Forum Q&A | Saying Goodbye to Piano Students Before Moving Away

By joy (admin) | Published: 17 January 2012

At our last Forum Q&A discussion, we talked about new year’s resolutions for piano teachers!  Click here to view the responses.

Over the weekend, I received an email from a reader who is preparing to move and must say “goodbye” to all her students.  I’d love to start a discusion about piano teachers saying goodbye and moving, so here goes:

Have you ever had to move and “give away” all your students?  How did you break the news?  Was there anything you were able to do for your students to make their transition to a new piano teacher easier?  What other advice can you offer to a piano teacher who is preparing to move? 

I’ll post my answer in the comments below, including the “goodbye letter” I wrote for my students last Spring when I moved after graduation.  Please add your own thoughts to the comments below!

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Posted in Forum Q&A's, studio business | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Pictures from the Studio

By joy (admin) | Published: 13 January 2012

Thought I’d share a few photos of random things from the studio…

Here’s a first composition created by one of my young students last week.  It’s called “Hush Little Squirrels.”  I love her inventive notation system!  You can see the black key groups of 2′s and 3′s pictured, and the L’s and H’s mean high or low.  I was so proud of the work she put into creating and notating her piece.

Read More »

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Posted in what I'm up to | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Wee Sing “Games, Games, Games”

By joy (admin) | Published: 12 January 2012

For Christmas, my friend and colleague Loretta gave me the Wee Sing “Games, Games, Games” book with music.  I’ve been using it with my Homeschool Music Class with great success!  We typically do a lot of sitting as we learn about composers, listen to music, and learn about the musical instruments.  So I always find it’s important to come up with a few games that allow them to stand up and move around the room too.  This Wee Sing book makes it much easier to plan movement activities!  So far we’ve tried the “Looby Loo” song and the “Pass the Ball” song.

For “Pass the Ball,” students stand in a circle and pass the ball with the beat.  The sound of the tambourine is the signal to pass the ball the other direction.  The music goes faster and slower at certain points, which makes the kids get very excited!  I got out a bunch of different little balls to pass, just to keep things interesting: a plush basketball, a Nerf ball, a fuzzy craft ball, and a juggling bean bag.

You can find the Wee Sing “Games, Games, Games” book with CD on Amazon.

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Posted in beginners / elementary Level, early childhood music, movement, reviews, uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

By joy (admin) | Published: 11 January 2012

“The art of music is so deep and profound that to approach it very seriously only is not enough. One must approach music with a serious rigor, and, at the same time, with a great, affectionate joy.”

– Nadia Boulanger

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

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January Blog Roundup

By joy (admin) | Published: 10 January 2012

Today, I’ve got some blog links to share!  Here’s what I’ve stumbled upon recently…

Leah’s “For Love of Piano” blog has moved, gotten a facelift, and a new name!  You will now found her blog at MyPianoPlayground.com.

Read More »

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Posted in resources / links | Tagged | 1 Comment

First Thoughts Regarding Faber’s “My First Piano Adventure”

By joy (admin) | Published: 9 January 2012

As big of a fan as I am of Nancy & Randall Faber’s materials for piano students, somehow I’ve never had a chance to try out their “My First Piano Adventure” books — until now.  After trying out this book with a new 5-year-old student last week, I am wondering why in the world didn’t I check this out sooner?!

My First Piano Adventure is designed for young beginners, ages 5 and 6.  I suspect that 4-year-olds would also thrive using this book, and maybe even precocious 3-year-olds — but don’t quote me on that until I’ve had more time to test it out.

The Lesson Book comes with a CD full of fun songs and activities that teach the student about basic technique, how to make different sounds on the piano, and much more.  The CD alone is worth the price of the Lesson Book!!   Parents can play the CD at home or in the car so the student is hearing them all week long.  I bought my own copy to play during lessons — but I also plan to use some of the songs on the CD with my Piano Readiness Classes and Homeschool Music class because they are that good.  :)  Many of the songs involve some pretty creative activities for learning basic piano technique — which is great, because I am always on the lookout for finding effective ways to teach young beginners proper technique. Read More »

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Posted in beginners / elementary Level, by student's level, early childhood music, repertoire/methods, reviews, series | Tagged , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

By joy (admin) | Published: 4 January 2012

“Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.”

– Louis Armstrong

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

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

By joy (admin) | Published: 3 January 2012

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!

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Posted in Forum Q&A's, improving as a teacher, inspiration, professional development, series | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Semester Planning & Organization

By joy (admin) | Published: 2 January 2012

I’ve been doing a bit of cleaning and reorganizing in my studio, like putting all those music books that always seem to migrate to the piano top back in their proper place on their shelves.  :)

I also visited the music store today to pick up new books for some of my students.  I’m so happy to have a music store in my area again.  In the town where we were living back in Michigan, there was no music store within an hour’s drive.  I won’t take it for granted again, and will do my best to purchase music books from them instead of ordering online!  Maybe I can help keep them in business.  ;)

With the arrival of the new year, it’s also time to plan ahead for the student events that springtime inevitably brings!  I’ve been using my Studio Planning Calendar (pdf is available for download on the Printables > Studio Business page) to plan for upcoming festival and event dates held by the music associations in my area.  I’m excited about all the different opportunities there are for my students to participate in, and I’d like to send at least a couple of students to each event.  I also have a few students that I might enter in The Achievement Program for assessment in May, provided they are interested.

How is the New Year going for you?  :)

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Posted in my students, professional development, studio business, what I'm up to | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Thoughts for the New Year

By joy (admin) | Published: 23 December 2011

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. Read More »

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Posted in improving as a teacher, musings, what I'm up to | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments
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