free – Page 6 – Color In My Piano

As part of my preparation for the upcoming academic year of teaching piano, I working updating all of my studio business forms. The following three forms have just completed renovation, and are available on the Printables page:

Student Information form (for all incoming students to fill out)
Beginner Student Interview form (to be used while interviewing beginner students)
Transfer Student Interview form (to be used while interviewing new non-beginner students)

Questions have been clarified, more space has been given between lines so that there is more room to write in the blanks, and the overall format has been given a makeover in order to get a cleaner look. In addition, the wording of some questions on the forms (the Beginner Student Interview form and the Student Information form, especially) have been adjusted to better accommodate adult students who might be filling out the forms / being interviewed.

Side note: Don’t let the word “interview” scare you if you don’t already do something like this in your studio! These forms are simply designed to help with evaluating the student’s playing level at the first lesson. Personally, I’ve found that taking notes helps me immensely when I’m trying to decide what repertoire and method books to use with a new student, whether it’s a beginner student or not. Give it a try!

Scroll down for a BIGGER look!

Continue reading “Printables updated: Student Info form, and Student Interview forms” →

Printables, Studio Business

Record of Lesson Attendance & Payment

28 June 201016 August 2017 Joy Morin

Just added to the page of free Printables > Studio Business:

> Lesson & Payment Record Chart 2010-2011 (3 page pdf)

Summertime is a great time to do some planning for the next academic year of teaching! As you can see, I’ve been keeping busy….. This chart is designed for the 2010-2011 year in mind, starting in September.

What this chart records:

This chart provides a simple way to track student attendance/absences for lessons and tuition payments.

How to use this chart:

In the first column, enter your students’ names. At each lesson, enter the lesson date (e.g., 9/14) corresponding with that week of lessons. If the student misses a lesson for some reason, that box may be marked with a slash, or left blank so that the make-up lesson date may be later written in. Any lessons that are paid for should be marked with a checkmark in each little circle. Please see the up-close picture below for an example.

The 3 pages of this chart can be easily 3-hole punched and placed in a 3 ring binder, for maximum convenience when teaching.

I hope some of you find my chart useful!

Group Classes, Music Camps, Printables, Teaching Piano, Worksheets

Just Added: Scales & Primary Chords Worksheet 1 (CGDF)

21 June 201017 March 2012 Joy Morin

Just added: a new free, printable worksheet called:

> Scales & Primary Chords Worksheet 1 (CGDF)

Ideally, this worksheet is designed for the intermediate+ student who is already familiar with the scales and primary chords for the keys of C, G, D, and F major, and perhaps could use some review in writing them out on the staff. However, this worksheet could also be used during a group lesson while introducing these ideas for the first time.

Terms/concepts covered in the worksheet:

An understanding of key signatures for C, G, D, and F major.
Practice writing out scales.
Practice writing out primary chords.

To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the S’s for “Scales & Primary Chords worksheet.”

Watch for the next worksheet coming soon, covering D, A, E, and Bb major!

Resources, Studio Business, Technology

Free Studio Website Builder: Weebly.com

10 June 20101 October 2012 Joy Morin

Have you thought about starting a website for your studio, but felt that you didn’t have the resources or expertise to build one? Check out Weebly.com — an attractive and easy-to-use online resource where you can create a website for free.

~~Personally, I currently use iWeb software (comes free on all Mac computers) to create and maintain my studio site. However, Weebly sites are so attractive, I might make the switch someday!~~ I switched, and now I use Weebly for my studio website!

Some great features:

Extremely user-friendly. The drag-and-drop site builder is extremely easy to use, even for those who might not consider themselves to be very technologically savvy.
No software is needed. That means, no buying or installing software onto your computer. Creating and maintaining your website is done completely online.
You can use a free ___.weebly.com domain name, or use your own domain name. Weebly is one of the few free website building sites that allow you use your own url (e.g., colorinmypiano.com) if you desire. Just purchase one from a site such as Name.com (a year usually costs around $10). If you don’t want to use your own domain name, for free you can just use yourname.weebly.com.
Attractive themes. Of all the free website building sites I’ve seen, Weebly by far creates the most attractive-looking sites. They have tons of great customizable themes to choose from.

Here are some links to some studio websites that were created using Weebly, to get you inspired:

Good luck! If you are successful in creating your own studio site using Weebly, be sure to share the link with us in the comments!

Announcements, Games, Giveaways, Group Classes, Music Camps, Teaching Piano

May 2010 Free Giveaway: Drawing Music Symbols Boards

20 May 201017 March 2011 Joy Morin

I am excited to announce the first ever free giveaway on the Color In My Piano blog! *drumroll…*

THREE lucky winners will each be mailed a pair of laminated boards for learning and drawing music symbols. (You may recall when I blogged about these boards here. I am keeping my set, of course, but I went back to buy more to share with you!) These boards have a lot of potential for team games at group lessons or summer piano camps, or can simply be used during the private lesson. They are two-sided — one side shows the symbols and their names, and the other side lists the names but leaves a blank staff for the student to draw the symbol. Both sides are laminated to allow use with a dry-erase marker.

Unfortunately, because the prize is such a odd-shaped object and is expensive to ship, this giveaway is limited to readers from the continental U.S. only.

To enter: Continue reading “May 2010 Free Giveaway: Drawing Music Symbols Boards” →

Performances, Printables

Just added: Piano Recital Program Template #2

14 May 201018 March 2012 Joy Morin

Today’s free printable is a another template of a piano studio recital program, for listing students’ names and pieces.

Just download this Microsoft Word file (.doc), enter your students’ information, and print!

Click here to view it larger (uneditable).

To download it the .doc file, visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to “Piano Recital Program Template #2”.

Feel free to edit the document in any way you desire to suite your needs.

Enjoy!

Performances, Printables

Piano Recital Program Template #1

6 May 201018 March 2012 Joy Morin

Today’s free printable is a template of a piano studio recital program, for listing students’ names and pieces.

Just download this Microsoft Word file (.doc), and fill in your students’ information and print!

Click here to view it larger (uneditable).

To download it the .doc file, visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to “Piano Recital Program Template #1“.

Feel free to edit the document in any way you desire to suite your needs.

Enjoy!

Also see: Piano Recital Program Template #2

Group Classes, Memorization, Performances, Printables, Teaching Piano, Worksheets

Just added: Performing at the Piano Worksheet

29 April 201017 March 2012 Joy Morin

Just added: a new free, printable worksheet called:

> Performing at the Piano Worksheet

Just in time for the spring recital season, this fill-in-the-blank worksheet is intended to help prepare students for an upcoming recital or other performance by discussing stage presence and performance etiquette.

Terms/concepts covered in the worksheet:

Memorizing
Applause
Bowing
Checking the bench
and more.

This worksheet can either be sent home with students, completed one-on-one with the student during the lesson, or — my favorite — done as a group as a studio class or group lesson. It would be fun to complete this worksheet as a group just before a practice run-through of a recital.

To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the P’s for “Performing at the Piano worksheet.”

Your turn! Share your ideas for preparing students for recitals in the comments!

Composition, Resources

Decorate Your Studio Idea: Bach Invention Manuscripts

26 April 201023 February 2019 Joy Morin

I just discovered these manuscript copies of Bach’s 2-part inventions over at the IMSLP’s Petrucci Music Library. I always find free pdfs of music scores that I need on their site, but I never realized that they also have pdfs of some hand-written manuscript copies to download as well! Although this is not Bach’s handwriting, but it is still a remarkable part of history — and looks really cool. According to the site, this manuscript copy dates from around the 1790s. Can you imagine having to copy music by hand? What an art!

While I was so captivated by this manuscript copy, it occurred to me that printing some of these sheets off on acrylic print paper and then framing them would be a great way to decorate the walls of a piano studio! I think students would really enjoy admiring the hand-written manuscripts, especially if they were working on the same piece.

To download:

Click this link to visit the Bach inventions page. Scroll down until you see the download with the editor listed as “Peter Gronland” and says “Undated manuscript copy, 1790?”. As always, be sure to carefully follow the site’s copyright restrictions for your country (in the US, basically all works published before 1923 are in the public domain).

Music Theory, Printables, Worksheets

Just Added: Navigating at the Keyboard Worksheet

22 April 201017 March 2012 Joy Morin

A new free worksheet has just been added to the Printables page: Navigating at the Keyboard.

This worksheet is for young beginners who have only just recently been exposed to piano. This worksheet is designed to help them become familiar with the layout of the keyboard so that they can locate and identify the keys by name.

This worksheet reinforces:

recognizing black-key groups of 2 versus 3
finding C on the keyboard
the musical alphabet (it only goes to G, and then repeats)
then finding D-G on the keyboard

This is an excellent worksheet to send home with a young student after their first piano lesson. Visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the N’s for “Navigating at the Piano worksheet” to view it now!

repertoire / methods, Resources

Great Resources for Teachers with Beginner Staff-Readers

20 April 201019 April 2010 Joy Morin

Susan Paradis from the Piano Teacher Resources blog has written has excellent review of the The Perfect Start for Piano by Kevin & Julia Olson, a series of books intended for reinforcing note-reading on the staff for beginners and elementary level students. They look great – I love that fact that they are designed to work with whatever method books you are using with your student! To learn all about it, read her review here. Thanks, Susan!

The Perfect Start for Piano also has a corresponding website, theperfectstartforpiano.com, which provides additional FREE resources for the teacher and student. Check it out and you will find:

a variety of printable flashcards
note naming worksheets
audio files which correspond with the book
and other resources, including practice record sheets, keyboard stickers, and posters to post in the studio.