Color In My Piano » improving as a teacher

Piano Student End-Of-The-Year Assessments

joy (admin) — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:39:52 +0000

I’m back! I ended up taking two weeks off instead of one, I know. :) But it felt great. It feels great to be back too.

At the MTNA National Conference in NYC this year, one of the sessions I attended encouraged teachers to do yearly or quarterly assessments/evaluations of their students. Some teachers accompany these assessments with a parent-teacher-student conference. A few of the session’s attendees raised their hands to comment on their method of assessment and the benefits they’ve seen. I was quite intrigued with the idea, and decided I wanted to give it a try this year.

The only time when I’ve done something similar to this is when I was worked at a summer music camp in my hometown. I was the Theory & Composition Instructor, and the camp director asked each of us instructors to create some kind of assessment that we could send home with the students for the teachers and parents to be able to see what the student learned at camp. These assessments were very short and sweet, since we had only had contact with the student for four classes over four days.

I started looking around the internet for ideas, and eventually formed a template I’m pretty happy with. This assessment is not designed to do that same thing that standardized music testing is supposed to do. It’s much more general. It’s about communicating to the student and parent about the progress the student is making in various areas and the goals that I have in mind for them in upcoming months. It is a bit like a report card, but with no actual grades.

Once I created the template, my goal was to be able to complete each one in about 10 minutes. After all, doing assessments needs to be feasible even for teachers who might have 30 or 40+ students! I didn’t quite make the 10 minute mark, though. I averaged more like 20 minutes each, although I did get faster at the end.

Here’s a peek at a sample assessment. I used a fun, handwriting font to help distinguish my comments from the template.

page 2:

Do you do some kind of evaluation or assessment? What kinds of things do you include?

If you’d like to download my template, visit the Printables > Studio Business page and scroll down to the S’s for “Student Assessment Sheet.”

[Visit Piano Student End-Of-The-Year Assessments to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Forum Q&A | Attending Conferences

joy (admin) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:04:15 +0000

The last Forum Q&A post was about assignment notebooks/pages for students. It was wonderful to read all the great responses! Click here to read the comments, and click here to read my follow-up where I share my method of tracking assignments.

Being able to attend state and national-level conferences is one of the many benefits of being a member of MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) and other professional music organizations. I am a firm believer in the importance of ongoing professional development for piano teachers (and any teachers, for that matter). So, today’s Forum Q&A is all about conferences!

To you, what is the most valuable part of attending conferences? What tips do you have for making conference attendance more affordable and feasible? If you haven’t attended conferences regularly/before, what’s holding you back?

Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

[Visit Forum Q&A | Attending Conferences to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

My Assignment Notebook Method

joy (admin) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:11:10 +0000

Last Thursday, we started a Forum Q&A discussion about assignment notebooks/pages for students. Today, I thought I’d share my own method of tracking assignments — and, of course, also announce the winner of the giveaway!

The winner of the sheet music decorative balls is commenter #5… LaDona! Congrats!! (By the way, if you haven’t seen LaDona’s wonderful blog before, you can check it out here.)

My method of tracking assignments is very similar to what many of you do: I write in a journal-sized notebook.

I always start with the date and then I outline any warmup/technique exercises (5-finger patterns, arpeggios, scales, etc). The photos in this post show a made-up but typical assignment page:

Each book is listed along with the page numbers of the assigned pieces. I always include brief notes for what I will be listening for at the next lesson. My students know that in order to “pass” each piece, they will need to reach those goals first! This is good motivation for them to read their notebook as they practice throughout the week. We often mark up the score too, but I find the notebook is a good place to put overall goals and comments.

When students forget to bring their notebook to the lesson (which doesn’t happen very often, fortunately), I use a separate sheet of paper for their assignment that day and tell them to staple or tape it into their notebook when they get home.

So that’s my current method! Someday, I’d love to try a digital method, like some of you described in the comment section of last week’s post. For now, my current system is working well. I have no trouble keeping up with the pace of the lesson — I am a fast writer, and I usually jot my notes down while students are finding the next page, putting a sticker on their finished pieces, etc..

I’ve heard of another great idea for assignment pages for more advanced students. I think I probably read it on the Yahoo group for piano teachers (please let me know if you happen to know who I can credit this idea to). Instead of organizing chronologically by date, each page of the notebook is for each piece that the student is working on. I really like the idea of having a progression of notes and comments from the very first week, especially for lengthy, involved repertoire!

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your assignment method!

[Visit My Assignment Notebook Method to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Forum Q&A: Assignment Notebook/Pages for Students

joy (admin) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:33:26 +0000

Today’s post brings a new Forum Q&A topic, and another GIVEAWAY!

Our last Forum Q&A discussion was about perfectionism. It’s never too late to add your thoughts to the comments, so feel free to hop over there and join in the conversation! I plan to follow up with an article on perfectionism to discuss this topic further at some point, but haven’t gotten to it yet! So many ideas, so little time… :)

Today’s new Q&A topic is about assignment notebooks. I’m curious -

What is your method of writing down assignments for students? Do you use a notebook (if so, any particular size/type?) or do you have a custom-made sheet you designed on the computer? What kinds of things are usually included on a typical assignment?

Today’s giveaway is a pair of decorative balls, decoupaged by hand with vintage sheet music:

Giveaway Details:

To enter, leave a comment below in reply to today’s Forum Q&A.
Giveaway ends Wednesday, March 7 at Midnight EST. The winner will be announced Thursday, March 8.
Winner will be chosen via random number generator.

Good luck! :)

[Visit Forum Q&A: Assignment Notebook/Pages for Students to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Teaching Tip: Achieving Fluency

joy (admin) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:09:47 +0000

Have you ever have a student play a piece with frequent hesitations throughout, even though you know they can play much better than that? This phenomenon can occur with all ages/levels of students. Why does this happen? What is going on when this happens? This article will examine possible causes of and solutions for a lack of fluency.

A lack of fluency could be caused by a number of things: (1) a lack of the proper technique required for the executing the piece, (2) a lack of familiarity of the notes of the piece, (3) a tempo that is too fast for the student’s ability at that moment, or (4) a lack of mentally “chunking” the information on the page properly. The analogy I use to refer to Number 4 is that the students feels like they are wearing horse blinders, or are mentally experiencing tunnel vision.

It is fairly easy to tell when Number 1 (lack of technique) is the cause of a lack of fluency: the student will be making inefficient gestures when trying to execute the passage. Number 2 (lack of familiarity with the notes) and 3 (tempo that is too fast) are fairly self-explanatory, essentially boiling down to a lack of practice. Number 4 (the presence of horse blinders or tunnel vision) is the one I’d like to discuss today. It’s a less obvious fix than the others and deserves some discussion.

How do you know if a student is experiencing tunnel vision?

You know they can play the piece better than that! Perhaps you’ve actually heard them play the piece better before too.
The student know s/he can play the piece much better than that.
You’ve eliminated Numbers 1, 2, and 3 from the list above: you know they have the chops to play the piece, you know they know enough to play the notes well and can tell the student’s been practicing, and you feel that the tempo the student chose is appropriate. When technique and practice is not the problem, then it must be a problem in how the student is perceiving the music — process of elimination.
The student seems to be focusing on only one or two notes at a time, instead of thinking about the big picture.

How to help the student remove their blinders and break out of tunnel vision:

First, explain to the student that you suspect s/he is wearing blinders and/or experiencing tunnel vision.
Encourage and help them see the big picture. Examine the music together to look for the overall shape of the melodic line, any patterns in the music, and any larger “chunks” of information they can create for the brain. Mark these elements in the music together with a pencil. Rather than focusing on only one note at a time in the line, encourage the student to allow their eyes to scan the whole line freely as needed, both ahead and behind.
Ask the student to play the piece again.
Evaluate: Was it a more fluent performance? Did it “feel” better now that the blinders are off? The student should feel a sense of ease and pride as they play the piece more fluently than before!

I’d like to address “chunking” in greater depth in a future article…so stay tuned!

Photo Credits:

viennacafe | CC 2.0

Pimlico Badger | CC 2.0

[Visit Teaching Tip: Achieving Fluency to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

My Summer Camp Plans for 2012!

joy (admin) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:27:33 +0000

I recently started to do some in-depth planning for the summer camps I plan to offer this summer! My studio policies provide students with two options for the summer months (June-August):

Students ages 6-12 may participate in a camp each month plus take 5 lessons scheduled approximately every other week around family vacations, or…
Students may continue weekly lessons (10 total) as normal. Students who choose to continue lessons as normal are welcome to sign up for 1, 2, or all 3 summer camps on top of their lessons if desired, at a special rate.

Because I have such a range of ages/levels in my studio, I decided to make my camps very flexible so that students of a wide range of musical backgrounds (even those with no music background) can attend camp. When my studio is larger, I will probably design camps for certain ages/levels. For this year, I think it’s best to be flexible. I’m encouraging my students to invite their friends to attend camp and I’ll put posters around town too. I’m hoping for a turnout of about 4-8 students attending each camp.

Below are the descriptions I came up with for each camp. What do you think — do they sound like fun?! :)

JUNE 11-14: Musical Olympics!
This camp is designed to get students experiencing and learning about music through movement activities and team games like Rhythm Toss, Musical Hoops, Rhythm Splash, and the Musical Alphabet Relay. On the first day of camp, campers will be divided into two teams that will compete for the gold medal throughout the week! Campers — be sure to wear your swimsuit under your clothes, because there just might be a game involving water planned for each day of camp!

JULY 9-12: So, You Want To Be A Composer?
During this composition bootcamp, campers will gain inspiration and tools for composing their own music! Students will examine the creative process of a famous composer each day, and then create/notate their own composition in a related fashion. For example, the French Impressionist composer Claude Debussy was inspired by colors, so we will learn to notate a composition using various colors of paint! In addition to individual work, there will also be opportunities for improvising and composing as a group throughout the week. Students will also craft a musical instrument to take home each day.

AUGUST 6-9: Music History Blast From The Past!
During this camp, we will be traveling back in time to get a glimpse into the lives of the great classical composers. Each day, we will focus on a time period from music history and create a scrapbook page of pictures/notes to take home. As we study the composers we will be not only listening to the music of each time period, but also looking at the instruments, clothes, and art of each time period in order to make the past come alive. Campers will be sure experience the thrill of a blast from the past during this music history camp!

Many of the activities I’m planning for each camp are from Sheryl’s blog (because she has lots of great game ideas and lots of experience with summer camps too) and from Pinterest. I’m sure I’ll be sharing more of the details — and hopefully photos too — eventually! Are you planning any summer camps this year?

[Visit My Summer Camp Plans for 2012! to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Forum Q&A | New Year’s Resolutions for Piano Teachers

joy (admin) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:15:24 +0000

I’ve already blogged a bit about my New Year’s Resolution. Now it’s your turn!

Our previous Q&A Forum brought about a great discussion about whether or not to lesson plan for piano lessons (and if so, how to feasibly do so even if you have a large studio). Today, let’s start a discussion about what change you’d like to make in your teaching this year! I think it’s important as teachers to continually be making little changes and looking for ways to improve our teaching. It not only makes us better teachers, but it also helps keep things fresh for our students as well as ourselves. :)

So, tell us:

As a piano teacher, what would you like to START doing this year?
What would you like to STOP doing this year?
What would you like to KEEP doing this year?

Comment away!

[Visit Forum Q&A | New Year’s Resolutions for Piano Teachers to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Thoughts for the New Year

joy (admin) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:46:13 +0000

The new year always brings about a time of reflection for me. I find myself thinking back over the past year and looking forward to the future, wondering what the new year might bring.

This year was a time of great change for my husband and me. In May, I graduated with my Master of Music degree. We also moved to a new state. It has been an adjustment to be out-of-school. I still keep myself just as busy as I was during grad school, but it’s a different kind of busy. Instead of having a schedule where nearly every half-hour of my day was portioned out to a class, rehearsal, or other appointment, my schedule is suddently much more flexible. Now I have the flexibility to choose when I complete the items on my “to-do” list. And I have to time to work on various projects that I never would have had time to do during grad school.

Do I miss being in school? Yes and no. I have always loved school. And I haven’t had a break from school since Kindergarten. That’s 19 years of formal schooling! But, of course, education and learning does not have to end when school ends. I am continuing to develop myself as a professional through reading books/magazines, attending conferences, attending local association meetings, staying in touch with my colleagues, and blogging/reading blogs. I’m so thankful for all of these resources — especially for this wonderful community online! (What would we do without the internet?! My network would be so much smaller without it!) Deciding to stop after my Master’s degree was a tough choice for me. While a small part of me would love to be working on a DMA or PhD right now, I am thrilled to be finally “living the dream” and doing what has been my goal throughout those six years of college: running my own teaching studio. I learned SO much during the coursework for my degrees, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to be putting it all to good use now. All that time, money, and effort for college was so worth it.

Most years, I don’t bother to make a New Year’s resolution, but this year I do have one. My goal over the next year is for my husband and I to learn how to budget effectively and in general to be more aware of our finances at any given time. When we were both full-time students, our finances were pretty straight-forward. As things become more complex, we’d like to have a good system established for tracking our income and spending. This, of course, includes keeping good records for my business as a piano teacher. I asked for a budgeting software this year for Christmas that I hope will help with this goal.

Another goal, of course, is to continue growing my studio. I am proud to be teaching 11 students, which is not bad considering we’ve moved here just six months ago. We are still getting familiar with our new surroundings, but we consider ourselves very blessed to have found a good church home, to be living in a lovely old house that is perfect for piano teaching, and to be making new friends. (And guess what — there’s even a group of us local teachers who are working on starting a new music teachers association affiliated with MTNA!)

Best wishes to you all as the 2011 comes to a close and the New Year approaches! And, Merry Christmas too, of course. I’ll be taking a break from blogging for the next week or two as we spend time visiting family. See you in January!

[Visit Thoughts for the New Year to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Forum Q&A: Lesson Planning for Private Lessons

joy (admin) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:50:13 +0000

It’s been a while since we had a Forum Q&A! Sometimes I run out of ideas for discussion topics, so if you ever have a question you’d like to see addressed here to get other teachers’ input, please let me know. :)

Last time, we discussed the role of the parent in private lessons. We received some well-thought responses, so thanks for that! Click here to read them, and remember, it’s never too late to add your thoughts.

Here’s today’s discussion topic: Lesson planning! Here’s a few questions to get you thinking:

Do you create lesson plans for the private piano lessons you teach? Why or why not? If you do create lesson plans, what is your process? How much time do you spend lesson planning each week? Is your method feasible for even if you full studio of say, 20+ students?

Although I’ve been teaching privately for over 6 years now, I still don’t feel I have a good system for lesson planning. Fortunately, I have a pretty good memory for knowing where in their books my students are at any given time. However, I have a feeling that eventually if I get over 20 students to keep track of, this would be become much more difficult. I need to keep better records so I can be more effective in preparing to introduce new concepts to my students before the method book does! I’d love to hear any thoughts you have on this topic. :)

Photo Credit: Bright Meadow | CC 2.0

[Visit Forum Q&A: Lesson Planning for Private Lessons to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

9 Tips for Teaching Piano To Young Ages

joy (admin) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:42:00 +0000

As piano teachers, we wear many hats. School teachers often teach only one age group, or a few age groups. Piano teachers are usually expected to be able to teach from age 5 to 95! But as we all know, teaching a 5-year-old is much different from teaching a 15-year-old, or a 55-year-old. :)

In recently thinking about this challenge of being able to effectively teach various age levels and maturities, I decided to make a list of some of the things I’ve learned over the past few years about teaching young ages — I’m thinking, ages 6 and under. I learned some of these things from an Early Childhood Music course I took during grad school and various piano pedagogy courses — but I learned many of these things purely from experience. Here goes:

Don’t ask questions that you don’t really want answers to. Examples: “Did you like that?” or “Do you want to try it on your own now?” Sometimes if given the option to opt out of something, children will say “no” simply because you’ve given them a choice. :) It’s better to make statements.
Give them time to think. When you ask a question, wait for them to process and compose a response. Sometimes we ask questions and then blow right on without getting an answer. Young children need this think time. If you don’t really want to wait for an answer, then don’t ask the question in the first place.
Only give them tasks and activities that you are 100% sure they will succeed at. Studies have shown that the most effective way to learn is to have a series of successive challenges, where each challenge is only slightly more challenging than the previous. Huge challenges often discourage students — especially when they are young children. Give them small challenges, so they experience many small successes as they learn. My mantra: Always set the student up for success.
Give concise instructions. If you speak only a few choice words at a time, the student will really listen when you speak. In Dalcroze training, teachers are taught to give no more than a few words of instruction at any given time to children (I think the magic number is 6, if I’m remembering correctly). Sometimes, I find myself babbling when I teach, which can easily lose the child’s attention. I’m trying to teach myself to take a moment to think before I speak. Word choice is important. Challenge yourself to use a limited amount of words before an activity. It will really make you think about what you are saying!
Be a motivator. A fellow teacher recently said to me: “One of the primary goals of a teacher is to be a motivator.” I think he’s right! Remember that the chief goal is not to get through X amount of pieces or concepts, but to motivate them to want to learn about music. If a child doesn’t “get” a concept on the first try, it’s okay! If you’ve nurtured their excitement about making music, you’ve still met your goal as a teacher that day.
Model curiosity. Whenever I can, I phrase things as if we are experimenting: “Let’s find out what happens when we…” Student are always excited to find out what what exciting sounds they can make! Actually, this tip works for all ages, but is especially good with young ages in order to capture their attention and nurture a love of learning.
Get off the bench! Break up sitting activities with activities that allow them to move around a little. Young students need to move! They should not be expected to sit for an entire half-hour lesson. Find or create your own interactive and movement activities that effectively teach the concepts you want them to learn.
Experience, symbol, then name. Research studies have suggested that this progression is the most effective way to learn. I think this is especially true with young ages. Instead of starting with the terminology for a new concept, start with an activity that allows the student to experience the concept. Then, find an activity that shows then the symbol. Lastly, share the term with the student. This was something that was drilled in my early childhood music college course, but I was also reminded of it in a recent conference session by Marvin Blickenstaff.
Reinforcement is the way young students will begin to remember things. Don’t assume they will necessarily remember new things after only the first introduction. In my experience, young children will often remember that they learned about the concept, but might not remember the name (which corresponds with the research studies mentioned in the previous post). Don’t make them feel bad for not remembering things the first time. Pleasantly refresh their memory. Strive to present concepts in a variety of ways, from different perspectives, to appeal to different types of learners.

Have any tips to add about working with young students? Leave them in the comments!

Photo Credit: Camera Eye Photography | CC 2.0

[Visit 9 Tips for Teaching Piano To Young Ages to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Color In My Piano » improving as a teacher

Piano Student End-Of-The-Year Assessments

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Forum Q&A | Attending Conferences

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My Assignment Notebook Method

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Forum Q&A: Assignment Notebook/Pages for Students

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Teaching Tip: Achieving Fluency

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My Summer Camp Plans for 2012!

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Forum Q&A | New Year’s Resolutions for Piano Teachers

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Thoughts for the New Year

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Forum Q&A: Lesson Planning for Private Lessons

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9 Tips for Teaching Piano To Young Ages

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