Did you teach Double, double using the active listening strategies outlined in the last blog? In this final post in our short series, the focus is on how to use active listening to pre-frame a new piece of music. PRE-FRAMING NEW PIECES You’ll have noticed that children like to play something that they have listened […]
Compose Yourself! – the online piano composition festival is back for a second year, providing an opportunity for all UK-based young pianists to be creative. We’re delighted to welcome composer Alison Mathews as our guest blog writer to introduce the festival. COMPOSE YOURSELF! Alison writes… When the festival was co-founded by myself and Lindsey Berwin, […]
Did you play the honesty game after reading the previous blog post on active listening? In this second part we are continuing to think about the benefits of active listening and I share a practical activity that you can use. THE LISTENING FUNNEL Imagine a funnel – the top is broad and wide but as […]
The act of listening, deep, active listening, is crucial to developing musical sensitivity. It is at the heart of all that we do as musicians. Helping our students to listen more actively and attentively is a particularly important job for piano teachers. We’ve all experienced how easy it is to switch off our ears and […]
When were you last curious about something? As a PhD student, brimming over with curiosity and with a burning question to answer, one of the first things you get told is that there are no answers, only more questions! ABOUT CURIOSITY According to the author, Ian Leslie, the right sort of curiosity nourishes us [1]. […]
I wonder how many piano teachers currently have a student learning the minuet? They are found everywhere in piano tutor books and elementary piano anthologies so the chances are fairly high I think. In this blog I am exploring a few teaching ideas for a Classical minuet, using Reinagle’s Minuet in C as my example. […]
Have you ever come across students who have been taught using the ‘three pieces a year’ model? The approach is closely connected to the exam cycle: start the year with three new piano exam pieces and repeat them until the exam is taken nine months later. Dr Sally Cathcart, founder and director of The Curious […]
One of the new categories to be added the updated edition of the Piano Framework is how to develop co-ordination at the piano. Ilga Pitkevica, tutor on the Piano Teachers’ Course, shares her top tips for teaching co-ordination to our youngest students, right through to the most advanced. The full video is available to watch […]
The Piano Framework© 2021 provides a comprehensive overview of the many different and often overlapping elements that learning to play the piano involves. It provides teachers, students and parents with a new, fresh approach to teaching and learning the piano. It has a concept and skills led approach at its heart. The 2021 edition of […]
For many piano teachers across the world, September marks the start of a new academic year. With lots of new beginner piano students starting their first piano lessons, and many different beginner piano methods on the market, how do we choose the right ones for our students? Inside The Curious Piano Teachers’ Community this […]