It can be a big project, but it always feels good in the end!

I hope this post has given you some inspiration as well as practical tips for organizing your favorite piano teaching games and materials. It’s a great feeling when you have your teaching space arranged to create your very own “happy space” and are able to find the right resources in-the-moment for students. Happy organizing!

Your turn: How do you organize your games and materials? What organizational tips can you share in the comments below?

Happy 2023! The new year is here, which is often a time we use to think back over the past year and reflect upon the upcoming year.

While here on the blog I’ve often shared reviews of books on an individual basis, I thought I’d try a year-end post sharing a variety of favorite books from the past year.

In 2022, I made an effort to expand beyond my usual type of reading and try some books outside of what I’d normally choose. For me, this meant more memoirs and even a science fiction novel. I’m glad I explored, because I found some books I really, really enjoyed.

Something else different for me this year was reading almost exclusively in an e-book format. While in the past, I’ve been really into audiobooks and, of course, hardcopy books, this year I found the convenience of being able to read on my device using night-friendly settings to be a lifesaver. Being able to read without turning on the lights is nice when you are up late at night dealing with insomnia thanks to pregnancy or a newborn!

I purchased some of these books from Amazon as Kindle e-books. For others, I was able to take advantage of my local library’s apps for e-reading — Libby and Hoopla. I highly recommend checking out what your local library has to offer. Or, you can find these books at your favorite local bookstore or online shop.

Without further ado, here’s my list of favorite books from 2022…plus a few bonus favorites from 2021.

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links that help support my work here on the blog. I appreciate your support!

Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl

I’ve seen this book recommended by various sources in recent years and decided it was finally time to read it. In the first part of the book, psychotherapist Victor E. Frankl tells the story of his five-year imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps during WWII. The second part of the book, titled “Logotherapy in a Nutshell,” describes the psychotherapeutic method Frankl created based on his belief that man’s deepest desire is to find meaning and purpose. This book is said to be one of most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud.

I found this to be a fascinating read. Frankl’s book offers a useful philosophy we can use to help keep a healthy perspective and cope with struggles both small and large in our own lives. And even though it is not easy to hear the details of the horrible experiences of those who were imprisoned in concentration camps, I also think it’s important for us to know this history so we can learn from the past and avoid such atrocities in the future.

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Breath, by James Nestor

In this book, the author describes his journey uncovering what past and current research says about breath. The story-telling manner of the writing made the topic fascinating! Breath is universal — important to us all — and also connected to our work as pianists and expressive musicians. The topic appealed to me as a past student of the Alexander Technique. I think athletes and anyone generally interested in health and well-being would probably enjoy this book and gain some useful takeaways. (For example: Did you know the harms of mouth-breathing? Time to train yourself to stick to nasal breathing, even when feeling out-of-breath!)

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Tools of Titans, by Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss’s book “The 4-Hour Work Week” is considered classic reading among entrepreneurs today. This book, Tools of Titans, is a compilation of written highlights, quotes, tips, and recommended books from some of the top performers Ferriss has interviewed on his popular podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. I appreciated the book’s bite-sized sections as late-night reading while up with my newborn baby after she was born at the end of August. I was inspired by many of the quotes and stories, and I gained many ideas for books I want to read in the future.

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Becoming, by Michelle Obama

I saw this book pop up as a suggestion in my library app and thought it would be interesting. I enjoyed learning more about Michelle Obama’s background and what it was like before and after becoming the First Lady, raising a family in the White House. Overall, it was a good book and one I enjoyed while traveling on vacation with my husband in early 2022.

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou

When I asked my sister which books she had been reading lately, she mentioned this book. One of Maya Angelou’s many memoirs, this book tells of her early life as a young girl growing up in the South. Angelou’s storytelling and writing style is wonderful. There are parts of her story that aren’t easy to read about, but I think learning about life experiences different from our own keeps us empathetic and human.

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Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert

I remember hearing about this popular book after it first came out in 2007, but this was my first time reading it. Writer Elizabeth Gilbert tells of her experience after a difficult divorce, trying to find her bearings through spending a year abroad visiting three destinations (Italy, India, and Bali) while writing this book. Part-memoir and part-travelogue, this book tells of Gilbert’s experiences and lessons learned in each culture and place.

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Dune, by Frank Herbert

After seeing the new Dune movie with my husband when it came out in September 2021, I thought I’d read the book it was based on. This classic book, first published in 1965, is considered to be the best-selling science fiction novel in the world. Although science fiction isn’t normally my genre of choice, it was a welcome change-of-pace and I did really enjoy the story. It’s a long read, but riveting enough that I finished it in only a few days!

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Start With Why, by Simon Sinek

This book was a re-read for me. I first read it a handful of years ago after having seen the author’s TED talk (which is among the most-viewed TED talks of all time, by the way). Sinek offers a simple framework for leaders to inspire action, which certainly can apply to us as piano teachers and business owners. In a nutshell, the message of the book is: “People don’t buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do it,” therefore we ought to be sure to start with WHY instead of WHAT. It’s a fairly quick read, and a good one!

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Bonus: A Few Favorite Books from 2021

Since this is the first time I’ve written an article like this, I thought I’d add a few favorites from two years ago, too. Here’s a few favorite reads from 2021.

Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover

In Educated, the author recounts her experience being raised by survivalist Mormon parents in Idaho. Her story involves an unusual upbringing, a certain amount of family dysfunction, and some pretty traumatic experiences. Despite not being in a classroom until age 17, she overcame various obstacles to attend college and eventually graduated with a PhD in history. It’s really well-written and a pretty gripping story. I could hardly put the book down, and couldn’t stop thinking about it after I finished it.

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The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeannette Walls

After reading Educated, a contact of mine recommended this book. Author Jeannette Walls tells her story born to deepful dysfunctional yet vibrant parents. In many ways, her siblings and she raised themselves, eventually finding their way to New York as adults to establish better lives for themselves. I found the book interesting, sad, and thought-provoking all at the same time.

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How to Raise Successful People, by Esther Wojcicki

Written by a high school teacher and parent of three daughters with highly successful careers, this book shares the author’s secret to raising happy, healthy, successful kids: Trust, Respect, Independence, Collaboration, and Kindness (T.R.I.C.K.). Wojcicki’s methods, in many ways the opposite of helicopter parenting, encourage parents to relax and help kids figure things out themselves in a way to help them reach their highest potential. A great read for any parent or teacher.

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The Montessori Toddler, by Simone Davies

I’ve done a small amount of reading into the Montessori philosophy and love everything I’ve learned. This book is probably the best easy introduction and practical guide to incorporating Montessori philosophy into the parenting of toddlers. I love the clear, friendly language and the illustrations and tables throughout to support the information. Davies has a website and podcast called The Montessori Notebook, for anyone interested in following her further. Thanks to this book and other resources, I was able to incorporate certain practical life activities into home life with my first daughter (now almost age 3). Note: As with any parenting book, you will certainly find things that conflict with other parenting philosophies so one must always read with a grain of salt. Pick and choose what works for you!

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The Montessori Baby, by Simone Davies and Junnifa Uzodike

I pre-ordered this book when it was first announced, since I was expecting baby #2 and I enjoyed the book above so much. It was every bit as good as the toddler book…or maybe even better. I devoured this book within a few days.

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It was a great year of reading, and I’m looking forward to more books in 2023. I hope you found a few recommendations you’d like to check out!

Your turn: What favorite books have you read recently? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

Do you enjoy giving some kind of small gift to your piano students at Christmastime? I do! I enjoy giving something small but thoughtful to make them smile. I try to come up with something different each year.

Note: This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting my blog!

This year, I was pleased to find some really lovely and affordable music-themed ornament options on Amazon. In fact, I could hardly decide which one to go with!

I ended up choosing the wooden sheet music ornaments pictured below, and am very happy with my decision. They are light-weight, but nice quality wood ornaments with a sheet music print and blackened edges. The package comes as a set of 24 ornaments with 6 different shapes: hearts, pine trees, reindeers, snowmen, bells, round ornaments, and snowflakes. You must attach the strings yourself, but they are included.

Aren’t they lovely? I plan to write each student’s name and the year on the back, using a black permanent marker.

To go along with the ornament, I also ordered treble-clef-shaped pencils (pictured below). These come as a lot of 14, in seven different colors.

To package/wrap the gifts for my piano students, I also ordered transparent music note treat sacks. They come in a package of 100, so I’ll be set for the next couple of years, too! I love using these treat sacks for baked goods, too, so I’m sure I won’t have any problem using the rest.

So, voila — this year’s student gifts are planned and ready-to-go! I’m so pleased to have come up with such a simple but lovely idea for this year’s gifts.

Just in case you’re curious to check out the other ornaments I considered…

• Here’s more wooden ornaments, in a couple of different styles: style 1 and style 2.
• And here some some really pretty black cut-out music-themed ornaments and note value cut-out ornaments (available in black, silver, or gold).
• Tip: If you decide to browse for other music ornaments options on Amazon, be sure to confirm that the ones you are ordering are made of wood. While searching, I noticed that some ornaments were “paper ornaments” and while they are more affordable, the reviews stated they weren’t great quality. The ones I’ve linked to above are all made of wood.
• If you don’t want treat sacks that are transparent as I’ve shown above, here’s an option that is more opaque.

Your turn: What are some favorite gift ideas you’ve done for students in the past? And what do you have planned this year?

[Click here to see my gift ideas from past years!]

Hello, teacher friends! Today, I thought I would make an update this flashback post sharing ideas for piano student gift ideas. Read on to see what ideas I’ve done in the past…and stay tuned for tomorrow, when I’ll share what I’ve planned for this year!

I don’t think it’s necessary to give your piano students gifts at Christmastime, but it’s a nice gesture if you feel so inspired! Some years, I’ve kept it pretty simple while other years I have felt inspired to take on a more time-intensive project. I hope you’ll enjoy browsing this post and perhaps gaining an idea or two to tuck away for the future!

2011: Personalized Glass Sheet Music Ornaments

Back in 2011, I created personalized glass sheet music ornaments for each student, with their name and the year written with a gold paint pen. They turned out so pretty! I love how they turned out, and would like to use this idea again in the future. Each student also received a chocolate Symphony bar. Read more here.

That year, I gave my adult students something else: a copy of the book “The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms” by Christine Ammer. I learned about this book during grad school upon recommendation from a professor. Have you ever looked up a word in your music dictionary, only to find it wasn’t included?! Unlike others, this dictionary hasn’t let me down. It’s a nice slim volume, and a great price — I’d recommend it to any piano teacher or student! I use during lessons to have students look up the terms they encounter in their pieces.

2012: Iced Sugar Cookies

The following year, I baked sugar cut-out cookies using my music cookie cutters. I topped them with icing, and I think they turned out pretty cute!

The music cookie cutter set I own is no longer available on Amazon, but this set looks pretty similar!

I bagged them using treat sacks and a topper I designed in Microsoft Word. Read more here.

2013: A home-recorded CD of favorite student classical repertoire

The next year, I home-recorded a CD of a few favorite classical teaching pieces. This was quite a big project, but it turned out pretty neat! Read more here.

2014: A Printed Composition (or two)

This year, I composed two pieces (one mid-elementary level and one late intermediate level) and give them to my students for Christmas. This was a fun project! Learn more about the details of this project and download the elementary level piece for free here.

2015: Sheet Music Ornaments

This is one of my favorite gifts I’ve done! If you like doing crafty things, this idea might be for you. I recycled old, tattered sheet music to create these lovely sheet music ornaments. Learn more here.

2016: Iced Sugar Cookies (again)

In 2016, I made sugar cut-out cookies again! Making cut-out cookies is one of those things that I love doing around the holidays! I have good memories of making holiday cookies with my siblings growing up.

2017: Rice Crispy Treats in a Cookie Cutter

The next year, I tried something based on a picture I had seen (probably on Pinterest?) — with my own twist. I made Rice Crispy Treats, inserted music-shaped cookie cutters, and then decorated using red and green M&Ms.

I found out it was kinda tricky to remove the Rice Crispy Treats from the pan while keeping them inside the cookie cutters, but I think it turned out alright overall!

2018: Snowman Sheet Music Resin Ornament

Last year, I bought these adorable resin snowman ornaments on Amazon and added a ribbon scarf to each one (thanks goes to Sara Campbell for the recommendation!). I personalized them by writing each student name, the year, and a few music notes on the back using a permanent marker.

I paired each ornament with a bag of homemade cinnamon popcorn, made on the stovetop — a healthy snack I was really into that year!

2019: Pianist Gloves

Last year, I ordered black gloves from eBay (here) and used white 3D fabric paint to add a treble clef and bass clef on the RH and LH of each pair. I also made brownies. I think they turned out pretty cute! Read more about it here.

2020: Treble Clef Necklaces & Piano Ties

This year was a little different than usual (probably the understatement of the year…). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I am currently teaching all of my students online. Although I have a few local students here in Michigan, the majority of my students are longtime Ohio students from before my move. So, going about Christmas gifts the usual way wasn’t going to work!

I really enjoy gifting something to my students. I strongly considered making a trip to deliver gifts via porch drop-off. However, I decided against when I realized how much time that would require due to the commute and the scattered locations of my students.

So, next I considered sending gifts via mail. Taking into considering the fact that shipping would likely cost between $3-5/family, I decided I’d rather have that $3-5 expense go towards being able to give a slightly nicer gift to each student. And so, instead I selected gifts from Amazon.com and took advantage of Amazon Prime free shipping by having the items shipped directly to each student’s address.

To let students know to watch for a package to arrive, I mailed them Christmas cards a few days before making the Amazon order.

Here’s what I picked out: a treble clef necklace for the girls and a piano tie for the guys. I’ve gotten a few appreciative text messages so far, so hopefully they are all enjoying their gifts!

I enjoy doing something different each year, and this year was no exception!

2021: Piano Cookies from a Local Bakery

Last year, inspired by a photo I saw on Instagram, I decided to seek out a local bakery to make some pretty piano cookies for my students.

I also ordered custom pens with my studio logo.

Read more about my custom pens, piano cookies, and sticky note greeting here.

[2021: Check back tomorrow, and I’ll share what I have planned for this year!]

Your turn: Let’s share more ideas! What have you given for Christmas gifts for your students in the past? Leave a comment below this post!

Just a quick post today! 

I just finished updating one of the studio business forms from my Printables page for the 2022-23 school year.  It is called the Record of Lesson Attendance & Payment PDF.  I do not currently use this form myself anymore, but every year I receive multiple requests from teachers asking if I would please update it for the upcoming school year.

In case you haven’t seen this from before, here is how it works: Write your students’ names in the first column.  Each week, write the lesson date (in a month / date format) in the column for that week.  This is how you can track attendance.  The small circles in each cell are where you can write checkmarks indicating tuition payments.  Whether you charge by-the-week or by-the-month, you can place a checkmark by each paid lesson date.

Download it below or on the Printables > Studio Business page.

Hello friends, 

I’m so pleased to announce the arrival of Brenna Rose, born 08/20/2022 — two weeks before her due date. The birth and recovery went well, and we are so grateful for the new addition to our family.

We had a photographer take some beautiful photos for us. I love how our family photos turned out.

Big sister Aria, now 2.5 years old, has been pretty infatuated with baby Brenna. And she’s a big helper to me, too!

The next photo might look a little bit familiar, because I asked the photographer to take a similar shot of Aria when she was born (view it here). Of course, I wanted to recreate the shot with Brenna this time around!

We’ve been enjoying our time adjusting to life as a family of four! I’m on maternity leave from teaching until November. Babies are a lot of work, but wonderful at the same time.

I know it’s been a little bit quiet here on my blog lately. As I’ve mentioned once before, I’m continuing to work on a big project — which will likely be ready to unveil before the year’s end. In the meantime, my blogging will probably be a little bit sporadic. Hope you don’t mind.

Thanks for allowing me to share our news with you!!

PS: I’ve had a few requests for an update of the Record of Lesson Attendance and Payment printable for 2022-23. Good news — I’m posting it tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Have you heard? The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) has recently released the newly revised 2022 Piano Syllabus for their practical examinations. They are also releasing new editions of the wonderful Celebration Series piano literature collection (available soon). What exciting news for piano teachers!

Not familiar with RCM? Each year, I tend to enter a handful of piano students to take exam assessments through RCM, an excellent program originating in Canada and gradually becoming more popular in the United States. There are exam centers located in many major cities, as well as an option for an online exams via Zoom. I appreciate the thoroughness of the assessments, which require students to demonstrate musicianship skills (sight-reading, ear training, rhythm exercises, etc.) and perform a set of pieces ranging in musical styles. The levels outlined in the syllabus (a great teaching resource for any teacher — find the free PDF here) are soundly structured and have been refined over time by dedicated pedagogues in our field. RCM is also known for the quality and consistency of adjudication scoring. RCM is not a competition; it is a standard that allows students and parents to better understand and track progress during music study.

Every seven years, RCM revises the piano syllabus to incorporate new repertoire, eliminate repertoire that is no longer readily available, and refine the aural and musicianship requirements. When it’s a revision year, RCM teachers are always seeking to learn about the updates and changes compared to the previous syllabus.

RCM practical exams include technical requirements for each level consisting of certain scales, arpeggios, and chords that must be performed for the adjudicator. These technical requirements are described in the syllabus and are also notated out in the available RCM technique books. I tend NOT to purchase the technique books, because I find that students learn better than when the technical exercises been learned by rote and memorized from day 1. But it can be cumbersome to describe the RCM technical requirements on students’ assignment sheets each week — especially if you expect students to review all previous material.

Enter my technique charts. I’ve been making these since the 2008 RCM syllabus, and I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from other piano teachers who have found them helpful over the years!

I find these charts help ensure that my students are learning and reviewing their exercises from week to week. Even if you have no intention of sending students to RCM assessments, you might find these charts useful.

From the 2008 to 2015 syllabi, I recall many technical requirement changes made. However, in comparing 2015 to 2022, I found that there were not many changes made at all. Nevertheless, I wanted to revise my charts to perfectly match the new 2022 syllabus. I’m pleased to announce the new charts for the 2022 RCM Piano Syllabus are finished and available below.

I keep the PDF of these technique charts on my computer desktop and also uploaded to my iPad (I use an app called GoodNotes, but any similar app of your choice will work). This makes it easy to print out charts for students. I like to tape each student’s chart inside the front cover of one of their books. I assign items from the chart each week by outlining certain boxes in pencil or marker. At the next lesson, students demonstrate whether they’ve mastered each skill. Mastered items on the chart get a checkmark or a sticker. These charts makes it easy to track progress!

Special thanks goes to fellow piano teacher Amy Hall for helping to proofread the charts against the 2022 syllabus.

Download below, or visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to “2022 RCM Technical Requirements Charts for Piano”.

Hope you enjoy!

A couple of weeks ago, I joined a few piano teacher friends to virtually attend the 2022 MTNA Virtual National Conference from March 26-30, 2022. Although I definitely prefer in-person conferences over virtual conferences, I have to say that joining up with some buddies to watch the sessions together was a really excellent second option!

My friend Amy Chaplin (of PianoPantry.com) was kind enough to offer to host us in her home…and even cook for us! The rest of our crew included Christina Whitlock (of The Beyond Measure podcast) and Janna Williamson (intermediate repertoire guru offering a fantastic YouTube channel for piano teachers).

Oh, and I also took Aria, my 2-year-old daughter, along for the visit. Here’s a photo of Aria enjoying a delicious muffin for breakfast as we watched a conference session on the TV.

We enjoyed a lot of great meals, conversations, and professional development together.

I’m so glad it worked out for us to create our own in-person element to our conference experience this year!

There were too many great conference sessions to highlight, but in case you missed a few of these sessions I’ll mention a few.

Janna and I were honored to be part of a panel discussion, organized and moderated by Lynnette Barney, alongside Sarah McCaffrey Ritchie and Becki Laurent, entitled “Teaching Students to Fish: Developing Independent Learners from the First Lesson.”

Christina and Amy were involved in a couple of sessions, too. Christina gave a thoughtful and helpful presentation called, “Anxious Students/Anxious Teachers: How to Cope with Anxiety in the Studio.” Amy’s session, called “Reset and Refresh: Tidying Tips for Studio Teachers,” was a practical and positive talk with tips for keeping organized.

I’m sure I’ll have more favorites as I go back and watch more of the session videos, but here are a few more sessions that were especially memorable so far:

1. The opening session and recital with Adrian Anantawan. Very inspiring!
2. Sara Ernst shared a series of lesson videos as the “Elementary Piano Master Class,” interspersed with helpful commentary and discussion.
3. Benjamin Steinhardt presented “Playing Deliciously: The Legacy and Teachings of Dorothy Taubman.”
4. Kate Boyd gave an extremely well-presented session called, “Rhythm and Meter in the Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach.”
5. The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) showcase session provided a peek into the new 2022 edition of the Celebration Series (revised every seven years), to be released later this month. The Celebration Series is already a favorite resource of mine, but I am beyond excited to check out the new editions because of the inclusion of more repertoire from BIPOC and women composers than ever before.

Amy spoiled us at every meal. If you’d like to see what she made for us, click here to check out the post on her blog where she shares photos and recipes.

To wrap up this post, here’s a couple more quick links to share.

First of all, be sure to check out Janna’s post-conference reflection blog post here. She wrote a really nice recap!

Second: During our visit, Amy talked us into recording a “teacher talk” episode for her Piano Pantry podcast. It turned out great! I hope you’ll take a listen to our episode (about 30 minutes in length) to get to know us a little bit better and laugh along. You can take a listen to Episode #15 of Amy’s Piano Pantry podcast here or search for it in the podcast app on your phone/tablet.

Finally: MTNA is making the conference session videos viewable to registrants through December 15, 2022…which means it’s not not too late to register and enjoy the videos yourself! If you’re interested, get more info about registering here.

Happy teaching to you all, and I hope to see you at an in-person conference someday in the future!