Greetings!
During today’s live broadcast via Periscope, we discussed possible time management solutions for in-lesson time with students. If you are like me, I’m sure there are many, many times when you wish there was more time during each weekly lesson! It often feels like it is a challenge to fit everything into a 30-, 45, or 60-minute lesson. Please enjoy watching the video conversation below.
Mentioned in this video:
- National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. View the notes I blogged about the sessions I attended at NCKP 2015 here.
- Clavier Companion magazine.
- Elissa Milne, who has a blog here.
- Japanese puzzle erasers, which are super fun for games at the keyboard and can be found in bulk on Amazon or singly at ThePracticeShoppe.com.
- The Amazing Keyboard Race game idea for beginner piano students.
All past broadcasts are here: ColorInMyPiano.com/live/. To watch future broadcasts live, download the free Periscope app (for iOS or Android), search for @joymorinpiano, and hop online on Mondays at noon Eastern time. Hope to see you next time!
Do you have suggestions about what we could discuss in future Periscopes? Please submit your ideas by clicking here. I appreciate your input!
Thanks so much for this broadcast! The holistic approach to working on these sorts of skills through repertoire pieces was kind-of a revelation for me! Up until now, I too partitioned off chunks of my lessons for sight-reading, improv, ear training, etc. I think this may mark a major shift in my teaching. 🙂 I’m already brainstorming how this could look. Some ideas off the top of my head:
Sight-read a phrase or a section as a “duet” (teacher and student each play one hand)
Work on composing by writing a new ending to a song, or a new variation on a theme.
Work on impovisation by first just learning the left hand and then improvising the right hand before learning the actual right hand.
I also feel like the activities I might now use to incorporate these skills into the repertoire (instead of using isolated exercises for rhythm, sight-reading, composing etc.) could also be a huge stepping stone in helping my students better master their pieces – the more ways you approach a piece, the better it becomes. Thank-you so so much for this valuable perspective!!
I enjoyed the periscope video this morning. I always seem to catch it later. Your approach to following up with different aspects of music within the repertoire they are using is so much more practical. I will be thinking on it for a while. Thank-you.
I would love a little discussion on scheduling of group lessons. How can we get students coming to a group lesson on a different schedule than their regular lesson?
This is exactly the encouragement I needed to hear. Thank you Joy!
This makes so much sense to me – I’m a relatively new teacher and have always been a bit dumb-founded by the abundance of separate books in method series – always wondered if I was missing something etc. Why teach a concept out of context? How is it relevant unless contained within the music? I’m not saying that separate elements should not be drilled, but surely the music should be the starting point for investigation, looking at how each concept relates to others to form its overall character (and I’m definitely NOT talking about ‘pieces’ called “Let’s Play a 4th” followed by “Let’s Play a 5th” – Aaaaargh!! A concept for concept’s sake if ever there was one, and totally dull to learn as well as teach I imagine!) That said, it’s still early days for me, but this holistic approach is something I aspire to in my teaching. Your video definitely struck a chord and I feel reassured that I am on the right track! Thanks Joy for a great post.
Joy, thank you so much for doing these sessions. They are so helpful and I love hearing all about the various styles you take in your teaching. You have such valuable information to share with us. Unfortunately I am not able to watch them until later on. I really liked the example game you use with your beginning students. I will have to try that. Do you do this with individual lessons as well, or mainly group? Thanks again for your time and energy to put these on.
Hi Amy, The Keyboard Race game is one that I usually use in private lessons. Students love it!! You can read the full description of the game here: https://colorinmypiano.flywheelsites.com/2012/03/15/the-amazing-keyboard-race/
Yes…in fact a big YES to your periscope video sessions. Love them.
A simple game I play with my pupils is for the pupil to use the tiny animal rubbers to mark the words that I spell out for them; eg cabbage. I call out the letters for them and they place the animals on the keys. If the word has 2 b’s then 2 different B notes should be marked. This game is much enjoyed and only takes a few moments during the lesson.
I also use the first line of a new piece as sight reading, after which we start learning it as a homework assignment.
So looking forward to your next topic whatever it may be.
Hello Joy! I love your blog and your tips are extremely useful to me! I was wondering–this may be impractical but thought I’d ask. Is there any way you could post an outline or summary of the video on your blog? I am not really able to watch the videos but the content looks fantastic.
Thanks for your point, Stephanie! I will keep this mind for videos going forward!
I use Faber books mostly and I don’t think they work against me at all. They are so creative and intuitive, making it easy to inspire students. I like to use the separate technique book, but also work on technique within the pieces.
I also use the Faber sightreading book with a few students who need extra help with that. I’ve had great success with this book and they say “can we do sightreading now?”
I have mostly younger students (elementary age) so having the different gears to switch to works well for them. I don’t think they could handle working on just their current pieces the whole lesson. As long as I keep moving the lesson along (i.e. telling them to turn to their next song while I’m writing in their practice notebook), it is easy to get to each separate element in the lesson.
Thank you so much for the excellent resources! I’m greatly encouragement to improve my piano teaching towards excellent!
Thanks for this Joy … I wondered if you have heard of Paul Harris’ books? He is a big music educator here in UK and covers this holistic approach in his brilliant books. He refers to it as simultaneous learning. It was revelationary to me when I first read about it a few years ago. I have read improve your teaching and the virtuoso teacher. Both brilliant but he has many more and one called simultaneous learning I’d like to read. Just thought I’d mention him here in case not so heard of over in US. It is really in line with what you spoke of here. Webcasts are really helpful. Thank you.