A couple of weeks ago, I came across a wonderful little online shop called The Practice Shoppe. Leslie, the owner, is a Suzuki violin teacher/mom. She sells a variety of fun things in her shop to help make lessons and practice fun for students. I ordered a few of her wonderful music dice, which are [...]
There are quite a few places you can download and print free music note-naming flashcards. Anne Crosby’s website and Susan Paradis’ website come to mind, for example. However, I recently realized that I wanted a set of jumbo-sized cards, to use with my Piano Readiness classes. I can hold up these jumbo-sized cards during class and my [...]
I love being able to print out rhythm cards for my students to practice at home. I can give them just a few cards to start, and add more advanced rhythms and time signatures as needed. My students store their cards in a zipper bag and bring them to their lessons each week. At first, [...]
Check out the newest item added to the ColorInMyPiano Shop! Being able to read notes on the staff intervallically is crucial for sight-reading. I like to tell my students that reading music is at least 80% interval reading, and only 20% note identification. To help my students learn to identify intervals quickly upon sight, I [...]
Do you have any 4×6 photo frames lying around? It’s time to put one to good use! This do-it-yourself project will help remind your students about upcoming studio events each time they come for their piano lesson. :) Materials: 4×6 photo frame Printed background (download the free jpg file on the Printables > Other Resources [...]
To follow up on my post from last week about my last group class (we call them “Piano Parties”), I wanted to share about the other two activities we did. We started with this fun triad worksheet from Pianimation.com. This worksheet was a good reinforcement about what they learned from playing their major five-finger patterns, [...]
This has got to be one of the most-used DIY projects I’ve ever made! Music whiteboards cost a pretty penny in music catalogues, so I decided to make my own. I bought this 8.5×11” frame from IKEA for under $3. I chose one that had plexiglass instead of glass, so that I won’t have to [...]
Remember the piano valentines I made last year? I was wasn’t planning to design a new music-themed valentine this year — but when inspiration struck, I just had to design it! Is it a heart, or is it a piano?! Well, it’s both! :) This design is simpler and easier to assemble than last year’s [...]
Last Saturday, I held another Piano Party for my students. I had record attendance: 14 students! Here’s a run-down of what we did: We introduced ourselves, and shared our favorite Christmas present this year. Christmas Recital and Name-That Tune game. Yes, I know Christmas is over! Because of how busy December often can be, I [...]
I’m back! I took a long blogging break over the holidays, but I’m super excited to be back and I have lots of things to share in the upcoming weeks! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years’. Today, I am excited to share with you about a fun game I came [...]
On Pinterest, I saw an idea for a sight-word game called BANG, and decided I could make a musical version. I tried it out with my students at our Piano Party last Saturday, and it was a hit. The BANG! cards add an element of fun to an otherwise ordinary flashcard drill.
I can’t believe it is December already! This year, I decided to design my own music-themed Christmas photo card to send out to my family and give to my piano students. My husband and I have started a tradition of taking a photo of ourselves with our cats (donned in their mini Santa hats) each [...]
Joy Morin is a piano teacher in Ohio. She enjoys keeping her teaching fresh with new ideas & resources.
