Month: October 2012

Words of Wisdom

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

Joy Morin

“I can’t listen to Wagner that much. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.”

— Woody Allen

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 me a message here.

Note: I’ve been notified that the fabulous Clavier Companion magazine is looking for photos of interesting teaching spaces for a feature in their Jan/Feb 2013 issue! Of specific interest are photos showing efficient and creative uses of small teaching spaces. Submit your photos by Oct 22nd to [email protected]. Selected photos will be printed with a brief caption in the Jan/Feb issue. Please consider some sharing photos of your teaching space! 

Group Classes, Music History

My October Piano Party

Joy Morin

Last week, I blogged a little about my first “Piano Party” — the first of hopefully many more group classes I hold for my students!  On Friday, I held our 2nd Piano Party for October.

I was so glad to observe my students greeting each other by name as they arrived.  They recognized each other from the camps I held this past summer and from the previous piano party.  Piano study can seem like such a solitary endeavor, but having group classes can help make it less so (which can be very motivating for some students).  I am so pleased to see one of my goals for group classes already being met!

Anyway, let me tell you about how our group class went on Friday:

Continue reading “My October Piano Party” →

Early Childhood Music, Group Classes, Resources

Fingerplay Puppets

Joy Morin

Thanks to Pinterest, I recently came across a blogger who designed some charming little finger puppets to go along with a few fingerplay songs she enjoys singing with her son!  Her name is Kate, from the picklebums.com blog, and she generously offers each of the printables pictured below for free.  I assembled a set of her beautiful finger puppets for my 4-year-old nephew as a birthday gift last month, and made myself a set, too, to use with my Piano Readiness class.

One of my all-time favorite fingerplays ever is Five Little Speckled Frogs (click for link to Kate’s puppet printable).  I discovered this fingerplay during an Early Childhood Music course I took during graduate school.

Continue reading “Fingerplay Puppets” →

Games, Group Classes

My New Monthly Group Lessons: “Piano Parties”

Joy Morin

Now that I have enough students to do so, I have begun holding monthly group lessons with my students.  I tried it a few times last year, but ended up with a poor turnout both times.  Fortunately, now I have enough students to make it worth the effort.  I call them “Piano Parties.”

Right now, any of my students under age 15 are invited.  My youngest private students are 4, so this makes for a very wide range of ages!  Eventually, my goal would be to split them into groups by age/level, but for now, I am just happy to give them some kind of group lessons.  I am keeping them very fun and informal.

Our first one was a back-to-piano pizza party last month, and I completely forgot to blog about it.  Oops!  🙂  I’ll tell you about it now.  Continue reading “My New Monthly Group Lessons: “Piano Parties”” →

Studio Business

Reflections of a Relocated Piano Teacher

Joy Morin

It has been a little over a year since my husband and I moved to Ohio from Michigan.  I have been thinking a lot lately about what it was like to relocate and start a studio from scratch in an unfamiliar area.  I’m sure some of you have been through this too, or will be going through it soon — perhaps my reflections can be of encouragement to some of you!  Here is what I learned from the experience:

  • FACT: It may take more time than you would like to build a studio from scratch.  It helps to make small goals.  Calculate how many students you need in order to break even financially, and make that your goal first.  Then, you can raise your goal to your preferred amount of students.
  • FACT: The time it takes to build a piano studio REALLY depends upon the need for it in an area.  If you move somewhere where piano teachers are scarce, you could have a full studio in no time at all.  If you move somewhere where there seem to be enough or an over-saturated amounts of teachers, it can take more time.
  • FACT: It is easy to feel down about only having a few students, especially when you feel that you are doing everything right.  It is not easy to be patient.  Continue reading “Reflections of a Relocated Piano Teacher” →